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The SITS Girls

The Secret to Success is Support

You Don’t Have To Publish Every Day, But You Do Have To Write

· Sarah White

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Toward the end of last year, I decided I wanted to try posting on my blog every day this year. I wanted to prove it was possible to do something creative every day by posting a project idea, however small, and finally living up to the name of my blog, Our Daily Craft.

In retrospect it was kind of a crazy idea, and I didn’t put a lot of thought into how exactly it was going to happen.

I made it through the end of May, publishing at least daily, including weekends. In fact, I published 236 posts in those five months, or about 47 per month, 11 per week.

Then I published four posts in June.

I had a lot of reasons for stopping. My schedule got crazy with my daughter being home, me working at her school and our family going on vacation.

I got the feeling no one would be disappointed or even notice if I stopped posting daily. No one would miss it, including me.

There are a lot of posts in there I am proud of, but posting just for the sake of posting isn’t the best way to go about building your blog.

But just because you don’t have to publish every day doesn’t mean you don’t have to write every day.

Writing every day is a practice that will help you become a stronger writer. A great way to do this is morning pages. You won't publish this material, but the exercise will help you grow.

Why Write Every Day

Writing is a craft and a skill. You get better at it the more you do it. In fact, the only way to write better is to write more.

Your writing won’t improve if you only do it when you want to, when you feel like it, when you have something to say. You have to work at it, every day, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.

Writing daily is a practice like exercise or meditation that will improve your life and get easier the more you do it. Try it for a month and you’ll see what I mean.

Morning Pages or How to Write Every Day

I am a huge proponent of morning pages, an idea popularized by Julia Cameron. Grab a notebook and a pen (it really is different, and better, than writing on a computer) and write three pages, in the morning, every day.

My morning pages aren’t always done in the morning, and they aren’t always three pages, but the daily commitment to writing something is vital. I’ve done morning pages off and on for years, and while they’re rarely publishable that’s not really the point. It’s about the practice of writing, building muscles.

You don’t have to write three pages in the morning. You could do 10 minutes after work, or a couple of pages after the kids go to bed. Whatever works for you. The point is doing it in a way that you will continue.

How to Use Your Daily Writing

Morning pages are not meant to be a work of art or even something you would want to share with other people. They are a way to explore what’s on your mind, a place to vent, explore your goals and dreams, whatever you want or need them to be.

Sometimes I write something that will become the seed of a blog post or article in my pages, but that isn’t really the goal.

Writing without an audience is so important. When you know no one is going to see what you’re writing, you’re free to write what and how you want to write.

You learn to trust your voice when you hear it all the time. You can write without fear when you know that no one else is going to read it, and that confidence can spread into the rest of your writing.

Do you write every day, even when you’re not publishing every day? I’d love to hear what your daily writing routine is like!

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About Sarah White

Sarah is a freelance writer, editor, crafter, blogger and mom living in Arkansas. She writes the knitting websites for About.com and CraftGossip.com as well as her own blog, Our Daily Craft, where she writes about crafting with and for kids, creativity for moms and other busy people, and creating the life you've always wanted. She's the author of three knitting books and is always looking for ways to craft a little more fun in her days. Her six-year-old daughter and geeky husband keep her busy and full of project ideas. Keep up with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.

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Comments

  1. WebxTechnology says

    The best part of the above article is that it not only tell how to write but it is also motivating the writer to write out daily and improve the writing day by day.

  2. India says

    I am making a conscious effort to write a diary again, I used to many years ago and from time to time I have stopped, but if I do not write it for a couple of days I have to catch up. Meanwhile I write the blog, other random things and am finding it far easier to express what goes through my mind. The diaries may come and go, but writing in some form or another is happening, this year at least.