What If We Wrote a Chapter a Day?
I promise this is not as scary as it sounds.
I was inspired recently by a conversation I had with Lora Kelley. When I asked her what she wrote, she said confidently, “Emails!” I was surprised and anxious to hear more. She created a small, super-engaged email list that she writes to daily. Now, she has 350 emails from the past year. “How do you find enough content to write about every day?” I was curious because I seem to hit a wall when I think of writing emails more often, scared I won’t have enough to say. Emphasis on the words “think” and “scared” here. Lora said, “You’d be surprised. You have more than you realize when you sit down to do it.” It helped me remember how true this has been for myself in the past. Every time I showed up to write, there was always something to say if I listened for it. The problem was that I “thought” before I acted, and felt “fear” before the freedom that came in trying.
I’m inspired! I have very little time these days to do anything but watch my sweet baby girl, but I do have windows when she’s napping… yep, that’s happening right now. Her body is sprawled out, belly up, and relaxed as can be, so I am on my phone, using the Notes app, writing in a way that is most accessible. That is one thing I have learned recently as a parent–the tasks I do need to be as easy and non-complicated as possible.
So, here we are. I have a goal of writing every day. Will I send it as an email daily? I might drive you bananas, so no unless you all write a bunch of “please do this!” reactions in the comments. Either way, I will share what may inspire you more often, like this email, hopefully!
I like to tell my writing clients to think of the chapters of their books as blog posts. This can make the writing process easier and less overwhelming. You show up and write one chapter a day. Maybe it’s 500 words or 5000, but by the end of the year, you have more than enough content to weave a book together.
You can do this with any genre.
A poetry collection? A poem a day.
A novel? Short serial chapters that connect day after day.
A memoir or a non-fiction book? An essay a day or a personal story that weaves into the next one.
What do you say? Want to try this out? Let me know so I can cheer you on! In the meantime, stay tuned for emails from me that I’m writing during nap and my bath times. Oooh la la. :)
Love, Megan
My book, Brave The Page: How Writing Our Hard Stories Brings Healing and Wholeness, speaks to the sacred heart of writing tender stories and is now available for preorder! Get your copy and begin writing to heal your life.
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I’d love to read your daily posts! I’ve been working on writing daily. There’s usually always something that comes-
Sometimes a poem, other times an essay. I don’t publish everything, but I try to at least publish something 5 days per week on Substack. Inspiration is everywhere! My last post was written on your prompt from your book about writing your earliest memory. I wrote about my earliest memory of friendship.