The Unexpected Writing Advice We Can Learn from Moss

For anyone who wants a sustainable and flourishing writing life

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

It was hour 32 of a 44 hour cross-country road trip and my husband and I were listening to yet another podcast. I leaned my head against the passenger window and watched the Illinois farmland whizz by.

I was roused from my stupor when the guest, Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass) started describing how mosses have figured out how to live well on Earth. She said:

“An example of what I mean by this is in their simplicity, in the power of being small. Mosses become so successful all over the world because they live in these tiny little layers, on rocks, on logs, and on trees. They work with the natural forces that lie over every little surface of the world, and to me they are exemplars not only of surviving, but flourishing, by working with natural processes. Mosses are superb teachers about living within your means.”

She went on to say that what she admires about mosses is: “…their ability to cooperate with one another, to share the limited resources that they have, to really give more than they take. Mosses build soil, they purify water. They are like the coral of the forest (…) They are just engines of biodiversity. They do all these things, and yet, they’re only a centimeter tall.”

Writing lessons from moss

There is wisdom we can glean from these mosses, especially if we wish to flourish and build a sustainable writing life over time.

There is so much pressure in the writing world to produce — to hit daily word count goals, to write every day, to submit to all the publications, to keep a blog, to write a weekly newsletter. And then there’s the pressure to build your platform, gain new followers, maintain an active presence on social media, and get those email addresses.

Whether we are trying to get the attention of the traditional publishing industry, or we are trying to generate income in the self-publishing world or by freelancing, the pressure to do it all and do it all quickly is there.

It’s all too easy to get sucked into a hamster wheel in our writing. We start running and we don’t pause to consider whether our pace is sustainable over the long haul. If we want to be flourishing writers, we would do well to learn the following four lessons from moss.

1. Mosses live within their means

Just like moss, writers will survive and thrive when we acknowledge our limitations. Some of us have day jobs. Some of us have kids. Some of us are living with chronic illness. Some of us have care-giving responsibilities. Attempting to do all the writerly things we want to do (or think we should do) is a recipe for burnout and frustration.

We must acknowledge our limits, in whatever season of life we’re in, and then we must face the hard choices our limits demand of us. In his book Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman writes:

“Since hard choices are unavoidable, what matters is learning to make them consciously, deciding what to focus on and what to neglect, rather than letting them get made by default — or deceiving yourself that, with enough hard work and the right time management tricks, you might not have to make them at all.”

As a mom with a full time job, I only have so much time for writing. One of the hard choices I’ve had to make was to leave Instagram because generating daily, thoughtful content was getting in the way of the deep work of writing more long-form pieces. I had to acknowledge that my time was limited, and then choose what to prioritize accordingly.

Another friend recently had to take a step back from writing when the demands of his day job increased. It was a difficult decision, but he had to acknowledge he couldn’t afford to quit his job and then choose to spend his time accordingly.

We must ignore the voices that say we could and should be doing all the things, and instead face our daily reality. When we write within our means, we make the necessary hard choices that will enable us to thrive over the long haul.

2. Mosses share and cooperate with each other

It’s tempting to view other writers as competition. We are all vying for readers’ clicks and views, comments, and email addresses. It’s easy to be envious of the accomplishments of others, or to compare our writing journey with someone else’s. It’s especially easy to fall into this trap as writers because writing is such a solitary activity.

But something wonderful happens when we try to view other writers as collaborators instead of competitors: we learn from each other, and we grow. When we constantly reach out instead of reach up, we are all enriched.

My own email list has grown by leaps and bounds when I’ve teamed up with other writers to create a shared resource for a lead magnet (by which I mean a freebie offered in exchange for an email address). My platform has also grown when I’ve collaborated with other writers on newsletter swaps — when I share their lead magnet with my readers, and vice versa.

Also advantageous is joining hands with a few other writers to form a support group. I’m part of a small one online and we cheer each other on, share tips and tricks we’ve learned, help each other when we’re stuck, and occasionally proofread each other’s material.

By collaborating and cooperating with other writers, we all benefit whereas treating other writers like competition can leave us feeling threatened, discouraged, or burned out as we are always striving to get ahead.

3. Mosses provide value

Just like mosses build soil and purify water, writers who share their work bring value to their readers. Whether we are aiming to inform, motivate, persuade, delight, entertain, uplift, or inspire, we need to have an audience and a purpose in mind. Either before we sit down to write it, or after we’ve revised it, determining how our piece is helpful will assist us in promoting it and attracting the right readers, and it will ultimately serve to grow our reach.

Seth Godin says:

“Art is when we do work that matters, in a creative way, in a way that touches people and changes them for the better.”

When we can focus on producing the kind of writing that touches our readers, instead of getting distracted by the shiny lure of acceptance and celebrity culture, we can stay true to ourselves in a way that benefits others. This is a sure pathway to a sustainable and flourishing writing life.

4. Mosses stay small and keep it simple

In years past, I have thought how wonderful it would be to have a bigger platform and speak on bigger stages, to write bestsellers and be more of a household name. And there’s nothing wrong with having ambition or working towards a goal. But when we have an “I’ll-be-happy-when” attitude, it’s a straight shot to discouragement and burnout.

When I was nearing my own point of burnout, it occurred to me that without a traditional publishing deal, I had no one to answer to but myself. I could write whatever I wanted, read whatever I wanted, and set my own schedule and my own pace. There is great freedom and joy in being small.

Keeping it simple is helpful too. What is the heartbeat behind your writing? What is the pulsing thrum that drives your purpose? Just as mosses have found their ideal niche on rocks and logs, when we remember why we write and who we write for, it can help focus our efforts and minimize our temptation to compare ourselves to others.

Building a sustainable and flourishing writing life

I’ve been sharing my writing publicly for the last five years, and I hope to still be writing thirty years from now. Learning how mosses thrive gives me tremendous inspiration as I move forward, juggling all that I want out of writing and out of life. It brings to mind the wisdom of Elizabeth Berg, who was a mom, a nurse, and a novelist:

“In order not to cheat yourself, you have to make writing a high priority. You have to make it very nearly sacred. But you have to live the rest of your life, too; you have to allow room for all that makes you you, for all that feeds you. In my mind, being more than a writer makes you more of a writer.”

May we not let our hopes, dreams, and ambitions as writers eclipse the rest of our lives. Like moss, may we live within our means, cooperate with others, provide value, and keep it simple. The result will be a long and flourishing writing life.

PS: This article originally appeared here.