I’m currently training for a 5k race. It will be only my second official race at this distance, although I’ve obviously covered this distance many times, and it will also be my most ambitious attempt: I want to do it in 19:59 or less. And while I’m not really sure yet whether or not this is possible for me or will be possible for me in six weeks on race day, I’m still going to try my heart out.

My training schedule calls for seven days of work. That’s right. No rest days. How many weeks out of the four so far have I actually followed this schedule? Not a single one. Nary a one.

First and foremost, I don’t believe in seven days a week of anything unless it’s breathing or eating. Rest is part of training, and as a non-elite athlete with ambitious but non-elite goals, there’s just no reason for me to train seven days a week – particularly as, in addition to running (and strength training to support my running), I have horses to ride and work a very physical job. That means almost every week, I’m switching my running schedule around, shortening runs here, combining runs there, cross-training instead of running, and taking unplanned rest days. Training doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so it very rarely goes exactly according to plan, and it would be boring if it did.

Similarly, your writing routine/schedule is not written in stone. Depending on what your goals are, you may not even have a writing schedule at all. If you’re satisfied with writing when you feel like it and skipping it when you feel like it, then that’s all you need, and that’s perfect!

If you’re like me, and writing is a passion but also hopefully one day a career, then we don’t always have the luxury of shutting off the laptop and walking away, at least not whenever we feel like it.

But inflexible goals and plans can become shackles on your time, mood, and creativity. If your plan calls for sixty minutes of writing every evening when you get home, but one night you end up staying out until 11:30 visiting with family, it just might not be realistic to come home and force yourself to put that hour in. I’m a night owl and do some of my best work at night, but oftentimes I’m too tired to be useful and have to throw the towel in and call that day a loss.

Unlike running miles, we can stack words/chapters/scene counts on another day without physically overtaxing ourselves and it all evens out in the end. But even if you never “catch up” on the numbers, that’s okay too. Unless you’re working against hard and fast deadlines, a day or two missed here and there will not be the end of the world.

This week, I missed two days of runs and I missed three days of writing. I won’t be making up those runs, but I do have to make up those writing days, and for me that looks like taking away my lazy Saturday plans and pounding out a couple of hours at the computer. It feels like a death sentence, to be honest. But there’s a line between flexible and lackadaisical that I’m not willing to cross when it comes to my writing plan.

If you have a writing plan or schedule, give it a long, hard stare. Are your rest days built in? Do you know how you can catch up on your wordcount or chapter count if you end up falling behind schedule? Are your deadlines so tight that one missed day equals catastrophe?

Nothing in life happens in a sterile bubble. Don’t forget to leave yourself room and grace for the days that don’t go according to plan.