When we gathered for this week’s webinar, our shared goal was clear: to talk about creating a consistent writing schedule. Many writers come into a new year wanting structure and regularity in their writing lives.
However, before talking about consistent writing schedules, I pointed out something that needs to be acknowledged: the world is different. The pace at which we operate and the pressures we experience are not the same as even a few years ago. So if writing and finding the time to write seems more challenging with each passing year, it’s not because you’re failing.
Going Deeper
Before we build schedules or set goals, we need to reconnect with our writerliness. Mirriam-Webster defines writerly as “relating to or typical of a writer.” This definition is broad and includes the craft and quality of writing. But I believe it’s more.
Writerliness isn’t about productivity or performance. It isn’t measured by word counts or publishing timelines. Writerliness is the part of you that needs to write to be happy. It’s a passion for story and a feeling of not being whole if we aren’t writing. It’s a state we are in before trying make the writing good, polished, or successful.
When writers lose touch with that part of themselves, no schedule in the world will help. Consistency without connection becomes pressure. And pressure is one of the fastest ways develop blocks.
Writing Begins Before You Sit Down
In this chaotic world, writers need to realize that writing doesn’t always begin at the desk and can be done in places you may not have considered. Inspiration strikes when standing in line at the grocery or post office, walking past a bakery, or even during late sleepless nights. The trick is to be prepared to capture the inspiration in the moment. I shared that I use the dictation tool in my email. I dictate, and my words are emailed to myself. Later, I’ll compile my texts into a document to organize and write.
If this sounds unconventional, it’s because writers frequently treat productivity and creativity as interchangeable. They aren’t. Creativity thrives on space and freedom. Productivity follows structure and is measured in word and page counts.
Letting Go of the Old Rules
Productivity goals lead to another challenge for writers: the belief that they should always be “further along.” Our inner critic has a preconceived notion of what constitutes success. But writing doesn’t move in straight lines. It circles back and often starts over, each time becoming stronger. And when you release the old way of thinking about how your writing schedule should look, you make space for what actually works now.
Consistency Grows From Kindness
Writerliness and a consistent schedule don’t come from forcing yourself to show up at a certain time each day. Consistency begins with trusting yourself to finally put away what hasn’t worked and discover time during the everyday grind of life.
The Next Step
On January 27, we’ll meet again and move from reconnecting with your writerliness to structuring a writing practice that feels doable, kind, and sustainable. I’d love to see you there.
Here’s to your personal success,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
Webinar: Structure Your Writing Life
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The world has changed—and your writing life needs a new structure to match it. This session invites you to release outdated expectations and reconnect with writerliness. Together, we’ll explore a better way to organize your writing in and around your life to create an organic schedule that works.
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I am a storyteller. Always have been. Not professionally, though I do teach and write, but psychologically. I instinctively shape experience into narrative. Most of us do.
Story is how we interpret reality, how we organize the chaos, how we make meaning. It is also how we protect ourselves.
(Read the full article here on Substack.)
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Offering a unique creativity-and-time-management technique, Word of the Day is a practice that assists writers to create at will, write as much as they want, and acquire accurate self-acknowledgement in the process.
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