Your Process Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect (Especially During Indie Author Month)
Let’s be honest: it’s really easy to feel behind when you scroll through social media posts from other authors.
Everyone seems to be writing 3,000 words before sunrise, launching books with perfect covers, and sticking to routines that somehow involve herbal tea, matching stationery, and a candle lit at the exact same angle every day.
The truth is that most people don’t share the messy parts.
The burnout, the backtracking, the doubts?
They happen off-screen.
But they happen to everyone!
Let’s talk about 5 gentle reminders for when your process feels chaotic, messy, or just plain stuck:
Social media isn’t the full story
You’re often seeing the highlights, not the heartache.
You’re scrolling through finished drafts, launch days, and perfect desks. But you never see the doubt, the distractions, the burnout most authors feel. Very few share the challenges, the “I wrote only one sentence and hated it” kind of days.
But they are real!
Helpful reminder
Curate your feeds!
Follow creators who show the behind-the-scenes too, not just the polished final products!
2. There’s no “right” routine
Some authors thrive with color-coded calendars and waking up at 5 am while others write in chaotic bursts between laundry and dinner. Some authors like to participate in writing challenges like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) or 30K in 30 Days to keep momentum, while others prefer to set their own pace and deadlines.
All of them are valid!
There’s no single routine, there’s no secret formula for a process that works for every single author. What works for someone else isn’t a failure on your part, it’s just their rhythm!
Helpful reminder
Instead of chasing consistency, get curious about your capacity. What’s actually sustainable for you right now?
3. The messy middle is still progress
Do you find yourself rewriting the same paragraph 10 times? Taking one break after another because your brain’s fried? Spending a whole afternoon on one line of dialogue?
That counts. That’s progress!
The big milestones wouldn’t even exist without the little increments, the small wins, the messiness of it all. If we only focus on the final product, we’ll forget about all the steps that we took to get there in the first place.
Helpful reminder
Track your hidden progress. Keep a “progress journal” or post-it list. Track any forward motion, including brainstorms, breakthroughs, or even well-earned naps. It all matters.
4. Writing doesn’t have to be lonely
As an indie author, most times you have to also be a graphic designer, an editor, a professional marketer, a researcher, and juggle way more things that feel completely unrelated to the process of just writing a book, from an outside perspective. The truth is that indie authors wear a lot of hats, and it can feel isolating when you’re trying to do it all on your own. But community changes everything!
Other writers are out there feeling the same doubt, the same stuck-ness. You just have to reach out.
Helpful reminder
Share your process, even the messy bits!
Join a Circle in StoryForge or hop into our Discord to start finding your people. Someone out there gets it, and probably needs to hear they’re not alone, too.
5. Imperfect work still matters
Your process doesn’t need to be flawless to be real. Your draft doesn’t need to be polished to be important. Your voice doesn’t need to be confident to be worth sharing.
The stories that stick with us weren’t written in perfect conditions either, and yet have shaped our writing careers and even our lives!
Helpful reminder
Give yourself permission to keep going, even when it feels like nothing’s working. Save this blog post and come back to it when you need a reminder that your voice is still worth showing up for.
Final Thoughts
The next time you catch yourself thinking, “I’m not doing enough,” try replacing it with: “I’m doing what I can, and that’s enough for today.”
This Indie Author Month, we’re cheering you on!
Your process is yours, and that’s exactly what makes it powerful.
