Thursday Review—Write Every Day

by Lynn H. Blackburn

So how much writing did you get done this summer?

Every time someone asks me this, I have to fight an intense desire to slink away in shame. Instead, I mumble something about being busy with the kids and vacation because I hate to tell them the truth.

How much did I write this summer? Not much.

Now I know some of you are going to try to tell me that it’s okay. I have young children. I’m not going to get much writing done during the summer. But the truth is, I wasn’t getting much writing done before summer started.

I’ve been stuck for a while.

So when a Writer’s Digest email popped up in my inbox with the words WRITE EVERY DAY: How to Write Faster and More in the title, it took my fingers less than a minute (thanks to the wonders of one-click ordering) to download that title to my Kindle app.

At $2.99, I figured I didn’t have much to lose. Even if I got one decent tip, it would be worth it.

It was.

From the first page, I liked author Cathy Yardley’s style. Her writing is very conversational and she makes snide remarks in all the right places. When I’m struggling to find the desire to crack open my laptop, I don’t need someone singing me the joys of the writing life. A little bit of snark was just what was needed. (Someone tell me they know what I mean here!)

Her tips are not necessarily anything I haven’t heard before, but they were presented in the most practical way I’ve seen yet.

She claims this book will help you do three things:

• Identify what’s getting in the way of your writing.
• Pin down solutions to those things.
• Give you an action plan to get the writing done.

The book did exactly what she claimed, at least for this writer. Not too shabby for a $2.99 e-book. 

I appreciated the way she takes all the things I’ve ever heard and tried that haven’t worked (just do it, carry around a notebook, write in 5-minute blocks), and explained why they work fine for some people but not others.

I also appreciated how she takes ideas that do work for me (finding the right spot, having a decent block of time, taking care of my inner artist which sounds hokey but really does make a difference) and explained how to make them work better.

Reading this book won’t solve your writing issues, but if you do the exercises and think through the issues, you just might find yourself writing faster and writing more.

Maybe even writing every day.

Lynn Huggins Blackburn has been telling herself stories since she was five and finally started writing them down. She blogs about faith, family, and her writing journey on her blog Out of the Boat. Lynn is a member of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and the Word Weavers, Greenville. She lives in South Carolina where she hangs out with three lively children, one fabulous man, and a cast of imaginary characters who find their way onto the pages of her still unpublished novels. She drinks a lot of coffee.