I'll be the first to admit, writing every day is difficult. There are mornings where you wake up inspired, ready to drop letters onto a page with abandon. Then there are times when the world is a soul-sucking waste and you'd rather eat beans straight from a can than put out even a single sentence.
I've found ways around this, of course. If you want to be a professional writer, you have to write like it's a profession (before you get paid, too!). In fact, if you want to be a writer, you ought to have that sort of passion surging through your veins already. But even on those darkest of days, there are methods you can use to push yourself along.
Writing every day is like working out every day. At first, it seems impossible. Like no one in the history of the written language has ever had to do something so difficult. Then, after a few days, you get into a rhythm. You map out your schedules, find your best windows of time, and lay down some phrases.
And then you miss a day. Or skip it. And the whole train derails.
That's been my story for years, and it's a hard habit to break. Luckily for you, I'm not here to script-shame. I'm here to help. And I've got the solution:
Stop thinking of "writing" as just putting one word in front of the other.
Writing is a process, and only a part of that process involves creating new words. That may sound like hipster nonsense, but follow me. When you want to tell a story, you don't just start telling a story. You plan. You craft. You outline. If you're writing professionally, you probably have some method of setting up your history and characters prior to actually setting things down in the world.
Imagine you're building a huge diorama. You've got a big empty table, lumps of material, and a story to tell. You don't start by placing the characters. You start by creating the world, imagining the history, and setting up the backdrop.
Some days, you will sit down in front of your computer and absolutely destroy your word count. Your rapid typing will send up smoke clouds, obscuring the screen until you can't even see the text. Other days, you'll sit in your chair and imagine if you should ship different characters and maybe add some alien sex stuff.
Both are okay.
It's okay not to write every day. But, and this is HUGE but, do SOMETHING every day. Live in your universe a little...every day. Think about story beats...every day. Listen to your characters' voices...every day.
Carve out time and make it your job to sit down and do the work. If you want to be paid for this, you have to earn it. That means work. Writing can be an absolute blast, but it can also be a job.
Always be write.
With that said, I have found a new outlet to kickstart my writing times. I like to do prompts before I sit down into my own worlds, and sometimes I don't have a place to set those stories free. No longer!
I will be posting exclusive stories to Curious Fictions, a brand new site where you can read stories from authors all over the globe. And, if you want, you can support them with a little scotch money. Think of it as Patreon, but for all the short stories you could ever want.
I will still be writing books, still posting some stories and scripts here for free, but I would love to see you guys over there as well. Drop by, have a look, and let me know if you sign up.