I'm wondering if this is just me. Unless I write and read regularly, pretty much daily, my writing just doesn't flow. I can write a piece of writing, but it's disjointed and unnatural. It's not enjoyable to write. I find that, if I'm not writing regularly, I completely lose my grip on good structure and end up writing something that sounds very awkward. Same goes for reading; my writing is always best straight after finishing a good book. Is this just me? Or is this normal? I'm not one of those people that can take a long break from writing and just... come back. It's kind of all or nothing.
It is my suggestion that having a writing routine is better , but it's not something I have . I'm a random writer. Writing is not my only interest, and my interests swing like a pendulum. But I do have an output of writing . Any method that works is fine . I am still committed to establishing a routine , eventually.
You have to make writing a habit. It has to be something that you sit down regularly to do. Set aside time every day and do nothing else but write. After a month or so, it will come naturally and you'll just do it without having to think about it.
For me writing is a hobby. Whenever I get time I just start writing. It is not something I force myself to do it. It happens naturally. Ideas come to my mind naturally. Words come to my mind naturally. Whenever I feel I am in the mood for writing, I just start writing. For me, it’s not all or nothing. It’s all about flexibility. I allow for a high degree of flexibility. When I get busy with different aspect of life and don’t write for a while, that’s fine. Because I know time will come, when I have something to write about.
There was a highschooler when I was in high school who was just taller and stronger than the other kids. He was a natural athlete and was qb for our admittedly superb high school football team. He eventually went to play in the NFL(true story). He worked hard sure but really he was just a man child and blessed athletically. I guess the point is it just comes easier to some then others. If You're not enjoying it though then why are you doing it?
I think everyone has their own normal. For me I find I can sit and write, but the rate of actual progress depends on how inspired I am feeling which is usually after taking something else in be it music or a film etc. Inspiration pushes me further forwards regardless of how often I write.
I have always had alone time in the morning, so that is when I have always sat down to write. So there is that routine for sure, but now with Covid 19, I find myself writing constantly because of a need to reach my students in a new way. So that was a new introduction to writing. But then a long term relationship ended, and I suddenly found myself with even more time to write at home. This coincided with a discovery that I can also bind my own books and have them look like professionally published books. That unto itself is fun to do...so now, its not just that I can write books, I can publish them and get my books in the hands of those who want them. But, I can flip-flop between technical, historical and fiction, so I am pretty flexible really.
I find pushing myself out of my comfort zone helps me stay motivated and interested. Challenging myself is always good and it enables me to work on my weaknesses or things I haven't done much of. My books never have much dialogue for some reason, so when I try to write a longer conversation it always feels clunky. I'm also not used to a small cast of characters. I can juggle a bunch, but just two characters is hard for me when it comes to interaction. And even though I swear and aren't prudish at all, none of my characters ever swear or say rude things. I just cringe when I think of people reading that stuff I've written. Weird that I'm not comfortable with it in writing, but totally comfortable with it in day to day life. I think it's because every has a different limit. One person might find a dirty joke hilarious and another might be quite disgusted by it. It's judging that balance. How far to push it. So I decided to juggle three characters in a therapy session, one who's quite vulgar, plenty of chat and character digging. It's not for anything other than for my self. It's not a big passion project, it's just for experience and something fresh for myself. A chance for me to practice what I'm uncomfortable at or not used to. It definitely helped me to keep interested in something and to keep the ball rolling.
Boy Cosmic Lights, you sound like your writing is a lot like mine. I go to church, so swearing by my characters is really hard for me to do, and being a teacher, I cannot swear in front of my students either... But maybe this might help. My wife once told me, who never swears herself mind you...like EVER...but when a person is really, really mad, a good F-bomb has incredible impact. I am sure you have met people that drop the F-word 3 times per sentence, and use it in triplicate in sentence after sentence, but that is just filler. Take the word out, and it adds little to the conversation. So that is how I write swear words in dialogue. I rarely use it, but if my character gets really angry, yeah I will toss it in there. Is it perfect dialogue, true to life...kind of...there are people like you and me around after all.
I write when I feel like writing. Sometimes I go months without writing. It’s a hobby, and I do it because it’s fun. I’m not going to force myself and ruin the joy of it.
