1) It’s easier. It’s easier to do something every day than it is to do it sometimes. Habit forms by consistency, and when we can stop thinking about it, trying to squeeze it in, wondering if we’ll do it, and instead just do it—for however brief a time span—we save time by not thinking and angsting and fiddling with our schedules.
2) Repetitions build power. Writing muscles, like other, less metaphorical muscles, strengthen. What is hard the first time gets easier with practice.
3) Pages accrue. Someone said, “Save a little bit of money each month, and at the end of the year, you’ll be surprised at how little money you have.” This is one of my favorite lines, but it’s not true about writing. Write a page each day and you’ll have a novel’s worth of pages at the end of a year.
4) Prose requires practice. Like a pianist or a football player, the writer not only gets stronger, more capable, with practice, s/he gets better, too. The writing improves—on the level of story and language.
5) You love it. Remember? You started writing because you love to write. You love story and character and language. You love reading for the same reasons, and the daily writer comes the closest to experiencing her or his book the way a reader does—with curiosity, connection, and new ideas that pop up in the imagination.
Hi Elizabeth,
You wrote a novel about Kafka! Can’t wait to read it. He’s my main man,
I wrote a play called “The Hunger Artist” weaving together Kafka’s short story “The Hunger Artist” , his terrifying father, and his unconsummated love affairs. Best, Lynne
Ooh–Lynne, that sounds fabulous! When my book finally sees the light of day, perhaps we can do a Kafka event together . . .