How much should I be writing?

[millymollymo]

Write when you can.
Read when you can't.
Make notes in-between.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I’m a ‘feeler’ when it comes to writing. My approach is to sit down with Scrivener every day and if I can’t write, then I read bits of earlier scenes to edit or get me in the zone.

Then there are days like recently where I’m surfing the wave, inspired and on track, and it’s a case of trying not to write or risk missing work/trains/engagements.

I find it hard to write when I’m not in the right frame of mind. Walking, listening to podcasts, music or meditation helps get into that place. (Any excuse to listen to Kate Bush, really )

pH

 

[Plucky Novice]

Similar to others in this thread, I have a demanding job which combined with the gym, golf and trying to spend time with the wife doesn't leave much room for writing. I try to plan an evening a week (2 hours) and at least one decent session on the weekend (4-5 hours) to actually write.

Otherwise I plug the little bits of empty time that appear here and there with things which I hope will progress or improve my writing: reading, mind mapping a description of a place/character, editing a couple of paragraphs, reading critiques and forums like this one. It's just five or ten minutes each time but it seems to all add up for me.

I was working to a word target each week but found this took some of the enjoyment out of it so I try to be a bit more relaxed now.

 

[sknox]

I've taken to setting very broad goals, too. My goal is to start and finish a novel this year. First part's already done! Yay me. That finishing part seems harder.

 

[awesomesauce]

This is almost certainly a stupid question, but in general, if your aspiration is simply to "get good", how many hours a week / month do people think it's probably necessary / desirable / possible to put in, while juggling a full time job, family commitments etc? Does anyone have any good example routines (early rising / weekends) where they are able to systematically build in writing time? Is it necessary, in peoples' experience, to cut out stuff from their life / make sacrifices in order to concentrate on writing while also being able to pay the bills? Any and all thoughts very welcome.

It's not just about how much time you spend doing the activity, it's also about challenging yourself and deliberately practicing in a way that will help you master new skills. (Obviously you need to make the time to do that practice.)

Right now my personal challenge is narrative structure. I feel like that's the major weakness in my writing (and weak endings, which I'm hoping a better command of structure will help solve). So, as far as actual words produced, I have the goal of writing a thousand words a day. I use an app to keep track of streaks, and I find when I can hit it first thing in the morning, it takes about an hour, maybe a little more. But I also set myself goals and challenges that push me out of my comfort zone, like working from an outline, and studying work by writers who I think do well what I'm trying to learn.

I don't know if that helps. It sucks to know what you're trying to do but not how to make it happen. I think also there's a heavy dose of you do you necessary for writing; it's helpful to get tips from other people who've been there, but ultimately, you have to saddle up and hack your way through the word jungle all by your lonesome.

 

[Guillermo Stitch]

Write when you can.
Read when you can't.
Make notes in-between.

This I like. You hear a lot about writing every day and in general I think it's the best guideline, because that frequency and habituality keeps you oiled and learning. But for me at any rate there are gaps, and it's important not to dismiss them as lost time - reading and planning and sometime just thinking have their value.

And then in terms of quantity you hear this 1000 words a day bandied about, but it's so random - it will be achievable for some but not for many. Certainly not for me. If I wrote 200 GOOD words a day for the rest of my writing life, that would do nicely.

 

[Shorewalker]

I am self-employed and work 60+ hours a week on the business. However, it's 90% done from home, which means that I'm only a room away from the lap-top. I therefore fill my breaks with writing...or at least looking at the screen.

Fortunately (ahem), I'm a smoker, which means that I generally take ten minutes out every hour. I've found that this strangely does allow me to get some decent words down. I've lost count of the number of times that I've opened up the lap-top to find that the next paragraph has written itself in my rear brain whilst I've been doing other things.

Added in to this, I spend a bit of time first thing in the morning (usually going over what the last day produced) and last thing at night. I never set myself targets, but my first manuscript (220,000 words) took ten months to commit to paper. It required/requires a fairly ruthless edit, but at least it's in existence!

 

[picklematrix]

An hour or so before work then an hour or so after is about as much as i can fit in. I have a full time job and my social life needs to be put out of it's misery.

 

[Cathbad]

An hour or so before work then an hour or so after is about as much as i can fit in. I have a full time job and my social life needs to be put out of it's misery.

You have a social life?? *envious glare*

 

[BAYLOR]

You have a social life?? *envious glare*

I know all about not having a life. I wrote the book.

 

[Christopher Lee]

I had to cut out video games in order to get any writing done. At first it was difficult, because I've been a gamer off and on my entire life, but I managed. The problem was that I spent twenty years of getting instant gratification out of video games. Some people have this same problem with social media, television, reddit, etc. My vice was, and always has been, video games. Unlike writing, every time I jump on the playstation to spend a couple hours, I KNOW that after those couple hours are done I will be satisfied with what i've done, whether it's getting a new character leveled up, accomplishing a particularly difficult dungeon, or what have you. I know that after i put that controller down for the night, I will have a sense of gratification because I accomplished something.

The same cannot be said for writing.

Sometimes i'll finish a session of writing and feel this way, but 90% of the time I just feel drained and hopeless because none it came out as good as i wanted and it just reminds me how bad of a writer I really am. This is the OPPOSITE of the instant gratification I get out a video game. However, I constantly remind myself--before AND after--i've finished a writing session, that this feeling is temporary. Once i've completed this book I will feel FAR better about myself and my time spent doing it than I could ever feel about a video game. A video game is completely fake, as you gain nothing physical from it. You complete a dungeon and finally get that headpiece? You can't hold that headpiece in your hands and marvel at it.

But once you finish that novel and print out all six hundred pages of it, you can hold that tomb in your hands and FEEL a sense of accomplishment and gratification like nothing you'll ever feel in your life. You can feel the fruits of your labor, because it's real. THat's how I convince myself to push forward, to keep going even when all it feels like I'm doing is shoveling sh*t from a sitting position(thanks Stephen King).

That went on a lot longer than I expected. Sorry for the rambling post.

P.S. To answer your question, I think you should write every day. I'm finally on track with that, myself.

 

[SamThomas]

It...depends? There are two ways you get better at writing: writing and reading.

When I'm writing, I'm writing pretty much every day. Between the day job and family, my window is 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM. I crank out as much as I can there.

The funny thing is that more free time doesn't necessarily lead to more writing. By the time I've been at it for a couple of hours, my brain is fried. I can get back to it in the evening for a bit, but the idea of writing for five hours seems impossible.

When I finish a project, per Stephen King, I'll take a break before revising it. That can mean writing short stories, or going on a reading binge.

Also, listen to what Onyx said above. I have no desire to write a space opera, but reading that genre has opened doors in my imagination that I did not know existed.

 

[Alan Aspie]

if your aspiration is simply to "get good", how many hours a week / month do people think it's probably necessary / desirable / possible to put in, while juggling a full time job, family commitments etc?

Any and all thoughts very welcome.

If your goal is to get something ready, you think it yourself. After that you talk with your family.

If it is to get good you talk with your family. After that you think it yourself.

We can't say anything valid about the prize that your family pays and/or gets via your hobby.

We are not experts. Your family is - and you.