question for the writers in the crowd

[serene]

If you're a writer of some stripe, do you schedule writing time into every day? If so, why and when, etc.? If not, why, and how do you handle getting writing done consistently, if that's even an issue for you?

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

If you're a writer of some stripe, do you schedule writing time into every day?

No.

If not, why, and how do you handle getting writing done consistently[...]?

I don't.

Not helpful, I know. But honest.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

As I indicated, I recognize that some people just don't worry about it, and that's useful info for me, too. After all, you've published more writing than I have.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Well, I do worry about it, but not enough to overcome my inertia about actually doing anything about it.

[scuttle.livejournal.com]

I am not a writer, but I have a thesis with a looming due date. Because I am working on it my class schedual is pretty light, and that adds up to a bonus day off per week. I just divided the word count into weeks, and assigned a quota per week leading up to the due date so I could finish in time for editing.

I am doing this because I honestly hate write large papers, so I started doing a similar thing with essays. It probably sounds burdenful to box myself in with rules and timelines, but I work best with structure.

[leback.livejournal.com]

I suppose producing large volumes of Usenet spewage doesn't count as "being a writer," does it? :-)

[firecat]

I write email and comments and posts every day.

Other writing I do not do every day, although most of the "how to be a successful writer/artist" books I've read have encouraged doing such work every day. The best book of such stripe I ever worked with was "The Artist's Way," and I faithfully did all the exercises, including the morning pages of writing, for about two months. Then I got bogged down and quit. I did write a few good short stories during that period.

I write either when I'm moved to do it or when I have a deadline. Deadlines that are promises to other people backed up by money are best, but I also managed to treat the Nanowrimo as a meaningful deadline the one year I did Nano.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Um. Basically, I write best when I have a deadline. If I have a deadline, I schedule. If I don't, I don't.

This is not useful, and has been needing to be changed for some time, but it is What Is True.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

personally i've found doing a little bit of writing every day to be helpful/motivating/blahblah.

i try to do Morning Pages every day (though often not in the morning). i'd estimate i actually do it about 80% of the time.

i write online every day (various places/forms/subjects), and freeform in a paper journal an average of 6-10 pages a week (life stuff, prose pieces, poetry, other stuff - sometimes sketchings too).

beyond that it depends on if i have a deadline or what project(s) i feel like working on that week or whatever.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I write e-mail almost daily. I write other stuff when compelled to do so, either by request, money, or a desire to do so.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

If I've got documentation to work on for some of the programs I work on, I try to do some at least every weekday, usually in the morning, or it might be other times depending on when I can fit it in. I work at home, so my schedule is basically up to me unless there's some big crunch going on.

Fiction writing, well, I think it would do me a lot of good if I could write at least one little bit -- even a note about how I should research or reread something -- every day. I might even actually finish something someday!

[pameladean]

Well, I don't know about scheduling exactly. I have a goal: four hours or four pages, whichever comes first. If a deadline is near, that gets altered.

This does mean that sometimes I say, "Oh no, it's midnight" and begin a mad scramble.

I also take days off, usually very spontaneously.

P.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

This depends on how totally broad your definition of "writer," is. I don't count myself a writer, but some object when I say that. Anyway, I do NaNoWriMo, and I'm considering another story idea outside of NaNoWriMo, but otherwise I don't write. As such, I thus far just write in November.