Megan Johnson , I’ve been writing for over 50 years and one of the very, very few things that I have learned over that time is that there should never, ever be a calendar in the room where your writing desk is.

In the bottom right-hand corner of my laptop screen is displayed the time and date. I have put a little piece of tape over that so I can’t see it.

At Medium when you click on your profile icon at the top right of your screen a drop-down menu appears with a link called, ‘Stats.’ I put a little piece of tape over that, too. Unfortunately, when I scroll up or down that little piece of tape becomes superfluous. I should probably take that off.

Time is an illusion. When you attach your writing to time then your writing becomes an illusion, too. Don’t do it.

The great genius author Tom Robbins once said that a writer’s only duty is to show up. Hopefully, our muse shows up, too. Muses don’t wear watches and they have no where to put calendars.

The importance of contrast is very crucial for writers to learn. A symphony is just noise without the contrast of silence. Some of the most important days for writers are those days when they write nothing at all. This provides the contrast for what is written on the days that they do write to explode with vitality. Don’t ever deny yourself those days when nothing is written by adhering to some daily regimen that robs you of contrast. Daily regimens are for robots and addicts and military personnel. A day of clarity is the only way an addict can see, realize and appreciate their addiction.

Of course, that’s just my opinion.