Keep the Habit: Why Writers Must Keep Writing (Even in the Gaps)

One of the biggest dangers for a writer isn’t failure—it’s silence. Life has a way of crowding out creativity. Maybe it’s a high-pressure job, a move, a tough parenting stretch, or the illusion that you’ll “get back to it when things calm down.” But here’s the truth: if you stop writing, the skills begin to atrophy. Even more insidiously, the identity begins to slip. You tell yourself this is just a pause… and then one day, you look up and realize it’s been years.

Writing is not just a thing you do; it’s a thing you become by doing. It’s not something you earn once and hold forever. It’s a practice—like running, like music, like meditation. And when you stop the practice, it gets harder to return. Your confidence erodes. Your ideas go stale. The blank page starts to feel like a wall.

But here’s the good news: you don’t have to be drafting your magnum opus every week to stay in motion. You just have to keep the gears turning. That means making space for some kind of writing, even when you can’t commit to a full story or novel.

Here are a few ways to do that:

• Writing Exercises: Think of these as your warm-ups. Pick a random prompt, an image, a line of dialogue. Give yourself ten minutes. No stakes, no pressure—just words on a page.
• Plot Outlines for Future Projects: You might not have the time or energy to write the whole story, but you can outline one. Structure a three-act arc. Brainstorm twists. Think about themes. You’re still building storytelling muscles.
• Character Sketches: Dive into who your characters are—their flaws, their fears, what’s in their pockets. Character is story. And even fragments build depth.
• Tinker With Old Prose: Take a piece you’ve already written and try to improve it—not big structural edits, just focus on word choice, rhythm, sentence structure. This sharpens your ear for language and your sense of flow.
• Worldbuilding Paragraphs: Describe a city made of bones. A shop that sells regret. A map written in stars. These snippets may never make it into a story—but they feed the imaginative part of your brain.
• Write Drabbles: A drabble is a story in exactly 100 words. Tight. Compact. Intentional. It forces you to think about arc, tone, character, word economy—all in miniature. Anyone can manage 100 words.

The important thing is this: if you want to be a writer, keep writing. It doesn’t have to be grand or finished or shared. But it has to happen. Words on a page. Regularly. Not someday, not when life gets easier, not when the novel finally calls. Now. Today. A habit.

Because writers don’t become writers by thinking about writing.
They become writers by writing.

As always, your ideas, thoughts, experiences and feedback always welcome in the comments below! How do you keep the creative juices flowing, when life’s in the way?