Why I Write Every Day: Writing and the Mood Improvement Loop Nobody Talks About

Everybody tells you if you want to be a writer, you have to write every day. I used to think that it was not only preposterous, but impossible. No one can write every single day, I said, and those who do are probably nuts. Hindsight tells me that’s why I was never successful. It took listening to many talks from my favorite writer—and a man I mention a lot here—Stephen King to give me the insight I needed to put myself on the path to the career I wanted.

I watched and listened to many conversations King has had with many people, and they all had one talking point in common: “In order to be a writer, you have to read a lot, and you have to write a lot.” It occurred to me then that I was not nuts. The urge to write constantly was not a sign of mental illness, but rather a sign that writing was something I was supposed to do.

I always read. I’ve been reading since I learned how. My parents didn’t know what to do when I was in school. They wanted me to go to bed at night so I could get up for school, but they didn’t want to discourage me from reading. It helps me sleep on hard nights to this day. Looking back on that and flashing forward to King’s take on reading and writing, I firmly believe it was meant to be, and that was before I discovered the benefits of writing no one talked about when I was a kid.

I remember spending days in my room growing up, sitting at the wooden desk that was probably too large for space, just writing whatever I felt like writing at the time. Sometimes it was an essay—though I didn’t know they were called that at the time—about something I’d researched. Other times it was just whatever was on my mind at the time. There was even one day I made my first leap into fiction. I’d written a story about a girl with polio, not fully realizing at the time that particular condition had been eradicated thanks to modern medicine. I didn’t know the meaning of the word at that age, but I’d like to think that it was a cathartic experience. I felt better, and it made me want to write more. Today, I’d like to talk to you about that mood improvement loop that happens when I write and how doing things we enjoy can create a similar loop.

Why Writing Improves Mood

Writing, like many art forms, has an intrinsically calming effect on those who partake. There’s something about taking thoughts and feelings and dumping them on paper with your own hands, whether it be with pen or keyboard—that adds to the cathartic relief of being able to let go. Writing your thoughts down allows you to externalize them, to make them feel real, even if you feel invisible to others.

Before you know it, you’re in a zone, what we often call a “flow state.” By the time you stop, you’ve written multiple pages without breaking a sweat.  You become so absorbed in the writing that you forget why you were upset in the first place. All that matters is keeping the words flowing.

My favorite part of writing, and why it improves my mood whenever I sit at the desk, is the sense of accomplishment that comes with filling pages. I come out of the flow state, flip through the pages in my notebook that I filled, and think to myself, “Wow, I did all that,” and everything else falls away.

The best part for me of writing as it relates to mood is physical engagement. It keeps my hands busy, and the flow state is full body experience, leaving me tingling on the best days, shaking on the worst. It all depends on the session and the emotions expressed in that day’s writing.  Instead of punching walls when angry, that anger spills onto the page. Instead of delving deeper into the depths of sadness, the page provides a sounding board, a listening ear. No matter the emotion, there’s always a physical manifestation, and writing channels that into something positive. It’s all part of the loop.

What This Looks Like in Practice

I remember one particular situation where this mood improvement loop benefited me. You might remember my “Rekindled at Revels” post. I’ve linked it in case you want to go back to it later. After the mishap I talked about in that post took place, once I got settled into my cabin and comfortable, I sat down at the small table on my screened-in porch with my Chromebook, opened a document, and just started typing. What resulted was what eventually became that post. I wrote two other blog posts during that vacation as well, and it ended up being the best vacation I’d had in a long time, both personally and creatively. Sometimes blessings come in strange forms.

More recently, I was writing in one of my notebooks with my Lamy Safari fountain pen while having my morning coffee in the kitchen. I didn’t wake up in a bad mood or panic about anything, but once I started writing, a sense of anxiety, a sudden need to get out of my current living situation swept over me. I’ve read that entry forward and back a few times, and I still can’t figure out what brought it on, but I felt better when I was finished with it. It made the rest of my day much easier. The best part was it gave me inspiration for a piece I was working on and the words continued to flow.

For a recent example of this, let me take you to the writing session that inspired this article. I was sitting in my office, kind of down, silently trying to will that one viral post or article into existence. I picked up my fountain pen, a Lamy Safari with a left-handed nib, and wrote all my thoughts down, and my mood gradually improved and the words flowed even more freely. I think I was about halfway down the page when it hit me.

