From Edie: Discover how to build a sustainable writing life in 2026 through reflection, renewal, and practical daily steps. Learn how to set creative goals, work through hard seasons, strengthen your writing muscle, and partner with God to create a healthy, consistent writing rhythm for the year ahead.
How Writers Can Build a Sustainable Writing Life in 2026: Reflection, Renewal, and Practical Steps Forward
by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author
We have reached the last month of 2025. How has that happened so quickly? Weren’t we just in January?
I don’t know about you, but 2025 has been a hard year in a lot of different ways. Lots of change. Lots of loss and grief personally. Major adjustments professionally.
Due to the personal loss and grief I’ve faced this year, I didn’t write as much as I normally would have. I was able to keep writing devotions, and I wrote all my various blog posts. I wrote my regular daily devotions over at AlwaysPeachy.com because that helped me process what was happening in my heart.
I did keep track of my word count for the most part, and I thought I’d check it for the purposes of this post. And I was pretty stunned. In 2025, the worst year I’ve had in a very long time, I have written more than 600,000 words.
Most of it is non-fiction, either for my subscription base or editorial content. Less of it is novels and fiction than in the past, but 600,000 words is still 600,000 words.
Is it miraculous? Well, to a certain extent, yes. I believe God is able to help us put words on a page when we don’t feel like it, but the miraculous part of it is more if the words resonate with people. The act of putting your butt in a chair and getting words on a page isn’t necessarily something only God can do through you; that is the result of wise stewardship of time and resources and creativity.
So? How do you do it? How do you make time to make words? How do you schedule your life when you’re overwhelmed with responsibilities that drain you or when you’re floundering in grief or pain that distracts you?
It will look different for every person. We are all wired in different ways, and we all process in different ways. Some of us are goal focused. Others are detail oriented. However God made you, however He wired you, the key is learning how to work together with Him to access your creativity. And then it comes down to building up your writing muscle.
Writing is a muscle. Make no mistake about that. If you don’t exercise it, it will atrophy.
December is the month where we planners like to plan, so I thought a couple of tips for a productive and sustainable (that’s the key word) writing schedule in 2026 might not go awry.
Tip 1: Give yourself space to dream.
What is it that you want to accomplish in the coming year? Don’t limit yourself at this step. Throw it out there. Nothing is too outlandish. A friend of mine used to call these “Hollywood sessions.” If you had a budget like a Hollywood blockbuster, what would you do with your life? Honestly.
Do you want to publish a book? Do you want to land a movie deal? Do you want to sign an agent? Maybe your dreams are smaller. That doesn’t make them any less important. Maybe you want to finish a manuscript. Maybe you want to create a sustainable email list. Maybe you want to develop a social media audience. Whatever you want to do, put it on the list.
Once you have that list, set it aside and pray over it. I’m not being trite or cliche. If you know Jesus and if you are seeking to do life personally and professionally with Him, you need His guidance for the next step.
Tip 2: Identify the areas where you need help.
This is a hard one. You may want to divide your Dream List into sections. Perhaps you could categorize them as Achievable Now, Achievable Later, Achievable With A Miracle. But you could divide them however you want. And maybe you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to do anything on your own; maybe you want to do everything with God. That’s amazing. Divide your list with that perspective in mind.
What can you do? Not all of us are gifted in the same way. That doesn’t make you less of an author or less of a creative person. It just makes you unique, and it means you need to learn how to leverage what only you can do against the areas where you need help.
It’s okay to ask for help, by the way. Just FYI. In case you didn’t know. (I didn’t. Just saying.)
Tip 3: Do what you can today.
Take the next right step. Maybe for you that is setting aside fifteen minutes to write a paragraph. Maybe for you that’s setting aside an hour to write 3,000 words. This step varies from person to person, as it should. Whatever the first step to reach those goals God has revealed to you are important this year, make time to do it.
If you don’t make time, it won’t happen. If you have responsibilities, work around them. If you have people in your life who need you, either ask them to help you or try to make space during the times when they aren’t around (I was a full-time caregiver for three years; it’s not comfortable but it’s possible.)
Tip 4: Try again tomorrow.
No matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are, you won’t hit your targets all the time. You won’t win every race. You will miss the mark sometimes. That’s because you’re human. Welcome to the club.
Pick yourself up. Brush yourself off. Try again tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. Build consistency. Build a routine that works for you. Keep your health in mind and plan around it. Keep your relationships in mind and work around them; even better, get your loved ones involved in your dreams with you.
No major goal is accomplished in a single day. You can’t win everything the day you decide to do it. It’s better to take one day at time, one line at a time. It’s healthier and more sustainable, not just for you but for your life as well.
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