If you’re struggling to write consistently, you may think this is a sign that you need to put your writing dreams on hold. But it’s not. Nor is it a sign that you’re lazy. Because you’re not! You just need to shift your attitude and change your approach. 

Everything you want is on the other side of consistency.

This is the quote I’m repeating to myself again and again in this season.

More than a quote or affirmation, it’s beginning to feel like a prayer or incantation.

As I looked back on the year so far, I realized everything I’ve accomplished has come from consistency. And for every goal I’ve failed to realize, I can plainly see that my stumbling block was lack of consistency.

But consistency has a bit of a PR problem.

We, and by we, I mean I, often think being consistent means being perfect. That it means creating a schedule or routine and sticking to it forever and ever amen, no matter what. But this attitude is a setup for failure because if we miss just one day, we’re likely to give up and quit.

Consistency isn’t about perfection; it’s about persistence.

We were discussing this recently during a See Jane Write Collective goal-setting session, and Margaret Marston said consistency is “joyful persistence.” I LOVE THAT!

Adding “joyful” is key. Joyful persistence is less about discipline and more about devotion. You show up for your dreams because you’re devoted to them. Because you’re devoted to yourself. Because you’re devoted to that little girl who wanted to be a writer one day. 

Practical Tips for Building a Consistent Writing Routine

Margaret went on to share a beautiful analogy for being joyfully persistent in pursuing our goals. She compared it to a baby learning to walk. Little toddlers fall down again and again as they learn to move about the world on their own. But they never give up. They just keep trying, oftentimes giggling along the way. That is joyful persistence.

And that leads me to my first tip for you.

Baby steps of faith count too. Leaps of faith get lots of attention and praise. But baby steps of faith count too. To be a writer, you don’t have to quit your day job tomorrow and move to Paris to write your novel. You can write your book by just writing a little bit every day – or just most days of the week. Start small. Maybe you just write 200 words a day or write for just 15 or 20 minutes a day. If you wait for a season when you can block off hours and hours of uninterrupted writing time, that book will never get written. That blog or Substack will never get launched. Determine what days, what time and for how long you will write. You get to decide what consistency looks like for you.

Be a writer with a plan. After you decide when you’re going to write, decide what you’re going to write. Enter each writing session with a plan. Will you work on a blog post or a Substack essay? Will you work on a particular scene in your novel? Will you write a poem? Even if you just plan to journal, have some prompts on hand to get you started.

Writers need other writers. Having someone hold you accountable is the secret sauce. Just as toddlers need grown-ups to help them take those first few steps, writers need other writers. So once you decide when you’re going to write and what you’re going to write, tell somebody so they can check in with you to make sure you showed up for yourself. Better yet, find someone you can write with virtually on a Zoom call or IRL at a coffee shop. I wrote this blog post dark and early at 5:30 am during a See Jane Write Collective cowriting session led by Collective ambassador Coretta Collins.

Allow yourself to begin again. I have a procrastination rule for planning my days. I can’t move a task from one day to the next more than two times. After that, it has to go on my “Top Three” list for the day, which means it MUST be done. Fitness influencer Jo of Grow with Jo has a similar rule built into her exercise app. You can skip two days of working out and still maintain your workout streak. Why not have a rule like this for your writing routine?! However, even if you miss more than two days, I still don’t want you to throw in the towel. The point is you don’t have to be perfect. You can miss a couple of writing sessions or even a week of writing sessions and still boldly call yourself a writer. Just begin again.

How See Jane Write Can Help You Stay Consistent

See Jane Write exists because I believe writers need community. And in the Collective, our paid membership community, we host several virtual cowriting sessions each week in hopes that at least one will work for you and your schedule.

If you’re in a particularly busy season right now, try to commit to showing up for at least one cowriting session per week and getting some words on the page. Writing just once a week may not feel like much, but it can and will add up. These are your baby steps of faith!

In honor of See Jane Write’s half birthday (which was September 24), you can get half off our annual membership plan now through October 24 with the code HALFBDAY. Sign up here.