--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I try to write every day. I don't beat…" description: "\"I try to write every day. I don't beat myself up about word counts, or how many hours are ticking by on the clock before I'm allowed to go and do somet..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac8/jonathan-lethem-1403_beats_i-try-to-write-every-day-i-don-t-beat-my_99494.png" --- # I try to write every day. I don't beat myself up about… ![“I try to write every day. I don't beat myself up about word counts, or how many hours are ticking by on the clock before I'm allowed to go and do something else. I just try to keep a hand in and work every single day, even if there are other demands or I'm on a book tour or have the flu or…” quote by Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac8/jonathan-lethem-1403_beats_i-try-to-write-every-day-i-don-t-beat-my_99494.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac8/jonathan-lethem-1403_beats_i-try-to-write-every-day-i-don-t-beat-my_99494.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac8/jonathan-lethem-1403_beats_i-try-to-write-every-day-i-don-t-beat-my_99494.png) > “I try to write every day. I don't beat myself up about word counts, or how many hours are ticking by on the clock before I'm allowed to go and do something else. I just try to keep a hand in and work every single day, even if there are other demands or I'm on a book tour or have the flu or something, because then I keep my unconscious engaged with the book. Then I'm always a little bit writing, no matter what else I'm doing.” [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Consistent, modest daily writing keeps the creative mind active, even amid other responsibilities or setbacks. **In simple terms:** Write a little each day, no matter what. Key Takeaway Regular practice sustains creative momentum. Themes creativity productivity discipline writing Mood encouraging pragmatic Type advice personal reflection When to use this quote - author’s daily routine - balancing work and creative projects Key Concepts habit formation flow state Practical Applications - setting a daily word goal - maintaining a writing habit Questions to Reflect On - How can you protect creative time in a busy schedule? - What minimal daily output feels sustainable for you? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beats/) [Bits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bits/) [Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/) [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Clock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clock/) [Demand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/demand/) [Engaged](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/engaged/) [Every day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-day/) [Every single day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/every-single-day/) [Flu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flu/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Hours](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hours/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Little bit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/little-bit/) [Littles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littles/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [No matter what](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/no-matter-what/) [Try Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/try-write-287097/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Unconscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unconscious/) [Write](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write/) [Write Day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write-day-300886/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Writing Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing-matter-428824/) ## Related quotes > [We all start out with the same alphabet. We are all unique. Talent is not the most important thing --- discipline and dedication are.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-cormier/we-all-start-out-with-the-same-alphabet-we-are-all-unique-talent-is/) [Robert Cormier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-cormier/) > [I try to write every day. Sometimes the things come out well, and sometimes they don't. When they come out well you think, Wow,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-ayoade/i-try-to-write-every-day-sometimes-the-things-come-out-well-and/) [Richard Ayoade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-ayoade/) > [Exercise and writing are so therapeutic to me. I try to write every day and I make it a huge priority to find time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sadie-calvano/exercise-and-writing-are-so-therapeutic-to-me-i-try-to-write-every/) [Sadie Calvano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sadie-calvano/) > [I try to write every day, preferably first thing in the morning. Of course, there are days when something happens to interfere with this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigrid-nunez/i-try-to-write-every-day-preferably-first-thing-in-the-morning-of/) [Sigrid Nunez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigrid-nunez/) > [I really try to write every day. It's hard, but it's my favorite thing to do, so it's usually not too, too hard.