David Vienna

These journals cover my life from 1994-2001. They offer a nice personal trip through the angsty ‘90s when I was sure I would be the next Kurt Cobain.

I wrote in these journals almost every day. Sometimes it was just a couple of sentences or a crappy poem or a doodle with a stupid caption. And sure, sometimes it was a traditional journal entry that went on for a few pages. Other times the journal entry was just a paragraph. More than once, I just filled a page with the word “FUCK!”

I’m telling you this because professional writers often give the advice: “Write every day.” But, they don’t explain what that means and they’re content to let the recipient of that advice assume that means “write on your big project until your fingers cramp up every day,” which is bullshit.

“Write every day” means “let your creative writing brain play every day.” So, one day you might just write anagrams for your own name or jot down notes for a story you know you won’t get to for months. Hell, I even use my blank journal pages as a palette when I paint. (It’s not writing, but it’s creative work and that counts, damn it.)

Rather than force yourself to finish that chapter in your novel that simply must be written, but feels like an emotional slog every time you open the file, allow yourself to write whatever the fuck you feel like writing (or, dare I suggest, even skip a day of that daily writing all together). You’re still doing the work, you’re still exercising and strengthening that part of you that needs to write.

Writing isn’t always fun, so there’s no reason to put additional pressure on yourself to maintain a daily quota of words. If you give yourself the freedom to play with your writing, you’ll find that when you are ready to jump back into that novel or whatever you’ll be more mindful and more prepared. You’ll have built that habit of writing professional writers talk about.