Why Writing Every Day is Like Going to the Gym: My Personal Experience

Yesterday, inspired by Seth Godin, I challenged myself to write every day. It was a daunting task for someone who only started "writing" a few years ago. I felt vindicated when, in the same interview, Seth spoke about writing on his blog every day and commented, "People put so much emphasis on writer's block, but have you ever heard of talker's block?"

I thought he would suggest speech-to-text, a feature I have often used in my writing, but he didn't. Instead, he asked those who claim to experience writer's block to imagine they're just talking to someone.

This suggestion has changed the energy around my writing. I have chosen to transcribe my speech in the past, but I am actually typing this out while imagining I'm speaking to someone. I've often felt that speech-to-text helps to keep all of my creative energy from going round and round in my head. It's a way to get all the ideas out faster than typing. The mindset shift of imagining myself speaking to someone as I type has put me in a state of flow.

This sense of flow in my typing may be because I did not have writer's block. I had too many things to write about and held back from sitting down and typing until I had committed to one, hoping that one of these great blog posts would be the one to put me on the map.

Writing every day is different. This practice is simply about writing to improve my skills, even if the writing is bad. Writing one "big" post a week is like a person who goes to the gym once a week expecting to see results. Those who go to the gym regularly, even if it's just for 20 minutes, are likely to see better results. So, this is me going to the gym every day!

Are you a newbie writer like me? I encourage you to start writing every day. It’s the only way you’re going to get better!