For the first time since I took up the habit at age 12, I’m not writing daily. I’ve been doing this for two reasons. One, I want to communicate and if I don’t have anything worth saying, I don’t want to spew words just to make noise. And two, I have promised myself I will never force myself to write again.
So now I have to strike a balance between writing at the expense at the rest of my life and my creativity, and getting into a habit of not writing. I need to practice the discipline without using it as a stick to beat myself with.
I think a gentle way to do this is to make sure that at some point each day, I take uninterrupted time to sit down and write. No quotas. No “this many words” or “for this length of time”. No “no matter what else is happening”. The discipline is for my creative benefit, not my detriment.
Maybe some days I will find I have nothing to say. That’s okay. Maybe some days I will find that instead of spewing words, words, words, I need to listen to what the story is trying to be or to mean. Writing may need to take the form of being quiet sometimes. Maybe instead of writing a scene, I will close my eyes and imagine the scene, with all my senses.
I don’t think it matters, as long as I check in with the writing daily and do my best to participate in the process.
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