Writing Routines and Why You Don’t Need One
- Feb 9
- 4 min read
By Liisa Kovala
One of the most common pieces of advice writers receive is to create a writing routine and, importantly, to write every day. On the surface, it sounds like a solid idea. If we want to get better at something, if we want to make progress, it makes sense to give our goal consistent and daily attention. But the reality is, this writing rule is one to break.
When I started writing seriously in my early forties, I had two children at home, a full-time job, and a host of other activities. I had started working on my first book and was taking courses towards a creative writing certificate. Write every day became a refrain that gnawed at me. I didn’t have a regular writing routine, and I certainly wasn’t writing every day, and I didn’t see how I could make it happen.
It made me feel like I wasn’t a real writer. That is, until I heard another a poet at a conference discuss her life as a mom, teacher, and writer. Suddenly, I felt validated. Writers without routines are writers, too!
After interviewing more than one hundred women for my series called Women Writing, published on Substack, and working with women as a book coach, plus my experiences as an author, I can confidently say that writing every day is bad advice and writing routines are overrated. Of course, if a writer can fit writing into their daily routine, that’s wonderful. More power to them.
For most writers, at least the writers I’ve interviewed, writing routines are as varied as the lives the women are leading. Some wake early before the children are up to get some words in. Others sneak a few minutes during lunch hour. Many others find time after work or on the weekends. But rarely do writers say they can fit in words every day. And yet the pages get done and the books written. Multi-genre author Hollay Ghadery described her busy life and having to fit in writing around it:
I have no writing schedule. At all. I write when I can find time, whenever that is. I work full time and have four young children, five chickens, three goats, and two dogs, so time doesn't present itself like a gift. I sometimes schedule writing time, the same way I schedule time to workout. The difference is I work out almost everyday. I don't actively write everyday unless I am in the throes of a longer form project.
Many of the writers I interviewed agreed that their lives just didn’t accommodate a strict routine, yet they still found dedicated time to get pages done. Cait Gordon discussed how her health impacts her writing: “I manage a dynamic chronic pain disability, so I cannot have a fixed routine for writing because I never know from one day to the next how my body will be.” While some authors adapt their writing to their physical health, others see writing not just as the act of sitting at their laptop. Mariam Pirbhai said,
I do not have a writing routine but even when I’m not tapping out words on a keyboard, I am immersed in the writing process. I am outlining. I am on the lookout for relevant research. I am plotting and brainstorming. I am creating characters and dialogue.
Writing routines also change depending on the writer’s stage of life. Young adult author, Emily De Angelis, describes the shifts in her writing routine after retirement:
For years I have struggled with my writing routine. I am retired now but my careers first as a public librarian and then as a teacher (for 30 years) took much energy and time. Couple that with motherhood and it was a challenge to get writing momentum. Since retiring, I have been better able to develop a routine. I write daily, at no prescribed time, but usually in the morning.
Memoirist Kate Gies also described the way her writing routine varies:
I’ve had structured routines on and off throughout my life. They are easily destabilized by life events (getting sick, being busy at work, family stuff, etc.). I try not to beat myself up when my routine breaks, as that makes it hard to forgive myself and start writing again. When I have a solid routine, it’s writing right when I wake up. I find the inner critic is much quieter then and my mind is free to go where it wants.
If a writing routine works, keep going. But don’t get discouraged if you don’t write every day or the time you scheduled for yourself disappears.
Keep showing up for your work-in-progress, whether that’s for a few minutes here and there, or longer blocks of time during the week. Find a writing partner, form a writing group, schedule yourself into your calendar and let your family know, or pair your writing with something you love and will do anyway, like having a latte at a local coffee shop. Let the old advice go and find your own path forward.
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