A deep dive into this post I made on LinkedIn

The more I write, the more I realise that consistency is great, but commitment is key.

All right, yes, I’m stretching it a bit for a great controversial title. It’s not that consistency is bad—actually, it’s part of being committed. But I hear so much about it nowadays that I’m getting sick of it. The meaning has been twisted beyond belief, especially in the writing world.

If you’ve been around for long enough (maybe like…two days), then you’ve heard me moan about the “quantity over quality” sinkhole that most stories are falling into nowadays. And guess what one of the biggest contributors to that mindset is? “Consistency.”

You may be wondering what in the world I’m going on about, but just stick with me. In today’s world, everything is rushed. Everyone wants to get rich quick, hop jobs from day to day, get their ordered items now. This is so prevalent in our society that it’s even leaking into the creative world—and if there’s one thing that should never, ever be rushed, it’s creativity. Why do you think writers are on strike? With such strict deadlines, there’s no way you can come up with anything to be proud of. And they only get tighter and tighter and tighter… And the TV shows, movies, and books get worse and worse and worse…

But that’s big Hollywood stuff, right? Small-time writers like us don’t get pushed around like that. Besides, that’s only an extreme case.

Except…

“Write every day.”
“Anyone can finish a rough draft in one month.”
“Even if it’s the worst day of your life, just write.”

Ever heard these phrases before? They’re all classified under the guise of “consistency”… But is neglecting your personal needs, ignoring your own personal work rhythm, and squeezing yourself into a box you might not fit into (like my cat Bella) really being “consistent?”

We’ve started to think of consistency as a “one-size-fits-all” definition that everyone must conform to. But when we think about commitment, it brings us back to a more personalised definition. You cannot define what commitment is for someone else; only they can define for themselves what their commitment is to a specific project. Only they know exactly what their writing process looks like, how long writing and editing takes them, and how to weigh all of that against everything else going on in their lives. 

Commitment doesn’t look the same for everyone, and neither does consistency.

Say a writer is committed to writing a book. They sit down to work on it for 1 hour three times a week and finish the book in a year. Even though they’re not writing every day, they’re being consistent, and they’re committed to their book and their goal the whole time.

Now what if that same writer had tried a different method instead? They want to write 2,000 words a day and finish their book in a month. But one day, in the first week, they get sick. Just when they’ve made up the writing they missed, a friend arrives in town unexpectedly and the writer spends the whole day enjoying their friend’s company. Another day to make up. Life keeps happening, and soon enough, as consistency fades, so does commitment. Even just a few missed days are enough for the writer to rethink whether or not they have the ability to or even enjoy writing a book—all because they think that to be consistent, they must write every day no matter what. Pushing consistency too much can produce the opposite result, which is no progress at all. 

This is the issue with prizing consistency above all else: when it fails, when it becomes impossible to keep up, then our motivation, drive, and commitment fail, too. Yes, some people can absolutely write a fantastic book in the span of a month! And no, just because a book takes longer to write doesn’t automatically mean it’s better. 

The point is that everyone is different. Commitment for one person might be snagging a few minutes whenever they can to write down their thoughts. For others, it might be sitting down at the same time every day at the same desk to write. Both writers are consistent in their own way—and that’s how it should be. 

Consistency is a burden. Commitment is a passion. Let’s remember that our commitment (and, therefore, our progress) will not all look the same. Writing is a personal, individualised process—let’s keep it that way!

Have any questions about the writing process? Drop a comment or contact me!

Happy writing!
—E.J.

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Photo by Lindsay Henwood (@lindsayhenwood) on Unsplash