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-russell/i-really-try-to-write-every-day-it-s-hard-but-it-s-my-favorite-thing/) [Karen Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-russell/) > [I write every day for most of the work day, and I try to write 2,500 words per day... If I don't make it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-b-coe/i-write-every-day-for-most-of-the-work-day-and-i-try-to-write-2-500/) [David B. Coe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-b-coe/) > [Talent is required, but much of writing is a matter of craft, which develops with time, attention, patience and practice, like playing an instrument…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-wiggs/talent-is-required-but-much-of-writing-is-a-matter-of-craft-which/) [Susan Wiggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-wiggs/) > [To me, writing is a matter of voice. I think like that. The expression I sometimes use to myself is 'actual song.' That what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-pinsky/to-me-writing-is-a-matter-of-voice-i-think-like-that-the-expression-i/) [Robert Pinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-pinsky/) > [Writing is not a matter of choice. Writers have to write. It is somehow in their temperament, in the blood, in tradition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-scott-momaday/writing-is-not-a-matter-of-choice-writers-have-to-write-it-is-somehow/) [N. Scott Momaday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-scott-momaday/) > [Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-l-amour/start-writing-no-matter-what-the-water-does-not-flow-until-the-faucet/) [Louis L'Amour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-l-amour/) > [I never really am concerned about the political landscape of the day when I'm writing because no matter what it is, it will change.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stan-lee/i-never-really-am-concerned-about-the-political-landscape-of-the-day/) [Stan Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stan-lee/) > [ “\[John\] Harrison \[could not\] express himself clearly in writing… No matter how brilliantly ideas formed in his mind, or crystallized in his clockworks, his… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dava-sobel/john-harrison-could-not-express-himself-clearly-in-writing-no-matter/) [Dava Sobel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dava-sobel/) > [The more you read, the better you are at writing, no matter what you're writing. A lot of songwriters miss that and don't see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-isbell/the-more-you-read-the-better-you-are-at-writing-no-matter-what-you-re/) [Jason Isbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-isbell/) > [“In truly good writing no matter how many times you read it you do not know how it is done. That is beacause there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/in-truly-good-writing-no-matter-how-many-times-you-read-it-you-do-not/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [What is writing, no matter how lavish the pieces, if it says nothing of the truth, cares little for the heart, and is merely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-barbery/what-is-writing-no-matter-how-lavish-the-pieces-if-it-says-nothing-of/) [Muriel Barbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-barbery/) ## More by Jonathan Lethem > [It was often this way, life consisted of a series of false beginnings, bluff declarations of arrival to destinations not even glimpsed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/it-was-often-this-way-life-consisted-of-a-series-of-false-beginnings/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [I've been an advocate against the view of the writer as a partitioned genius hanging in conceptual space, or up on a mountain, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-ve-been-an-advocate-against-the-view-of-the-writer-as-a-partitioned/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“I suppose there was never a reason for tearing down a cabin or scrapping a stopped automobile, if you had all those acres.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-suppose-there-was-never-a-reason-for-tearing-down-a-cabin-or/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [Life is fundamentally up for grabs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/life-is-fundamentally-up-for-grabs/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [My heart, to put it more simply, got nostalgic for the present. Always a bad sign.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/my-heart-to-put-it-more-simply-got-nostalgic-for-the-present-always-a/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [It's impossible to overstate how my relationship to music forms a preserve for the esoteric or even spiritual aspect of my relationship to cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/it-s-impossible-to-overstate-how-my-relationship-to-music-forms-a/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“If. If Mingus Rude could be kept in this place, kept somehow in Dylan's pocket, in his stinging, smudgy hands, then summer wouldn't give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/if-if-mingus-rude-could-be-kept-in-this-place-kept-somehow-in-dylan-s/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [I had always wanted to be a writer who confused genre boundaries and who was read in multiple contexts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-had-always-wanted-to-be-a-writer-who-confused-genre-boundaries-and/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“Memory is a rehearsal for a show that never goes on.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/memory-is-a-rehearsal-for-a-show-that-never-goes-on/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“There is nothing Tourettic about the New York City subways.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/there-is-nothing-tourettic-about-the-new-york-city-subways/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“Mingus Rude, Arthur Lomb, Gabriel Stern and Tim Vandertooth, even Aaron K. Doily: Dylan never met anyone who wasn't about to change immediately into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/mingus-rude-arthur-lomb-gabriel-stern-and-tim-vandertooth-even-aaron/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“Enough of this. Does every conversation with you have to be the director's cut? Get out of the car.