The Benefits of Writing Every Day
If there's one piece of advice that I've
heard from professional writers, it's 'write every day'. Even if it's just a
small amount, the practice of flexing your writing muscles each and every day
is much more beneficial than writing for a big chunk once a week. As an
aspiring professional author, I have lived by this piece of advice, sometimes
to the detriment of every other aspect of my life.
So, with my girlfriend's birthday recently,
we decided to spend a night in a hotel and I accepted that I would miss a day of writing as a result of the night out. I've been feeling quite burned out lately, so the chance to take a day off wasn't a bad thing.
What I discovered however, was that because
of my writing discipline, my brain didn't want to shut down for a day. This worked out really well, because instead of having something pre-planned to work on, my brain simply wandered wherever it chose to. As a result I felt super excited and refreshed to get back to my writing the next day and have plenty of new ideas for more writing. I have always understood that rest periods are really important, but I forget sometimes. It was nice to get that reminder.
I suppose it's about learning when to take
time off and how much, which is an individual choice. What I will
say for the practice of writing every day is that my brain expects to write
each morning much like my stomach expects breakfast, and it often seems like
it's ready and waiting for me. The practise of writing every day seems like it's paying off.
