The #1 Key to Creating Your Writing Life

My yoga studio has a Century Club—you earn a prize once you reach 100 classes a year. One year, pre-pandemic, I practiced over 200 times! That meant showing up on my mat 5 x a week on average.

This fall, I barely showed up at all.

In October I practiced yoga ONCE.

Life got in the way.

I was:

• Knee deep in revising THE ONLY WAY THROUGH IS OUT, my coming-out-later-in-life memoir.
• Preoccupied with my elderly mother’s health crisis.
• Traveling.
• Drinking too much bourbon, which impacted my sleep.

I’d sign up for classes and cancel at the last minute.

It got to the point that I was embarrassed to go to the studio because I hadn’t been there for so long.

I stopped thinking of myself as a yogi. I stopped even signing up for classes because what a joke! I knew I would cancel.

One day I said to myself, you are getting on your mat no matter what. You don’t have to practice 5-6x a week. You just have to practice today.

I showed up to class. It was hard, but I felt better.

The next week I showed up 2x. It was hard, but I felt better.

I started thinking of myself as a yogi again. Each time I showed up on my mat, I was a little stronger. A little more flexible. A little more connected to the community of yogis I’d grown to love. Now I’m showing up 3x a week minimum. Sometimes even 4!

It works the same way with your writing practice.

Maybe you aren’t writing now.

Maybe life in all its glorious messiness has gotten in the way.

The #1 key to creating—or re-creating—your writing life?

Start small.

Commit to showing up for your writing once a week.

Make it a time that is non-negotiable—for me, that’s early morning.

Find an accountability buddy or a co-writing session so you can write with others—my WRITE YOURSELF OUT community hosts several co-writing sessions a week.

Say to yourself: I will write today from this time to this time—no matter what. 

See what happens.

I’m guessing:

• It will be hard at first and you will feel better.
• You'll build on that one time a week and add additional times and feel even better.
• You’ll start thinking of yourself as a writer again.

When will you show up for your writing this week?

Start small & pick one time now!