Unpopular opinion: writing every single day is a bad habit for most beginners

I spent 6 months forcing myself to write daily and got burnt out with nothing usable, but switching to 3 focused sessions per week with a $5 outline template actually got me to finish my first draft last month. Anyone else find that pushing for consistency just kills your quality?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugobarnes9d ago

Man, I used to be one of those 'write every day no excuses' people. I'd grind out 500 words of garbage every morning before work and just felt drained. Then I tried the three-day-a-week thing with a loose outline, and wow, it's like my brain actually had time to think between sessions. The sentences came out cleaner, I stopped deleting half of what I wrote, and the whole thing just clicked.

the_betty9d ago

Same thing happened to me. I thought daily writing was the only way to get better, but I just ended up hating the whole process. Three solid sessions a week where I actually plan what I'm going to write before I sit down made all the difference. My brain works way better when it has time to marinate on the story between sessions. Have you noticed your characters feel more real now that you're not rushing through it?