Definitions for “quotidian” range from “daily” to “usual or customary” to “ordinary or commonplace.”
I chose this word because its varying definitions highlight an ongoing debate in the writing community: should you write every day?
I think it’s fair to say that most writers, regardless of actual habits, wish they wrote every day. Whether it’s writing few hundred words of a work-in-progress or blog post, or even scribbling a few words in a journal, I think many of us aspire to be daily practitioners of the craft.
However, not all of us do that. And some of us feel like we just can’t.
Whatever your excuse is: lack of time, lack of creativity, or lack of motivation, most of us non-daily writers have one. But should we make excuses for this?
I admit that I haven’t made a serious commitment to a daily writing habit. Even during this challenge, I’ve scheduled many posts, writing a block of them at once and then taking a break for a few days. This past NaNoWriMo, a project known for encouraging you to write every day, I wrote about 17, 000 words during the last weekend of November to reach the final 50,000 word goal. I’m not really proud of this, but I do know that I can either work with or against my tendency to procrastinate, as well as my tendency to prefer to write large amounts at once, and I tend to choose to work with it, even if it means I have crazy marathon times where I accomplish a lot at once, and then don’t write for a week.
I think that just so long writing remains quotidian — whether that means daily or just with regularity — you’re still a practicing, dedicated writer.
Still, a writer can dream, right? Maybe one day I really will write every day.
Booked & Ready 
Your post made me smile, thanks! and to answer your question, I write “almost” everday, be it a journal, a meaningful text message, an interesting observation, short notes(new ideas), or writing my dissertation. Or maybe, that’s how i define writing, to me, writing tediously everyday is just plain pressure which subdues my enthusiasm for writing an occasional comprehensive article. This only brings me to respect writers and bloggers who posts regularly.
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I’m so glad! I think if I were to really consider all the many places I compose text, I probably write every day as well, whether it’s emails or texts or other things I’m writing every day. But you’re right; if I get too “it must be every day” about it, I think I lose some enthusiasm. Best of luck with writing!
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I write about five days a week. I’d do seven if I had the time.
Stephen Tremp
A to Z Co-host
R is for Reincarnation
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I like that strategy. Enough to accomplish a lot, but not so much that you can’t have a few breaks.
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Quotidian, eh? Well you learn something new every day!
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I considered doing random words as my theme, but instead I snuck a few random ones in like “jaunt” and “quotidian.” 🙂
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Nice word choice! I normally blog once a week because that’s all I can fit into my life right now, so A to Z has taken some real discipline. I also research for my posts, so that kind of cuts into the writing time. 🙂 I wish I could do more. I do write in my day job, though, so I guess I do have a quotidian writing habit!
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Thanks! And yes, I completely get that — I was barely blogging once a month before this! I also write in my day job, though, so I guess I do really write every day.
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