“Hey, this could be a blog post,” I said to myself, writing the words down as I said them. I was preparing for a work shift at the same time as I was writing this, and I was scared to death of losing the idea in the shuffle of daily nonsense. But I kept writing for as long as I could, and the idea stuck with me for the next few hours. The positive effect on my mood stayed too, and when I got off work, I was ready to write. Words flooded the page, and I couldn’t help feeling exhilarated. It was a high only fellow writers would understand and couldn’t come from anywhere else.

How to Start Your Own Loop

Don’t wait for a good mood to write: There will be days when you don’t want to write, when your emotions feel too overwhelming. Sit down and write anyway. Sometimes the best writing comes at your most emotional.

Start small: 10 minutes a day. One page. Whatever you feel comfortable doing to begin, that’s what you do. It’s supposed to be therapeutic, not overwhelming. The goal is to process emotions and start the movement improvement loop, whatever that looks like for you.

Don’t edit while in the loop: This is key for me. Editing kills forward momentum. The key to the loop is to keep moving forward. Structure doesn’t matter in these loops. Putting words on the page is what matters.

Handwriting vs. Typing: I’ve entered the flow state and processed emotions doing both, but both have their benefits. My first stream of consciousness pieces were written in a journal book I bought on Amazon. I’ll link the journals here. I still use them a lot. They are fountain pen friendly and they work well with my pencils. But as I started watching Joe Van Cleave’s typewriter videos, I learned you can write stream of consciousness on a keyboard too. Joe does it on his typewriters, adding it to his typewritten journal.

Google Docs or Word documents are just endless typewriter pages. So, I thought to myself, “Hmm, maybe I could do this too. I didn’t have a laptop at the time, so I used my Fire 10 tablet and my Adventurers mechanical keyboard. It felt just as good, but the mechanical click of the keyboard gave me a different feeling. Knowing I didn’t have any limits on writing space freed me up a little, which is why I started using normal notebooks for my handwritten brain dumps—another writer term for stream of consciousness. The dated entries in the journal books were nice, but some days I needed more. Sometimes the piece needs more space. The hard part sometimes is getting started.

What to Write About

Emotional processing: This is how I started. I would sit down after a tough day at work or a particularly emotional situation and write whatever I was feeling at the time. I did this a lot after my best friend Steve passed away. The page became what he used to be for me, my sounding board, my listening ear. The page does not judge. Let yourself be vulnerable.

Stream of Consciousness: I do this every day at least once. Sometimes it’s in the morning while I’m drinking my coffee. Other times I’m sitting in my recliner or in my office. Just write what comes to your mind as it comes. No editing. No filters. Just write.

Writing prompts: Writing prompts are an ace in the hole for me. There are books all over the place with prompts in them. You can even find websites for writing prompts; some are even specific to genre. Sometimes I find a prompt that fits the emotion I’m feeling and the writing that results helps me release and process it.

When it Doesn’t Work

Some days writing doesn’t fix everything. There are days when you pour your heart out onto the page and you still feel there’s something that is eating away at you. That happens, and that’s ok. We’re human. We have emotions, and sometimes one writing session, no matter how deep you go, doesn’t fix everything. There’s where consistency becomes important.

Consistency is key in anything we pursue. I find this particularly true in my writing. When you show up every day, even if it’s just a page of whatever happens to be on your mind at the time, you build your confidence in yourself and a resilience against adversity you may not have otherwise. It all works together to create a constant loop of productivity and confidence. It has done wonders for me, and it can work for you too.

Conclusion: Create Every Day, It’s Good for You

So, if you ever find yourself staring at a blank screen, mind cluttered, heart heavy, and the blinking cursor driving you mad, I invite you to let go of your internal editor. Take the emotions that you’re feeling and just let them fuel you. Whether it’s a digital document and a keyboard or writing by hand with your favorite notebook or fountain pen, let everything flow naturally. Your mind will thank you, and so will your productivity numbers.

When we aspire to write for a living, we often treat the process as a chore measured in word counts and time sitting in a chair. For me, writing is an escape from reality, a lifeline when you feel like life is trying to drown you. The mood improvement loop I’ve discovered turns raw, jagged frustration into productivity and creative clarity. It reminds me that even when the world feels unpredictable, the ball is still in our court. We have the power to create our own mental clarity and productivity loop, one word at a time.

Contrary to what I believed as a young man, you do not have to be nuts to want to write every day. You only have to be human and have a desire to create using words and feel better having done so. Start your own mood improvement loop today. Don’t worry about quality or structure. Focus on putting words on paper. You’ll be surprised by what you find when you reach the end of the page. The world will look a little brighter, and you’ll feel a little lighter.

What are your mood improving rituals? Do you grab your favorite notebook and pen? Or do you reach for your laptop or a good book. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below.