How to write more: Write less
Living is why you're here
“Do without doing.” –Tao Te Ching
I know, for someone who writes about writing, I spend a surprising amount of words telling people not to write.
I do believe we need to write sometimes, but I also think that we need more than writing. And that can mean we need less writing.
If trying to write every day or meet a word/page count isn’t working, scale back. Give yourself micro-goals: 5 minutes a day or just one line. Stick to those limits and see if you want to write more, but don’t deny yourself credit for meeting these micro-goals.
Try writing less often. You don’t need to write every day or even every week — I know of a middle-grade fiction author who’s also a teacher, and he doesn’t make plans to write at all during the school year. In the summer, he takes one month to go on a writing retreat and work on his projects. It’s how he’s been able to write and publish several books — he’s still a writer, even when he’s not writing.
So are you.
Take your focus wider and look at a week, month, or quarter. Schedule some writing sessions or set a number of times that you’ll write during that time period, instead of holding yourself under daily pressure.
Get off the page. If you have to choose between writing and living, take the opportunity to get out of your head. I’m not saying to never choose writing, but if writing is feeling unproductive and you’re sacrificing time with loved ones, yourself, or new experiences to stare at blank pages, get outside. Talk to people, go somewhere new or familiar and comforting, move your body, watch a movie, watch the sky. You’ll probably have more to write about when you do return to the page, but even if you don’t, living is why you’re here.
How else can you write less? Take something off your plate and leave it here.
Thanks for reading! I’m Priscilla, a writer & editor based in Yucatán, Mexico. I run the Wildflower Creative Collective, a community for writers, and I host monthly virtual writing spaces for paid subscribers here. Check out my website or IG for more opportunities to connect. I hope we get to write together soon!