Do You Need to Write Every Day to Become a Good Writer?

Should you force yourself to write even when you aren't in the mood?

Newbie writers are often advised to write every day, and plenty of successful and experienced writers claim to stick to this rule.

Stephen King is thought to write 2000 words every day, and it’s said that Ernest Hemingway wrote every morning, stopping while he still had momentum so he could easily pick back up the next day.

There is also a well-known quote about daily writing, often attributed to Peter DeVries (although variations of it have been used by other writers too):

“I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning”

So is writing every day good advice?

Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary to write every single day. It wouldn’t be a realistic goal for me, and I’d probably fail pretty quickly.

I write most days because I run several publications, and I love doing it. But I’ve never been someone who writes every single day, even when I wrote for a living.

That’s not to say I’m not disciplined. There are days I am less motivated to write than others, but I still make myself write because otherwise I wouldn’t get everything done that I want to do.

If you only write when inspiration strikes or when you’re “in the mood”, you won’t get very far very fast.

Sometimes you have to write even when you don’t feel like it. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to write every single day.

Pros and cons of daily writing

Before you let yourself off the hook and decide not to embrace a daily writing habit, let’s take a look at some of the advantages.

Pros

Build discipline: Like any skill, writing improves with consistent practice. If you force yourself to write daily, you’ll see improvements much faster than if you only write every now and then.

Overcome perfectionism: It would be great if everything we wrote was perfect straight away, but it’s not. All writers have off days, and that’s ok. As Jodie Picoult said: “You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page.” Writing daily will help you overcome the need for instant perfection.

Boost creativity: Creativity is like a muscle - the more you use it, the stronger it gets. If you write every day, you work that muscle and you’ll find the ideas (and words) start to flow more easily.

Maintain momentum: When we start working on something we’re excited about, we’ll often get a burst of momentum. Unfortunately, that momentum can start to wane pretty quickly. Or can’t be sustained because other things become more of a priority. Writing every day helps you maintain momentum.

Progress faster: I’ve lost count of the number of people I have spoken to who say they want to write a book, but then never do it. Or they start but never finish. Forcing yourself to write a little every day will help you make progress faster.

So, as you can see, there are plenty of good reasons to get into the habit of writing daily. But writing daily can have its downsides too.

Cons

Reduced quality: Sometimes it’s better to focus on quality of writing not quantity. You might find that forcing yourself to write every day means you end up with lots of unusable work, whereas writing less frequently but with more intention results in higher-quality writing.

Risk of burnout: Writing every day can be exhausting, especially if you're juggling other responsibilities. If you’re pushing yourself to write when you’re already overworked, it will start to become more of a chore, rather than something you enjoy. I know from experience because I loved writing until it became my job. Fortunately, I changed direction and fell back in love with writing again.

Everyone is different: Some writers find having a daily writing habit useful. It keeps them disciplined and productive. Others work better in bursts or sprints. Daily writing might not be the right approach for you, and there’s no point forcing it if it doesn’t benefit you.

Find a routine that works for you

When I first started out as a copywriter, I read an article by another writer. He said he had a set routine that he followed every morning before he started writing and once he started writing. He always started at the same time and worked in the same location - same chair, same desk, same view.

But he ran into a problem. After months of sticking to his routine, he found he couldn’t write anywhere else. If he tried to work from a coffee shop or on a train or from another location, he just wasn’t productive. There was some kind of psychological barrier - he needed to follow his specific routine or he couldn’t get anything done.

I didn’t want to suffer the same problem. I wanted to be able to write anywhere so that I wasn’t restricted.

So when I first began copywriting full-time, I would change where I worked each day. Sometimes I would work in my office, sometimes in the dining room, often in the garden during the summer, and occasionally from the sofa. I could also work quite happily in coffee shops, hotel rooms, on trains, at other people’s houses, and even by the pool (though very rarely).

I don’t know whether I would have faced the same challenge the author of that article faced had I not done this, but I wasn’t prepared to take the risk.

A few years ago, I had a new home office installed, so these days I rarely work from anywhere else in the house. It’s just easier for me to work at my desk with everything set up in a way that works for me.

But the good thing is I can still work from other locations when I need to without suffering from that dreaded writer’s block.

And you need to do what works for you. That might involve having a strict routine or it might mean having a more fluid routine.

Maybe you find it easier to stick to a set schedule in a set location. Or maybe changing locations regularly helps you stay motivated. Perhaps you are more productive in the morning, or maybe you prefer writing late into the night. Maybe you’re the kind of writer who likes working in long stints. Or perhaps you find your work is better if you split your writing into shorter sessions.

Sometimes the way you work will be dependent on the type of writing you do. If you’re a copywriter, your writing schedule might be determined by workloads and client deadlines. If you write books or novels, you might find it useful to write daily while you are working on a specific project and then take a short break between projects.

But whatever type of writing you do, you need to be disciplined. Some days the words will flow easily. Other days, you might need to push through “writer’s block” to get something down.

If you haven’t found a good routine yet, try working at different times of day, from different locations, and for different lengths of time until you find something that works for you.

There is no right or wrong way. There is only the way that works best for each individual writer.