Jan 24
When You Write Daily, Something Amazing Happens
If you’ve been on Medium for a minute, you’ve seen the stories encouraging you to write. Do a 30-Day Challenge. Write three stories a day. A story a day for 365 days.
And if you’ve been a writer for any length of time, you’ve heard similar advice from a teacher or mentor. There’s a reason.
Daily writing gets you writing daily.
I’ve struggled most of my life with consistency. In my youth I found that I relied heavily on my natural abilities to carry me through rather than doing the daily work. I had a dance instructor who told me I could have been so much more if I just applied myself. She wasn’t wrong. I was good, but I could have been better if I had practiced.
So, apply yourself to writing!
Some of the Medium articles encourage you to write and post daily. It makes sense to build up your catalog of work, and when you finish your 30-Day Challenge, you’ll have a bunch of published stories.
But you don’t have to do it that way. I know it’s hard to resist building your work catalog and perhaps the hope of earning money from them is too strong of a pull to resist. However, there’s something to be gained from letting a story sit for a day or so.
My last post before this one was five days ago. Seems like an eternity in the fast cranking Medium world. But trust me, I’ve been writing. But sometimes your words need to rest on the page for a little while so you can come back with fresh eyes to edit. Because yes, you need to edit.
Yesterday I cranked out four thousand words without agonizing over it. I worked on a fiction short story I plan on submitting to a contest. I didn’t stare at the blank page and agonize. I wrote and edited along the way. I’ll go back and look at it tomorrow to edit some more and see how I can improve it.
I’ve been writing daily for two weeks and the writing muscle is getting stronger.
Just remember, not every story you write is a gem. But the more you write the better shot you have at that goal.
So listen to the advice of my former dance instructor: apply yourself. Write daily and see an increase in skill as well as volume.
If you like what you’re reading, please follow me. Thanks!
