Recently, I found myself stressed and discouraged over how much I’d been neglecting my writing. Outside of a few fleeting freelance projects, I hadn’t written anything at all. I hadn’t touched any of my works-in-progress. I hadn’t been pitching new ideas to editors. And most of the time, I didn’t feel I had the bandwidth to even figure out when to find the time to do any of that.
The idea that writers find success by “hard work” alone is a widespread and quite devastating phenomenon. We’ve been made to believe that we’re not succeeding if we’re taking a break from our work, if we’re not writing 5,000 words a day or waking up before 5 a.m. to squeeze in some writing time before the sun comes up.
Hard work isn’t it. In fact, it may be the very thing holding you back.
Hard Work and the Death of a Dream
I, too, used to believe in the myth of hard work. I probably wrote myself into diagnosable insanity on more than one occasion trying to beat some kind of imaginary record. Different things motivate different people, and sometimes writers are motivated by the idea that if they somehow do more or “work harder” than every other writer, they’ll make it out on top.
The reality is that “hard” work is not sustainable. I used to write 10,000 words a day sometimes thinking this alone would grant me access to some kind of elite group of writing wizards. All it really got me back then was a lot of wrist pain and bitter resentment every time I saw someone else succeed whom I could have sworn I was working harder than.
Hard work, especially in the writing space, is a myth. Writing itself is hard; don’t let anyone trick you into believing otherwise. But while there are benefits to pushing yourself, setting and achieving goals, and always trying to write a little better today than you did yesterday, if you try to constantly sprint toward a nonexistent finish line, you’re never going to get there. You’re probably going to quit. And that would be a real shame, since I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, it’s partly because you want your writing to mean something. You’re willing to work at it. Maybe you just don’t know how, or how much.
A Writer Wins By Walking, Not Sprinting
We’ve all heard the “overnight success” stories — debut authors who publish a monumental bestseller on their first published book. Writers who seemingly pen one article in a major publication one week and a once-in-a-life-time book deal the next. You want to know a secret? There is no such thing as an overnight success story in writing. That debut author didn’t magically write one book and hit a home run. That writer didn’t crank out one article and get lucky. You are seeing success stories that were probably years in the making.
Writing is a walk, never a sprint. If you’re a recovering former Wrimo participant like me, drain all thoughts of speed and quantity over quality out of your brain and start building better habits. You cannot write one draft of a single book and get everything right on the first try. Even if you were to get an agent based on a draft of a book you wrote, that’s not the book the public would eventually read. You’re going to likely revise and rewrite until the book becomes something far less recognizable to the original. That’s how writing works.
It’s not about hard work; it’s about consistent writing over long periods of time. That is the only way to become a better writer. Consider it your practice time. You are refining your craft a little more every time you sit down and write even 100 words in one sitting. You do not have to write thousands of words a day. You just have to fit writing in wherever you can and do your best to make it count.
Writing Is Already Hard Work, But You Can Do It
Of the many myths surrounding writing and robbing writers of their chance to succeed, the idea that you have to work yourself to exhaustion to make your words worth something is by far the most, well, exhausting. Admittedly, I absolutely devour any story about a starving artist who works day and night to produce work that finally lands them a big break. But I do so knowing they’re usually not very realistic. Most aspiring writers have day jobs, families, real adult responsibilities that often leave little time or energy for pursuing their writing goals. The fact that any of us are able to write at all in 2025 is honestly a miracle in itself.
Stop trying to work harder, write more, or drive yourself to misery tapping away at your keyboard. Yes, you should write as you’re able — but isn’t that hard enough? Reward yourself for the small victories. I wrote 500 words this morning, and that’s pretty cool! I rewarded myself with chocolate. It was not an easy 500 words. Sometimes it just isn’t. I didn’t punch myself down for stopping at 500. I worked hard, and I both earned and deserved a treat.
We, as writers, are far too unkind to ourselves. Always punishing ourselves for never writing enough. Do you know how much better you’re doing writing 100 words a day than someone who hasn’t written anything in three years? You are not failing. You are just taking the time you need to, little by little, write something extraordinary.
Meg Dowell is the creator of Brain Rush, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words, and Not a Book Hoarder, celebrating books of all kinds. She is an editor, writer, book reviewer, podcaster, and photographer passionate about stories and how they get made. Learn more
Meg Dowell Writes 