Do you have scheduled writing time?

[ratsy]

I am new to the writing game. I have wanted to write for years but I never thought I would be able to do it. Just recently I have decided to go for it and get some thoughts down. I am curious to see what my fellow Chron Members do in regards to schedule and time.

Do you have a set time you write every day? How long do you spend on your work daily? Is there an amount of words you want to do per day rather than time?

I want to set some realistic goals so I can meet them as I start out. I don't want to reach for the stars and find that I cannot reach the goals and then get discouraged.

Thank you in advance for your advice and sharing your processes!

 

[Mouse]

No. Is the short answer. I can't write unless I have the feeling to write, I can't 'schedule' that unfortunately! I can only write when I'm alone and in silence too. That doesn't happen all that often.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

When I'm not working and the kids aren't demanding attention... I do try to make sure I do something every day, even if it's only a bit of planning. And when I'm at the stage I am now, gritting my teeth to get over 20k and start to really like the wip, I have to make myself do something every day. It's easier this time, though, I now know that hating it is part of the process and a bit of discipline is needed.

 

[Warren_Paul]

This really depends on the person, Ratsy. We can't advise you on how many hours or words is a realistic amount. It depends so much on your job, your other hobbies and family responsibilities.

Personally, I'm between jobs at the moment, so I treat my writing like a job. On a typical day, I get up at 7:30am, spend about an hour or two catching up on threads here on the Chrons before I do my normal daily things to get ready in the morning. By about 9:30 I've usually opened up my manuscript file and started on writing -- or editing. I'll write/edit through to about 6:30pm, taking several breaks throughout the day when I get hungry or feel the need to get away from the screen for a bit. I tend to aim for about 3k words, but if I'm having a good day I usually do about 5k. I have been naughty a bit recently and found myself reading a book or watching a TV show instead of writing but this past week I'm getting back into my groove.


The best advice I can give is do at least something every single day. It doesn't have to be a lot, as long as it keeps the manuscript fresh in your mind. The longer you procrastinate, the easier it is to forget all about the story and stop writing altogether. It's like a habit, I find.

 

[thaddeus6th]

No.

It's a combination of when I've got opportunity and can relax enough.

When I'm doing a first draft (of serious stuff, like Bane of Souls/Journey to Altmortis) I try to get 1,500 words a day, typically in 3 sittings of 500, but often it doesn't work out that way.

For the comedy I'm having a crack at I'm trying one scene (1-2 pages, usually) a day*. Except on Sunday when I accidentally wrote slightly over 2,000 words. I blame springs for infecting me with productivity.

*I'm only 'working' on that one or two days a week, as my WIP (Altmortis) is my priority. It doesn't feel much like work at the moment, really.

 

[Brian G Turner]

From around 9:30 every night except Friday and Saturday. It's mostly editing at the moment, with fresh rewriting and new writing thrown in.

At some point I figured I needed to push myself, and create a routine, because I plan to be published, and when that happens, I'm suddenly going to be faced with all sorts of deadlines.

Which would be nice if I got a great deal and could write as a full-time occupation, but even Joe Abercrombie pointed out that didn't happen to him until he sold his fourth book. Which suggests to me the first couple of books after being signed are going to be the most challenging to write - hence get the routine started now!

 

[Abernovo]

Short answer, as Mouse: No.

I now grab minutes here and there. If I can get fifteen minutes in, I do. TV off, concentrate, get going. Surprising how many minutes I've achieved doing that just in the last week, even with distractions.

I tried setting times, but it never worked for me, due to interruptions. Now my mindset is 'I have fifteen minutes, and I'll use them'.

As to goals, shoot for the stars, ratsy. The best advice I ever got was to aim higher than you think you can achieve, because you might surprise yourself and get there, and even if you don't achieve the full goal, you'll try your damnedest, which is achievement in itself. I wish somebody had told me that sooner.

Hope that helps and good luck.

EDIT: My brain's going. I forgot one thing. I now write every day, if at all possible. And I stop at 2300. I need a bit of freshness.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I haven't because I have been really ill but I am aiming to get back to writing in the mornings before the kids get up. It works better for me because the internet isn't as distracting.

Number of words varies and depends on what I am doing.

 

[ratsy]

Thanks for all the feedback already. Of course I understand that everyone will have different life pressures. I have the luxury of a decent amount of free time during the evenings. I am married but I do not have children yet. So besides walking the dog I could easily find an hour a night I think to work on it.

I am the type of person who needs to set goals. I find everything is easier to achieve if you have a specific end in sight. Small goals, that will lead into big goals. It has been working for me in other areas so I hope to roll the same philosophy into this.

