If you haven’t figured it out already, writing is never consistent. Some days you feel like you could write an entire novel in one sitting. Other days, cranking out a 300-word blog post takes an hour. Some days it’s the easiest thing in the world. Other days, it’s a struggle.
This is why routine is so good … and so bad … as a writer. Because when you’re able to stick to it, it’s a life-saver. When you aren’t … it’s torture.
I went on a very small vacation this week. As you may have noticed, along the way our regular posting schedule came completely undone. I’s about noon on Friday as I’m writing this, not long before it will go live. That’s not usually how things run here. But this week, all things routine kind of went dark.
You know me. You know I HATE that. Usually. I have posted every single day on this blog since June 2015. Nothing has yet stopped me from managing to do so. A few months back I got into an even more regular posting schedule – posting at the exact same time every single day. That’s what kind of fell apart. Maybe you noticed, and maybe you didn’t. Everything is fine, I am tired, but I’m plowing through.
It’s not so bad. Actually, it’s totally OK.
It’s OK whenever anything like this happens, really. Because every time my rhythm and routine fall apart, I am forced to ask myself the one question we’re all afraid to ask: is this really how I want to be spending my time?
The answer is always the same: Yes! But every once in awhile, things have to come undone so we have to return to ourselves and make sure we’re still on track. Things fall apart either because things need to change or because nothing needs to change at all. Re-evaluating takes some breaking of routine, sometimes, so it can be done right.
Do I still want to be writing all the things I’m writing? Of course I do. I’m sure of that, now that I’ve spent almost a week struggling uber hard to make it happen. If it wasn’t worth the struggle, I wouldn’t bother. But it is. Oh, it is. So much.
Thank you for your patience. We’ll get back to posting regularly at 6AM CST, I’m hoping, by the end of the weekend.
Until then, get back to writing!
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a freelance writer and an eight-time NaNoWriMo winner with work published in Teen Ink, Success Story, Lifehack and USA TODAY College. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.
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Meg Dowell Writes 
Thanks for the reminder to give myself a stricter writing schedule. In the long run, it really is much more productive. I write every evening but not at a particular time, just sometime between 8 and 10 when I can get myself worked up to it. When I was writing every morning I produced a lot more words.
You’re welcome :) Working on establishing a better schedule myself – it’s doable, but certainly not easy.
Sticking to a writing schedule can be hard, but I know it takes time. Thanks for the wonderful advice!
You’re welcome! :)
Since this is my hobby, more than my career, I don’t hold to a schedule. However, I can see that it would be good if this is something that you do as a career.
One thought, (You probably already know this, but, i am going to say it anyway.) If you are going away for a couple of days, or on a vacation of any sort, you can write out several posts ahead of time and then schedule them to post at a specific time, allowing yourself to rest while keeping your schedule from falling apart.
Yes, I usually write a few days ahead even when I’m here. Sometimes you just fall behind. :)