I don't bother trying to "find time" to write. I MAKE time. That's really the only way one can be consistent about writing. I've been slacking lately but I make the goal to write about 10kb a day (which equals about 1700 words and takes about an hour to do). No more, no less. The time is usually the morning after I get offline because it's most convenient; the place is the computer, because I type my stories. If I just waited for the right time and place to arrive, it never would. I also try to read some every day--often from two books--but the amount read varies depending on how much time I have and how the books are formatted. (Currently I read a chapter of one book, a novel, and several pages of the other, a nonfic book which has much longer chapters.)
Well, I'm the type of person that changes their mind in the next 5 minutes, so I could never actually stick to a regime. I guess it is to say that I live in the present, so when I want to do something I just do it right then, or I'll most likely end up not doing it at all.
This is an interesting question to ask. I spend 30-45 minutes a day writing. It's not a lot of time, but I'm very focused when I sit down and write. Not a penny is left unspent
I have never had a writing schedule. I tried it once, but I'm terrible at sticking to something. If i have a deadline I lose all motivation what so ever and will avoid the schedule at all costs. It just gives me a reason to procrastinate. Of course, having no schedule at all doesn't really amount to any writing either. I write here and there, mostly at 5 in the morning when I wake up and scribble down a garbled paragraph only to wake up in the morning and go WTF!!?? As for reading, This past year I haven't done a whole lot, probably about ten books max. This year, however, I've given myself a new years resolution. I plan to read at least 30 NEW books (no re reading favourite books as I'm prone to do). I was gonna have it 52 books, but i decided to allow for time interruptions. I already have a stack of books waiting for me, and a bunch more on the list. Here's hoping.
I don't find time for writing, I make time. If you just wait for a free slot in your schedule you'll end up writing hardly anything. Set some time aside each day for writing, or you'll struggle.
I write almost exclusively from my day job :-( it is the only time I can possibly write and not have other people hrm... well as noted elsewhere my writing is mostly secret known mostly to just me. This is the only place I have time that is not bound by others. From home I simply do not have the freedom to sit and write, there would be questions people looking over my shoulders, getting pulled away etc, and ultimately a misunderstanding of what it is I'm doing, then some hurt feelings that I have not been sharing all along and so forth... so from the comfort of work I write.
Hmmm. Last year I found a bunch of time during class to do whatever. I had a notebook filled with random doodles and lyrics to songs that I would get stuck in my head. If I was on a roll with my writing, I'd bring it with me for something to do after a test. This year...not so much. I have harder classes that take up more time and leave less to do nothing. Either that, or I'm so drained from not sleeping the night before or one friend just declared war against another friend...possibly with me in the middle. I miss last year =(
I usually have to make time to write, but once I get the ball rolling, it comes pretty naturally. I found that, for me, the best thing to do is to set a word count goal for a day. Hitting that word count, no matter how good or bad, has been the singlemost successful tool for keeping me behind the keyboard.
Not nearly enough as I should. On the weekends I can barely keep myself awake after work let alone find time to write. I do read quite a bit, but I'm finding that getting time to write is really difficult. I'm not sure how I can make more time, but I am trying.
The question: What's the most you've ever written in the shortest amount of time? For me, it was 25k on one story in less than a month. It's not a lot, but I like to take my time. I barely finish anything, but I get lots of starts. Is it healthier to go faster and touch up later? Or is it best to take it slow and nail everything (or most things) right the first time?
