7 Reasons Everyone On Planet Earth Should Do A Bit Of Creative Writing
no matter who they are or whether or not they identify as “A Writer”
👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 Hi! I’m so happy to see you. I’m Laura Jane Williams, a UK-based romance author. How to Build a Life launched in August 2024, and now has thousands of readers in over 75 countries (!). You can expect personal stories about life’s mess and mayhem, and the search for a way of living that feels right. I’m almost 40, a solo parent by choice, and for 2025 am committed to stealing back time from my to-do list. I’m just sick of being busy with stuff that doesn’t really matter, you know?
I’m currently writing my 15th book, whilst also popping up here twice a week too. I love both things! Don’t make me choose!
I finished writing the first draft of my 2026 novel last week. Huzzah! I started on November 1st, and finished on January 8th. The draft is 73,397 words. It took me ten weeks, and I wrote it by telling myself to just do 500 words a time, that if I could just do 500 words then I could stand back up and go do something else. Some days I did just that - 500 words - and others I did more. Way more, in fact. I’ve landed on a characters who wrote themselves, so it’s flowed out of me quicker than it normally might. I’ve really enjoyed it! By December I had cancelled my daily gym, and wrote from breakfast club drop-off until pick-up, and then after pick-up too, because it was December so I didn’t care if my kid was watching hours of TV at a time. Sometimes he played, too! And sometimes he asked me to put my laptop away for “our time”, which was fair play. God bless a kid who can let you know they need you.
Anyway. I uploaded the odd progress photo to Instagram (urgh!! That place!!) as a way to stay accountable to myself, and so when I was done posted something celebratory as a line under “writer writes first draft”. (Writer now has to re-draft it 12 times, just so you know.) I posted and ghosted off the app, as I do, but when I went back to check something look what someone had said!
How nice is that! I think there are a lot of people out there noodling around with novels in the new year, and good for them. But it got me to thinking: creative writing helps me so much - engaging my imagination is such a wonderful mental health tool for me, I’m happiest creating my own worlds - that even if folks aren’t wanting to write novels, maybe I could encourage you to mess around in a notebook, simply to just mess around. Like, you know. For a laugh. For fun.
I honestly do think everyone should be doing a bit of creative writing.
I really do believe that.
Okay. Look. I’ve made a list to convince you. Here are 7 reasons why everyone on planet earth should be doing a bit of creative writing:
1. There’s no right or wrong
Creative Writing doesn’t care where you fall on the political spectrum, nor about the last time you called your sister. Creative Writing doesn’t care if you got in your 10,000 steps today, or if you’ve eaten enough protein. Creative Writing doesn’t even care if you’ve showered (although if even your dog won’t sit beside you as you pull out your pen, perhaps consider it). There’s no awarding body that can certify you as ready to write, nor anybody you even have to tell. It can be a totally private, absolute neutral endeavor that is for you and you alone, and it doesn’t matter if you spell words properly, skip the punctuation, or only write on one side of your notebook. Do you hear me? IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER!! I’ve published 12 books, with two more to come this year (!) and still am not entirely sure when I’m supposed to use a paragraph break. Does that stop me? No it does not. And it never will.
2. It’s a great escape
Life can be messy. In fact, they design it that way. There’s dishes to wash and voice notes to send and children’s birthday parties to find last-minute gifts for. Somehow we have to get fresh air, maintain relationships, catch up on all the new shows for the twenty-six different streaming services we’re subscribed to, and oh, yeah, keep a roof over our heads through something called a job that bosses apparently expect us to actually care about (?). Surely, then, sitting with a notebook and pen is egotistical, unrealistic, and frankly, downright pretentious.
WRONG.