How to find balance and be a happy writer
Don't punish yourself for not writing every day
Somehow we’re at the end of October. Alarming, but here we are. I hope the summer treated you more kindly than 2020’s. Remember when non-writer friends told us that we could ‘finally finish that novel’ when lockdown first hit?
A lot of writing advice focuses on the need to write every day. Today’s post is all about why I think that can often be unhelpful, unfair and unhealthy.
Meanwhile, don’t forget to go grab a load of free ebooks - including my YA novel No Adults Allowed - in the Fight The Monster giveaway.
If you missed last week’s Tales from the Triverse chapter, you can catch up here:
OK, on with the show.
Serialisation requires a commitment that is slightly different to writing a novel. After all, if you’re writing a novel you’re making a promise to yourself (and possibly your agent, or publisher), which means it’s up to you what you do with the project. You can put it on hold, abandon it, and nobody will know. When serialising a story, the promise is to the readers, and you don’t want to let them down.
You also don’t want to put yourself under unnecessary pressure. After all, serialisation should be fun and if done right it should help you write more. If it stresses you out then something’s gone wrong. This is why it is critical to figure out a couple of things in advance, so that you set realistic targets for yourself and your readers.
Healthy writer = better writing. There’s no need to suffer for your art, no matter the rumours to the contrary.
Finding your balance
I used to have intensive bursts of creativity that would last a few weeks, perhaps once or twice a year, separated by far lengthier periods of inactivity. While that can get results, it takes a long time, is unpredictable and is no way to build a useful writing career. It's all too easy for weeks or months to go by with nothing to show for it.
The mistake I made was listening to the overwhelming avalanche of writing advice that focuses on a single tip: that you must write every day. The unspoken implication being that if you are unable to manage this, then, well, you’re not really a writer, are you?
If you’re able to write every day without any problems, then that’s great - you probably don’t need to listen to me. Chances are, though, that the majority of writers struggle to hit this lofty goal.
Writing every day requires a bunch of pre-requisites:
A space in which to write
Time in which you have no other responsibilities
A space in which you will not be disturbed while writing
There are certain lifestyles which make these easier to obtain than others. If you are a parent, have to work full-time job (or multiple jobs), have a mortgage or rent to pay, a partner to spend time with, or simply live in a relatively small shared home or apartment, then you’re going to immediately struggle.
Being a full-time writer is a luxury. Writing every day is a luxury. We can absolutely strive for it, but it’s important to recognise up front that we’re talking about a privileged lifestyle. Many of us will not be able to write every day - and that is OK.
Ever notice how the advice to write every day tends to come from middle-class, male writers in their fifties and sixties?
The great thing about writing a serial is that it comes with a built-in schedule, one where you get to determine the frequency. Sure, some release models are more likely to click with readers than others, but ultimately you’re in charge. Set your schedule and start the loop: plan, write, proof, publish, repeat.
It comes down to being honest about your life and how much time you have for writing. This isn’t about how much time you’d like to have. There’s nothing worse than starting off with an overly optimistic plan and being forced to rework it a few weeks into serialising a story. That will create an immediate sense of failure, you’ll be demoralised, and the project will be in trouble - plus you’ll confuse your readers.
Back in 2015, after taking a look at all the stuff I did and responsibilities I had, I figured that I could dedicate one whole evening a week to writing. Come 8pm when my son was asleep, I could disappear into my study and do nothing but write. No interruptions or excuses. It was a commitment I could handle, and an agreement I made with my wife. My being a writer wouldn't interfere with being a good dad, husband or friend. If time allowed, I would write more on other days, but I wouldn’t stress if it came down to only that one evening.
A single evening doesn’t sound like much, does it? But a single evening of writing per week that remains entirely consistent is much more useful and powerful than intermittent bursts of activity with massive gaps in-between. It’s what enabled me to serialise my first book, A Day of Faces, sticking to a weekly release schedule throughout.
Finding the correct balance is not only critical to successful serial writing; it's also essential for earning the support and respect of those around you and being a happy writer. If you start skipping lessons, falling asleep on the job, avoiding the housework or ignoring your kids, then you’re doing it wrong. You don’t want your writing to be in opposition to or in conflict with your family life or any other responsibilities, because it’ll make everything worse - including the writing.
Your particular balance will be different to mine. It could be a lot more time or even less. Estimate how much time per week you can dedicate, then halve it, because you'll almost certainly be overly optimistic at first. To misquote Dr Ian Malcolm, life gets in the way. The reality is that you can always try to do more, but if you start too hot and too fast and then have to scale back, it’s going to be tough to keep going.
In terms of recommendations, I'd suggest aiming for at least one writing session per week. That way you know you'll be able to craft at least one whole chapter per week (assuming about 1-2k words in a chapter - more on word counts later), which feeds perfectly into a weekly serial release plan. Any less than that and you risk losing momentum, not to mention requiring you to build up a significant buffer before you start publishing. Even with that said, though, go with whatever works for you. Consistency is the important criteria here, not frequency.
Here’s the other thing about the write every day mantra that I’ve only heard a handful of writers talk about. If you focus only on getting words on the page, you’re missing out on the huge benefits of what happens in-between writing sessions. Many of my better ideas have come about in-between my weekly writing sessions, and I suspect that wouldn’t have happened if I’d been ploughing ahead every single day. Giving your brain space to breathe also gives ideas the space to grow and deepen. Don’t think of periods in which you’re not actively writing as being unproductive, as you’ll find over time that you’re essentially constantly working on the project, even if you’re only committing words to the page at weekly intervals. Each time you get back to the keyboard, or the pen, your imagination will be refreshed and ready to go, with a bunch of new concepts and ideas that weren’t there the previous week.
Focus on the minimum writing time
This might already be obvious, but I’m not at all about maximising everything as a writer. Bigger word counts! Write every day! Finish five books in a year! None of that interests me or seems practical. If you’re able to do that, then that’s wonderful, but don’t feel pressured or ashamed if you can’t.
I used to obsess over how to increase my weekly or monthly word count. Writing was a race to get more words down. A consequence of that is that it feels increasingly like a job, or a chore, and it becomes more about the metrics than the story. And while I’d occasionally hit my lofty word targets and feel good, inevitably I’d miss more often than I’d hit and would have the subsequent downer.
At some point I switched from setting ambitious targets to establishing minimum thresholds. Easily accomplished, this reverse psychology instead gives me a positive boost and I usually end up writing more anyway. I also shifted the emphasis from word count to time. Word count is, after all, entirely arbitrary and says nothing about the quality of those words. Far more useful to set time targets. I will spend at least an hour this week doing some writing. Or, I will spend at least ten minutes every day thinking about the project before I even think about watching TV.
For those of you who work in product development or marketing, this is the Minimum Viable Product approach to writing. Stop stressing yourself out over not being good enough, or not writing enough, and set yourself an easily achievable target. I promise you, you’ll end up writing more anyway. And you’ll feel good about it at the end of the week.
Thanks for reading, as ever. I’m very excited because this Friday Tales from the Triverse debuts on Wattpad, Royal Road and other writing platforms. If you want to continue receiving the early access chapters and bonus materials you can become a paid subscriber to this newsletter. It is, of course, entirely up to you.
Thanks,
Simon K Jones
Photo reference by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash
Love the minimum threshold approach, and make it easy, but it keeps you writing. 👍I believe Dr. Ian Malcolm said "Life FINDS a way" but maybe he should have said it your way, Simon, because it always does. ;)
Can you be both a happy and serious writer? 🫤