Tiemestari, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, no changes made

I always took weekends off.

Including from writing, which after all is “work,” right?

For decades I’ve made a point of working on a current writing project five days a week, even if only an hour (or less) per day. Which I’ve always recommended to others. To make it a daily practice.

At least a “weekday” practice.

But recently I’ve tried something new: 7 days a week writing.

And I love it. 

It’s all about momentum, and keeping the project alive in my mind in an ongoing way.

Traditionally writing on Mondays has tended to be a slog where I kind of forget where I left off and there’s a lot of inertia, and a sense of a cold start.

Now writing is more like hygiene almost – I do it every day because it’s just part of my daily necessities. And it’s never fully set aside, not for a weekend or even a day.

That doesn’t mean the weekends have to look the same as the weekdays. I might find a different time of day to check in with my project – compared to my set routines Monday-Friday.

And “checking in” is a great way to think about it. It takes the “work” stink off of it. I’ve written about this before. I want to be playful, open, relaxed, curious, non-judgmental when creating. Not “working.”

In some ways the biggest part of the “work” is to get into that “non-work” kind of state, where ideas and good writing tend to flow best.

So you can tell yourself that some time on Saturday you’re just going to “check in.” Maybe for 20 minutes even. Read over where you left off yesterday. With no sense of obligation. Just to keep it active and alive.

Even if I’m just looking things over, to keep it fresh in my mind, invariably I then find myself doing some new work after checking in. Freed up by not “having to,” I find I want to.

Consider whether you can make your daily practice consistently like that, every day. Eager to move it forward, lightly checking in, willing to see what comes next – being a kind of midwife to a creative process.

For me, checking in doesn’t necessarily mean reading recent scene pages or reviewing an entire outline, or for that matter, anything that’s focused on “organized, methodical productivity.”

It might start with going to yesterday’s entry in my running notes document where I talk to myself about where things are at, how I feel about it, and what seems like it needs done or changed or explored.

Then I try to set my mind to some small achievable task, rather than getting intimidated by all there is to do, or to fix, or to get “right.” Definitely not focused on “what’s wrong,” but rather, “what can make it even better.” (There’s a time and place for hard-nosed self-critiquing and getting feedback, though, don’t get me wrong.) 

I find it’s good to always know what the next task might be, something I can tackle in a small block of time. Often it’s just about exploring what I don’t know or have yet – about my characters, back story, motivations, alternate decisions and actions, potential new story elements or scenes.

And then making some progress in that direction.

The daily goal is not a certain number of pages or tasks completed necessarily. Instead it’s just about forward motion of some kind. Tackling what feels like it’s next to tackle. And seeing where that takes me.

I’ve been doing this a very long time. And have learned a lot about what works for me in terms of process and what doesn’t. What keeps me feeling good vs. terrible. Which is extremely important.

But what I never did until about a month ago was resolve to “check in” every day. Which is the same as saying “write every day.”

I’m finding my project is more a part of my ongoing consciousness, a friend even, and it’s no big deal to get started and keep it moving each day. And by thinking small each day in terms of what I’m there to do, I free myself up to get in the right kind of mood for it. 

If you’ve never tried it, try it! Let me know how it goes…