 

[alchemist]

Only when work and family allow. I can't remember what I did with my free time before I had kids. How did I spend a whole day when alchemissus was at work? If I'd been writing back then, I'd have three novels by now!

 

[Warren_Paul]

I'd suggest doing that hour a night and see how many words you can easily do in an hour on average. That way you will learn your writing speed and what a realistic goal to set would be. You can increase it over time to push yourself a little harder if you want to get more done.

Word count really depends on the scene you are writing though. Action scenes I find tend to add up the word count really quick, while slower, non-action scenes tend to take me a lot longer to reach the same word count.

 

[allmywires]

I am the type of person who needs to set goals. I find everything is easier to achieve if you have a specific end in sight. Small goals, that will lead into big goals. It has been working for me in other areas so I hope to roll the same philosophy into this.

Then I reckon setting targets will be really useful for you. I'm not goal oriented at all, so I write when I get itchy fingers. I'm not bothered about finishing stuff anymore - I used to blitz through stuff just so finish a WIP. Probably because I have a WIP that is done and fairly polished on the backburner, so there's not that must-finish-a-book-for-once-in-my-life pressure setting my keyboard on fire.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Like a lot of the others my answer is no. Work and kids and a wife with an ongoing illness/condition means that I have to take my openings when I get them.

On the other side of the fence though is the fact that there are times when work can get really quiet - it hasn't for quite a while now, but when it does I am able to write then!

 

[alchemist]

On the other side of the fence though is the fact that there are times when work can get really quiet -

Goes a bit dead, does it?

 

[Venusian Broon]

I am the type of person who needs to set goals. I find everything is easier to achieve if you have a specific end in sight. Small goals, that will lead into big goals.

Then I reckon setting targets will be really useful for you. I'm not goal oriented at all, so I write when I get itchy fingers. I'm not bothered about finishing stuff anymore - I used to blitz through stuff just so finish a WIP.

I'd put myself down as goal-orientated, but when it comes to writing I've found the more specific I set rules for myself, the less likely I was to actually get anything done at all.

So for example: I found it a mistake to aim for a certain number of words per day, or to set x days a week and y hours a day to writing.

The reason being that if I didn't reach that target, rather than spur me on 'back on the path to happiness', it would quite often lead me into a negative state of mind that would severly hamper any further output. i.e. I'd feel guilty for not keeping up and this would weaken my resolve (Sounds a bit weird, but I'm sure others have had similar experiences).

I think getting in the right frame of mind for sitting down and writing is integral for what will take up 1000s of hours of your time over many years. So now I'm much less rigid in writing times and schedules - perhaps flexible is a better word - and instead have worked out a process that is geared to completion and finishing which works much, much better for me.

As others have said above, this would probably have to change again if I were having to write for my living and adopt a much more sensible professional approach, but its working for me right now.

 

[monsterchic]

No. Is the short answer. I can't write unless I have the feeling to write, I can't 'schedule' that unfortunately! I can only write when I'm alone and in silence too. That doesn't happen all that often.

My thoughts exactly Can't write with interruptions, but I usually have music (film scores or piano) playing in the background.

 

[Galacticdefender]

No. Is the short answer. I can't write unless I have the feeling to write, I can't 'schedule' that unfortunately! I can only write when I'm alone and in silence too. That doesn't happen all that often.

Same here. When I write it's generally 1:00 AM on weekends, after a night of inspirational video games lol. Games like Mass Effect really get me in the mood to write.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Tonight's shift now ended. 2 hours and about 8 pages rewritten and edited.

Small steps and all that.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I work rotating shifts, and my days off are not always on weekends. So I write whenever I can. This morning, I wrote while my wife and son slept in (they are not morning people).

 

[EricWard]

It's all about those circadian rhythms. Pinpoint when you're most active in the day and it's usually fairly constant for most people.

My best-case scenario is right after the evening meal. But like everyone else is saying, you can't always schedule creativity.

Addendum: An hilarious anecdote about forcing creativity. I'll keep it short.

Back in college/university, I read this old instruction book on hypnosis and asked my roommates if I could put them under to see if it worked. It actually did, to my surprise. One roommate had a pretty lengthy paper due the next week and didn't start it yet, so while he was under, I put in a suggestion that he would not get distracted - that every time he felt distracted, he would just become more focused on his paper.

I went out for about an hour and when I came back, he was staring straight into his computer monitor, typing like a madman (and for some reason wearing a sweatband on his head, which I guess means he was in the zone). He refused to make eye contact with me and just kept typing. He ended up typing something like 30 pages of his report in the span of five hours.

So hey, maybe try hypnosis to help reach your goals. It worked for him.