That depends on whether you're still learning, or actually able to publish something as soon as you finish it. I don't think a good writer should need to spend a lot of time editing. I spend a lot of time editing and trying to get things right the first time. It also depends on how you learn best. I learn by discovering my mistakes and not repeating them. So if I just blitz through project after project I'll just wind up with a whole lot of crap. Look back at your writing when you first thought you might like to be a writer. It was probably terrible. Imagine writing a whole book that way. Some people do that. What's the point? With that much practice at sucking, you'll probably continue to suck out of habit even when you know better. You'll have a hell of a time unlearning all of the stupid things you've been working so hard to reinforce. So I edit a lot. I don't want to practice sucking. My biggest pile of crap was 7000 words generated in three hours. I thought it was so awesome. I thought I was DA BOMB. Well, I was da bomb. Da big **** bomb. I looked at it a few days later and wanted to stab my eyes out. So I'm a slow poke. I'm working on 3 books atm, and I've never finished writing anything. Of course, I've only been writing for a few months. Now, some people might have finished a dozen short stories and have a novella completed in the time I generated a few chapters - but as far as I'm concerned... comparing cocks this way (pardon me) is pointless until someone actually publishes something. Oh, I have a good sample scenario... Have you noticed that some posters in the review room will submit a truly awful piece, maybe do one revision (or not) and then submit something else just as bad? Yeah, they're the busy beavers. Then there's the guy who obsessively revises the same thing 5 times until it looks nothing like the first version, then moves on to something else. You can actually see a significant difference between the rough version of their new story and the old one. They are usually the ones improving the most. I think that stressing about word count vs time spent is just a good way to make things harder and slow you down. /End Rant
I have done like 18 pages in one day, which i would say is my best that I can remember. Not sure of the word count on that but yeah. I mean that took me like five hours but that is all I did. Usually tho I dont push it, if im not feeling it I stop, otherwise I dont feel it is very good.
PML I do agree with you Kaz, I do what you do... try to get it right the first time BUT, I would like to see it finished in my lifetime. I can't remember who said it (someone on this forum quoted someone else) but they said: Don't get it right, get it written. I chant it like a cheerleader when I'm writing. It pushes me through and helps me move on when I just 'simply can't find the right word'.
I know what you mean, Nervous. Sometimes I just have to mark the spot and move on. My most recent work is usually riddled with (????) where I just can't remember a word to save my life. Or I can't figure out how the heck to describe something. When you're mentally constipated there's no need to pop a vein.
I am usually never at a loss for words, but when I write and I spend a lot of time on a single sentence that sentence usually ends up beng commented on as 'needs to change.' I don't know why, but when I work extra hard on something it gets harder. Kas, you rock my socks, that was funny!
probably a complete, 120 page screenplay, in 10 days, never having written one before then... when working on major projects in my old write-for-pay life, i'd frequently work non-stop, 18-20 hours a day for several weeks, stopping only to eat, if someone brought me food...
I usually aim for 10-20 hours per week, and usually I end up doing so, but it depends on what mood I'm in during the days. I may write a whole short story one day and spend hours on it, or I may be in a rusty mood and give up after five minutes of garbling out a few sentences of stilted crap.
More than I should... It is actually exactly proportional to the amount of things I should be doing. This past week I've had nothing of note on, and I must have written a grand total of about ten words, then deleted them because they were rubbish. I did however make up for this by creating detailed biographies for all my characters, working on time lines (I tend to balls this up) and thinking about writing. Yes, I've done a lot of thinking about writing this week. Other weeks I'll rack up an extrodinary amount. I'll tell myself 'just an hour, you have to go to bed, you're up at seven', and lo! behold! an 'hour' later turns into two, three in the morning. I've always been like that. When I first started writing, I used to sit up all night on my computer, then at seven in the morning, I'd change into my jammies, hide under my duvet and wait for my mum to come in and wake me for school.
This. Maybe five hours a week? Something pitiful like that. This is mostly due to the fact that I can't write at home, I get too distracted.
If I could answer, I would say 30+, since I tend to devote 5-10 hours every day to my book - either writing or thinking about it. But I never set myself goals, or limits. I write when I can, and if nothing comes, I end up surfing this forum or brainstorming about some other part of my book - or even re-reading it through to make sure it all flows, and says what I wanted it to say the first time around. Of course, that 5-10 hours each day is interrupted LOTS by three young girls, so it isn't always productive; I take what I can get, when I can get it.
