Yes, write every day

I've seen some caterwauling on Twitter from writers who are pushing back against the common advice to write every day. Below is an example of that pushback. I'll leave the attribution off:

There are a wealth of valid reasons not to write every day. Writing is a muscle you have to work, yes; but too many people are made to feel failures against unrealistic standards.

The use of passive voice here is telling. No honest giver of advice is so Pharisaical as to claim failure to follow his advice will result in absolute failure. Anyone who "is made" to feel a failure is putting that onus on himself.

If you can't take advice without putting more pressure on yourself than you can stand, and you suffer for it to the point that you resent the advice, you may have bigger problems than an inability to write every day. Or, if a particular piece of advice doesn't help, maybe that advice wasn't meant for you; feel free, then, to ignore it.

Every writer wants to be better. One way to accomplish that is to establish a daily routine. That means writing even when you don't feel like it. It also means not getting so hung up on mediocre plotting or subpar prose that you paralyze the rest of the creative process. Move on and fix the mistakes later. That's what writing every day amounts to.

I was 40,000 words into my draft of Tendrils to the Moon when my brother-in-law got married. I didn't write at all that weekend. Am I a failure because of that? No. Life happens. I still finished the book, albeit a month late and 33,000 words over budget.

Writing a book is like running a marathon. It takes discipline. There are times during the process where you don't think you'll finish. Failure is only guaranteed when you stop trying. I'm convinced most writers fail not because they lack talent, but because they get discouraged and stop trying.

Suffering is how you know you're growing. If a goal doesn't require at least a little bit of suffering, you're not growing to reach it.

Am I being too harsh? Let me know in the comments. I'll reply as soon as I can. I invite you to read the first 4 chapters of my new sci-fi book, Seeds of Calamity, for free. If it piques your interest, get yourself a copy at Amazon. I appreciate the support!