The Writing Schedule: A Key to 80% of Your Writing Success

An online devotional for writers

A Word From The Word

A man who makes a vow to the Lord or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. He must do exactly what he said he would do. (Numbers 30:2, NLT)

A Word For Writers

Do you have a writing schedule? That is, do you have a regular time each day that you set aside to write?

Actor and comedian Woody Allen is credited with the modern-day maxim,“80% of success is showing up.”

He shared that nugget of wisdom when offering advice to young writers during a 1977 interview about his Oscar-winning screenplay, Annie Hall. 

“Showing up” means arriving as planned and doing what you said you would do.

• If you promised readers that you will send a newsletter once a week, then “showing up” means writing and sending your content according to that writing schedule.
• If you promised a client that you’d deliver a first draft by Friday at 10 AM, then “showing up” means you hit Send by 9:45 on Friday.
• If you promised God (and yourself) that you’d be consistent in writing, then you’re at your laptop each day at the prescribed time. 

It can be easy to credit a lack of writing success to lack of skill. But “showing up” – that is, writing consistently and keeping a writing schedule – is a much bigger factor in writing success. 

God told the Israelites as much, just as they were poised to leave the desert and enter the Promised Land: “A man must do exactly what he said he would do” (Numbers 30:2, NLT).

Write regularly and you’ll get better. You'll produce more content. That’s why 80% of your writing success comes from just showing up.

A Wise Word

80% of your writing success comes from keeping a regular writing schedule.

A Word To Pray

Heavenly Father,

You’ve told me to do what I say I will do. I want to be a writer of my word. Let me be faithful to keep a writing schedule so I can continue to produce quality content.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

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