The One Thing Devoted Writers Do That Others Don’t

by Suzanne Lieurance

Okay, so can you guess what the one thing is that devoted writers do that other writers don’t do?

It’s probably not what you might think.

It’s not waking up early.

It’s not writing every single day without exception.

It’s not having a perfect writing space or a rigid word count goal.

The one thing devoted writers do that others don’t is this: they keep their agreement with themselves.

When a devoted writer says she’s going to write on Tuesday morning, she writes on Tuesday morning.

Not because she’s more disciplined than anyone else.

Not because she never feels resistance or distraction or the pull of a hundred other things.

But because she has decided that her word to herself is as binding as her word to anyone else.

Most writers treat their writing time as the most negotiable item on their schedule.

It’s the first thing to go when life gets busy, when someone needs something, when a more urgent task appears.

And every time it goes, the agreement weakens a little more.

Devoted writers do the opposite.

They treat the writing appointment with the same seriousness they’d give a meeting with someone they respect.

They protect it.

They show up to it.

And when life genuinely intervenes — because it always does sometimes — they reschedule rather than cancel.

This is a small shift with enormous consequences.

When you start keeping your agreements with yourself, something changes in how you see yourself as a writer.

You stop being someone who wants to write and start being someone who writes.

The identity follows the action.

You don’t have to be perfect at this.

You just have to start taking your own word seriously.

If you want to go deeper into what it means to build a devoted writing life — with exercises, journaling prompts, and a monthly theme designed to shift your identity as a writer — Manifesting Monthly magazine was made for exactly this. Subscribe here now and get this month’s issue immediately in your e-mailbox.

Suzanne Lieurance is the author of over 40 published books and a transformational Law of Attraction coach for writers who are ready to stop waiting to feel like the real thing. At Write by the Sea, she guides writers through the identity shift that changes everything — not just the writing, but the whole life built around it. She is the publisher of Manifesting Monthly and the host of Monday Morning Manifestors.