Did I Write Today? by Erin Vogler

I struggle with consistency and momentum in my writing life.  I’ll be all in for a short period of time, writing and playing in my notebooks or adding ideas to my notes app on my phone, and then a busy or difficult day happens, and the writing stops.

It wasn’t until recently that I figured out why that happens.  I think I make it too hard, set my expectations too high. Writing daily is writing daily, whether it is a single line of reflection or page after page of winding narrative.  The reality of this writing life is that some days warrant that single line while others lead to the winding narrative. Some days I have ten minutes to sit down with my notebook, and others I have hours.

I would love to be the kind of person who gets up early and writes for an hour every single day or even the person who stays up late each evening and writes page after page.  I am neither exclusively, and sometimes I’m both.  The ideas don’t come at the same time every day, but ideas do show up every single day.  So I need to show up as well. 

My best strategy for capturing them is making sure that I have my phone or a notebook with me everywhere I go.  The more consistent I am about having a tool available to record my writing and thinking, the more consistent the writing becomes. When the writing is consistent, a quiet momentum builds.

But it’s still hard, and sometimes I make it harder than it needs to be.  I turn skipped writing days into criticisms and create a battle for grit when the solution probably lies in extending myself a bit more grace. Instead of beating myself up over how much (or how little) I’ve written, I think I just need to rely on my response to a simple question: Did I write today?

The goal is to answer yes more frequently than no. It means pushing myself to write even when I feel like there isn’t much to say, and knowing that some days a line or two is enough. Small daily steps build a habit. Baby steps build momentum.

Never a day without a line. Some days that will be literal, and on others, many lines will turn into pages.  For a writing life to have any momentum, both have to be okay. 



Erin Vogler teaches middle and high school English at Keshequa Central School in the Genesee Valley in Western New York.  She can be found on Twitter @vogler3024 and Instagram @mrsvogler3024. She is spending her summer regaining her writing momentum and reading as many books as she can.