Write Every Day

I am a writer. I haven’t published much, except on these platforms for writers on Medium, on Substack, Facebook, and on two other personal websites, Talking to Spirit, and on my author’s website, PaulineEvanosky.com, and now on VocalMedia. Five years ago, I was a wannabe writer. This year, I can say I am a writer. What exactly is different between those two points? Over 1,000 articles. Taken separately, I’d say okay, so what else? Added together like I just did, I’m wondering why I don’t have a book project going. Ah, that’s for another day.

My secret? Write every day. Even if I don’t feel like it. I have this mantra that spins in the back of my head: Writers write. It’s not prize-worthy stuff, though sometimes, if I can gather anything from the comments people leave for me, I do tend to hit nerves. That’s okay. That’s what I want to do. In a good way.

I’m 70 years old these days. Retired from office work, yet still somewhat organized in my thinking. Not my study. If my husband comes into my writing room and starts looking at stuff, I tell him, “Don’t even think about it.” He recently did one of those Swedish Death Cleanings on his stuff. Not the first time, but he’s eight years older than I am. His mind works differently. He has his own projects to work on. The latest is to work on a documentary with one of the colleges in the area. He’s a teacher at heart, a historian in his bones, and a writer who has several books that he works on periodically.

I have kept a personal journal for years. I keep it on my computer and start new ones when they get too large for it to handle anymore. I don’t really go back to read them except to try to figure out when we bought the last refrigerator or something like that. It’s my sandbox where I can dig and throw sand, cry, and laugh to my heart’s content.

I have another file where I limit myself to short daily entries. I try to get into that one every morning. I don’t always do it, but over time, it’s becoming an important part of my writing day. I call it my Do-Good File. It started out as a Do-Better file, but it wasn’t long before I changed the name to Do-Good File. It began after reading James Clear’s book Atomic Habits. Actually, I didn’t get very far in the book. That first habit was the one that did it for me. He said, when you get out of bed in the morning, and as your feet hit the floor, think of something motivating. The idea was to start your day on a good foot.

I was already familiar with people suggesting you name something that you’re grateful for. I stayed with the motivating thought. The problem with that is I wasn’t always in the best of moods when my feet hit the floor. Also, I kept forgetting to do it in lieu of making my way to the bathroom. Of course, I could have done my thinking on the toilet and called the file "Do Good on the Toilet," which would have been funny, though not practical, since I wouldn't have had my computer at hand to record my thoughts.

So, I changed a few things around. I countered with the idea that, because I was a writer, I was more likely to do the good-habit thing on paper than just think about it. It’s actually worked very well to the point where sometimes I’ll get an article out of those short entries. They’re usually 150 words or thereabouts. This morning’s entry was 237 words, but then I was talking about my end-of-month writerly accounting chores. For instance, it is looking like I’m going to break 62,000 words written this month. That’s what I was aiming for.

That’s another thing I do. I count whatever I’ve written during the day. This allows me to meet my goal of publishing 11 articles each week. The counting of words happened years ago when I began participating in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) writing challenges, where you attempted to write a book in a month’s time. Saving up all my writing for the weekend just wasn’t getting things done. This is when I began getting up earlier than I needed to on workdays, writing for an hour or two before work, and also writing into the night after I’d gotten home. I know it can be done. I did it for years.

For me not to drift, it’s important that I keep track of what I’m doing. Also, at 70, the timer is ticking, so I don’t want to waste any time.

Anyway, it’s a writer’s life for me. A dream that I’ve had since I was a little girl. But because there was no practical application at the time, I was not encouraged to write. It does not anger me that I was not supported during those years. But it sure taught me to stand up for my dreams and to fight for them.

A little structure in your writerly habits is a good thing. If anything, you could pretend it is a job, and you have an obligation to write whether or not somebody is paying you.

Thanks for reading.

Pauline E.