✍️ Desk of Amy Suto: 5 Reasons to Cultivate a Daily Writing Habit
The benefits of writing every day.
📖 3-Minute Story: 5 Reasons to Cultivate a Daily Writing Habit
A little over a year ago, I was sitting on my sunny patio off of the apartment I was renting for a month in Valencia, Spain. My book Six-Figure Freelance Writer had launched a few months prior, and I was missing having a “project” to dedicate some good ol’ blood, sweat, and tears to.
As the sun settled nicely on the courtyard, I sipped my espresso and wondered why I even needed a project to keep up a daily writing habit.
Why couldn’t I just write every day… just because?
This, my friends, is the origin of this Substack: a way to hold me accountable to writing daily and publishing weekly.
These days, I’ve not only kept up my weekly Substack posts. I’ve also written my debut work of fiction (The Nomad Detective comes out August 1st!!) in addition to continuing my work ghostwriting memoirs for my amazing clients.
All of my momentum can be traced back to that commitment to cultivating a daily writing habit.
My daily writing habit is simple: each day I have to write something for at least an hour or two. As long as I show up on the page, it’s a good day.
Here are the 5 reasons why you should write daily:
Committing to showing up on the page every day improves your creativity. Creativity is a muscle, and if you’re showing up each day flexing that muscle, you’re going to be so swole in the idea generation department. Writing daily is the easiest way to get better, more creative ideas at your fingertips.
Writing daily reduces stress. It’s gotten to the point where I find being away from the page causes me stress! If I’m not writing I feel disconnected from myself, my inner world, and whatever magical “purpose” I’ve been put on this chunk of floating rock to accomplish. But on a basic level, writing is a stress reliever because it allows us to work out whatever we’re thinking about — one word at a time. It slows our thoughts down and forces us to grab a mental shovel and dig through some of that dirt that’s been cluttering up our minds. Write for 30 days in a row and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
Writing (and publishing your work!) connects you with a broader community. I’ve connected with so many amazing writers, readers, and new friends through this Substack newsletter as well as through my books and even just my written social media posts! When we write, we open up the book of our lives for others to check out and find new ways to relate to us. That’s why writing brings people together over physical and digital campfires all over the world.
Writing daily improves your writing at a rapid pace. I’m a better writer because I sit here slingin’ words even when I’m tired from having recently given up caffeine (which I do on a regular basis to remind myself that even though I’m just a silly mortal, I still have the willpower to give up my favorite substances!)
The easiest way to write a book is to chip away at it every day. If you’re a National Novel Writing Month graduate like me, you know that a 50,000-word draft is super doable when you break it down into 1,666 chunks each day. That’s just 3-4 word processor pages worth of writing! You can totally write 3-4 pages a day. No matter what your writing goal is, it’s better to approach it in bite-sized chunks.
✍️ So here’s to picking up the proverbial pen each day to make your writing dreams come true!
Here are more posts of mine you may find interesting:
✨ 2 Things I’ve Read and Loved This Week…
I’m three books deep into the From Blood and Ash series by Jennifer Armentrout, which is what a lot of readers recommend checking out after ACOTAR. While I think the plot is a bit less compelling than ACOTAR, it’s still a fun read with some surprising twists.
I loved this post on the “underconsumption” trend going on right now. I also giggled at a quote in here about how that viral NY Times “best books of the century” has zero authors under the age of 40 on it. This list also has so many books that are a total slog to get through. Just your daily reminder that a lot of media overlooks or looks down on popular books readers truly love.
✍️ 1 Journal Prompt
The Unintended Consequence. Write a scene where an action taken with good intentions leads to unforeseen and potentially disastrous results. What was the original action? What are its ripple effects? How does the character deal with the fallout?
Feel free to share anything that came up for you in the comments:
💻 New Blog Posts on AmySuto.com
📸 Photo of the Week: Quiet Writing Days in Krakow
It’s been a month of slow walks in the park and mornings spent at my desk around here as I wrap up editing The Nomad Detective: Volume I ahead of my deadline. Can’t wait for you to read it come August 1st!
Follow me on Substack Notes, Instagram, and Twitter/X for more!
Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,
-Amy
p.s. I create my newsletter voiceovers and my podcast episodes using the tool Wondercraft AI, a text-to-speech tool that speaks in YOUR voice. 🎙 Use my code SUTO50 or this link to get started on Wondercraft!(paid/affiliate link)
I've been doing a NaNoWriMo-style writing challenge this month and it's been a game changer! I haven't produced this in ages (probably since I last did NaNoWriMo as a teenager). Now, most of it is BAD, but there's been some fruitful stuff! It's been nice letting go of any ideas of quality just to get stuff flowing onto the page.
I'm about 2,000 words deep into today's writing, which is about calculating my travel costs and travel carbon footprint for 2023. Appreciating that Notion is counting every number as a word!