Writing Can Be Hard

No matter how much I love to write, sometimes it’s just hard. I don’t mean having writer’s block, although sometimes that’s an issue too.

It can be a challenge to find the motivation, or it can be a challenge to find the time.

I’ve been a professional writer for more than 20 years, and no matter how many obstacles I discover there’s one tip I use to keep writing.

Tip: Give Yourself Doable Writing Assignments

If you look up posts about how many words you should write a day, you’ll see many articles with information about how to increase your word count to make yourself more productive. I had some things to say about writers’ obsessions with productivity here.

Increasing our word count isn’t necessarily a good thing. Yes, you’ll write more words, but more isn’t always better. Besides, if you expect yourself to write 3000 words a day, a number that isn’t feasible for you, then you won’t write at all, which is a shame. Doable writing assignments, writing as little as 100 words a day, may be necessary to help us through those difficult times when writing seems to be an impossible task.

In Bird By Bird, Anne Lamott calls them short assignments–writing only what you can see through a one-inch picture frame. Choose a snippet of a scene you want to write and write that only. This way you’re not pressuring yourself to write an entire book. You’re writing one moment from your scene, and that is a doable assignment.

When I’m writing a first draft, which is the hardest part of writing for me (when I mop the floors instead of writing, and I hate mopping the floors) I write 500 words a day. I don’t stop at 500 words all the time. If I’m in the flow, or in the middle of a thought that I want to see to the end, I’ll keep going.

I’ve been writing long enough that I can punch out 500 words in about 15-20 minutes if I write stream-of-consciousness, which is how I like to write my first draft. I let the ideas flow in the first draft. I’ll figure out how to make sense of it all later. I’ve been writing long enough to know that the story will reveal itself when it’s ready.

500 words a day works for me because it’s not so much that it feels overwhelming, which is always when I put my writing projects aside, but it’s enough to keep the story moving forward. For me, that’s enough. I make progress every day, and if I write Monday through Friday then that’s 2500 words I wrote that week.

How Many Words a Day Should You Write?

That’s a trick question, actually. It depends on your circumstances, how much experience you have as a writer, and how much time you have to devote to writing. Experiment and see what works for you. As long as you’re making time to work toward your goal, whether you’re writing a novel, a memoir, a play, an essay, or anything else, all is well. Maybe you’d do well with a 1000-word-a-day goal. Maybe you’d write more consistently with a smaller goal like 300 words. Whatever that number is for you, do it.

It can be easy to get sucked up into someone else’s idea of how many words a day you should write. It takes time and patience to discover your own best practices.

You Don’t Need To Write Every Day

I know there’s that old saying about how you must write every day. No, you don’t. You don’t need to write at the same time every day either. If you want to be a writer, then yes, you do need to set aside time to write. I suggest writing most days of the week to get into the habit of writing. When you’re in the habit, it’s easier to find the words or the ideas you want. I write during the weekdays and give myself the weekend off. I’ve been doing that for about 20 years now, so that works for me.

Perhaps you’d do better if you write every day. Wonderful! Perhaps you can only find writing time two or three days a week. Superb! Be sure to schedule that time for yourself so you can work towards completing those projects that have been tugging at your heartstrings.

When writing is hard, it’s best to give yourself doable assignments. Don’t listen to anyone but yourself. You get to determine how many words a day you write. If you started with 400 words and realize you’re easily doing 700, then you can try raising your word count. If you set yourself a larger goal like 3000 words and find that it isn’t doable for you, it’s okay to decide that something smaller but more achievable is better.

As writers, our lives are always fluctuating. What worked for us last year, or even pre-COVID, may not work for us now. We can change our goals to reflect the current reality of our lives. We can change anything at any time. That is one of the many joys of being a writer.