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/enough-of-this-does-every-conversation-with-you-have-to-be-the/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“The stumbling block will turn out to be the traditional one for students of consciousness: the flashlight is incapable of shining on itself, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/the-stumbling-block-will-turn-out-to-be-the-traditional-one-for/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [“May one plead, Your Honor, postmodernism as an involuntary condition?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/may-one-plead-your-honor-postmodernism-as-an-involuntary-condition/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) > [I'd excluded New York from my writing, and then I came back and I fell in love with it all over again. The energy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-d-excluded-new-york-from-my-writing-and-then-i-came-back-and-i-fell/) [Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) [Explore all 241 Jonathan Lethem quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/) ## More Beats quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [So many things beat upon us in a lifetime that simply enduring may seem almost beyond us… But the test a loving God has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-b-eyring/so-many-things-beat-upon-us-in-a-lifetime-that-simply-enduring-may/) [Henry B. Eyring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-b-eyring/) > [The Beat Generation, that was a vision that we had, John Clellon Holmes and I, and Allen Ginsberg in an even wilder way, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/the-beat-generation-that-was-a-vision-that-we-had-john-clellon-holmes/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [Certainly these are not easy times. But history does not contain very many easy times. Years from now, we will look back at this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingraham/certainly-these-are-not-easy-times-but-history-does-not-contain-very/) [Laura Ingraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingraham/) > [I usually write from the rhythm section...If a drummer got a funky beat on some things - like a half-shuffle or a shuffle or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miles-davis/i-usually-write-from-the-rhythm-section-if-a-drummer-got-a-funky-beat/) [Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miles-davis/) > [If you don't like club beats take a HIT OF E and you will love the music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-mccarty/if-you-don-t-like-club-beats-take-a-hit-of-e-and-you-will-love-the/) [Kevin McCarty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-mccarty/) > [Every pitcher can beat you, it doesn't matter how good you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-bonds/every-pitcher-can-beat-you-it-doesn-t-matter-how-good-you-are/) [Barry Bonds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-bonds/) > [Only two to three per cent of an audience is interested in words and pays attention to lyrics; most of the rest of it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-stewart/only-two-to-three-per-cent-of-an-audience-is-interested-in-words-and/) [Al Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-stewart/) > [Joel Lane documents a life we don’t quite live, in a city we can’t quite find: half glimpsed and half imagined, we know it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chaz-brenchley/joel-lane-documents-a-life-we-don-t-quite-live-in-a-city-we-can-t/) [Chaz Brenchley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chaz-brenchley/) > [Practice to beat the best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-bennett/practice-to-beat-the-best/) [Dick Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-bennett/) > [I don't know about the rest of the world, but I know in our region everyone is gunning to beat us. We have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/landon-donovan/i-don-t-know-about-the-rest-of-the-world-but-i-know-in-our-region/) [Landon Donovan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/landon-donovan/) > [Grand business plans are all very well, but nothing beats dipping your toe in the water.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-bilimoria-karan-bilimoria/grand-business-plans-are-all-very-well-but-nothing-beats-dipping-your/) [Baron Bilimoria Karan Bilimoria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baron-bilimoria-karan-bilimoria/) > [Let a man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim: Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world yields,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/let-a-man-who-has-to-make-his-fortune-in-life-remember-this-maxim/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) > [Imagine if you were a drummer, and you accidentally picked up two magic wands instead of sticks. There you are, keeping the beat, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-hedberg/imagine-if-you-were-a-drummer-and-you-accidentally-picked-up-two/) [Mitch Hedberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-hedberg/) > [I don't like small birds. They hop around so merrily outside my window, looking so innocent. but I know that secretly, they're watching my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-don-t-like-small-birds-they-hop-around-so-merrily-outside-my-window/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 3,311 Beats quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beats/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I try to write every day. I don't beat myself up about word counts, or how many hours are ticking by on the clock before I'm allowed to go and do something else. 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