Do You Really Write Every Day?

No. Yes. Kind of.

I remember my reaction when reading Stephen King’s On Writing to his statement that he writes every day — even Christmas and his birthday.

I will too, Stephen, I thought, as soon as I’m not so busy.

Spoiler Alert: I never achieved “not busy.”

Back in 2000, the first time I read On Writing, I was a college student working full-time at a bookstore in the mall. I was very newly married to my first husband, and already realizing I had made a terrible mistake. I didn’t have time to write — I had school and work and family and friends and this growing realization that I’d married a psychopath who enjoyed breaking my soul like toddlers enjoy breaking expensive electronics.

When I wrote Hunter’s Moon — my debut fantasy novel, available now on Amazon and anywhere you get books — I was married to my soulmate, had an elementary school child with a full schedule of extracurriculars, and had carved out a solid and advancing career in marketing. And still had family and friends.

The difference is that I no longer believed a day would come when I would be “not busy.” Not busy is a myth.

I got up at 4:30 a.m. 4 days a week to write. That gave me about 45 minutes of quiet, pre-dawn darkness to slip into Aoife’s world.

Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays I slept in. I did not write.

Sometimes, my kiddo was sick, and I stayed up all night holding her so she could sleep. Or I got sick, and stayed up all night feverish. Or my large family — parents, siblings, nieces and nephews — all spent the weekend at the beach. Or I had to go to a work event and every single second was scheduled for me.

I did not write on those days.

But, even on the days I wasn’t writing, I was still creating.

I fell asleep every night thinking about where I’d left Aoife, and where I thought she was going next. I talked about my story with anyone who would listen, but especially my first reader and best friend (my sister).

Even when I wasn’t writing, I was creating. I was working on the story.

It took me 16 months to write Hunter’s Moon. I could have done it in half the time if I wrote every day. But I’d be exhausted and possibly jobless. And I would have missed a ton of amazing memories with my daughter and family.

I wrote my novel on my terms, my schedule.

You can, too.