Making Time For Writing

[Persephone]

A lot is said of inspiration and getting in the mood for writing in this community and others. Another prominent school of thought holds that writing is less about inspiration and more about sitting yourself down in typing.

For now I will ignore that debate. Either way, but especially in the second school of thought, if you don't take time to write it will never happen. So how do you schedule your writing times? Do you have set times and places that you try to write or do you just do it when you have inspiration and/or aren't busy? I've tried setting out scene goals per day or week with my last few projects but found that towards the end of a scene I was either exhausted or rushed and my quality slipped. On the other hand, whenever I try to write "whenever I get the time or interest" I never have motivation or time.

So how do you deal with it? What are the advantages and drawbacks of your method of making or finding time for writing?

 

[Beth Pavell]

I've found that trying to stick to targets such as so-many-words per day or whatever, is the best way to make writing feel like a chore. That's necessary for professional authors, but for the likes of us writing still needs to seem like a leisure activity. Personally I usually write at least once a day, and usually for around an hour or so. Writing for me will usually mean getting words on a page, but if that's just not happening then I'll switch to planning ahead.

For me that's not usually a hardship. But when I really am stuck I'll often force myself to sit and at least try for half an hour, because I really do think that a lot of writer's block is just not thinking hard enough. The reward for the hard work is getting it right in the end. Of course, the potential problem with my method is that you have to really want it to be right in the end to be able to do this. I'm prepared to not play Medieval II for a while in order to do the writing, which gives you an idea of where I place writing in my list of priorities for free time

 

[Almonds]

I write whenever I feel the urge to write, like when I get a sudden inspiration. Yes, even when it's midnight and I have an exam the next day - I won't be able to concentrate on my studies unless I pour everything out anyways. I prefer writing everything when the 'feels' are fresh. Recreating certain scenes playing in my head on paper isn't easy when the 'feels' are gone. Besides, regardless of what others think of the story, it ends up being one of the more satisfactory products for me.

 

[Misfit Angel]

Lately I've dedicated at least an hour a day, usually around 5 PM, though sometimes I'll often spend three. I'm afraid the quality of my writing is beginning to suffer with that, though. The passion is certainly there, but not quite as much as it used to be. I feel like chapters which had up to two months between them had better overall quality compared to the last few chapters which have been out on a weekly basis, even if I've been spending more actual time on the recent ones. I dunno, it feels kinda weird.

One drawback of spending so much time writing is my friends bitching that I'm not prioritizing my life properly.

 

[Drakon]

Generally, I prefer to write something everyday. Even if it's less than one hundred words. In general, once you get moving, it gets much easier to continue.

In addition, I also suggest reading or listening to music to try and get inspiration flowing. Tossing ideas aloud with someone or yourself also helps.

 

[Silverwynde]

I write in my free time and usually before I head off to work or on one of my days off. I just put on some good music--something without lyrics usually helps--and start tapping away.

The main drawback is now that I don't have a lot of time before work with my new job and worse I'm not sure if it's a good idea to write while in the breakroom at Target. We had to sign some non-disclosure type agreements upon our hiring and the wording makes it sounds as though they could try and claim ownership of what I write while I'm there. If I am going to write before work, I'll be doing it in the food court just to make absolutely sure.

 

[Arkadelphiak]

I don't ever really post here (yet), but my method of writing is pretty sporadic. I'll be sitting in class and suddenly some brilliant idea will hit me; then it sits there in my head and drives me crazy until I write it down somewhere for later in the day. Then the idea grows throughout the day, becoming more complex, until I get some free time and just write it out or add it as a note in whatever I'm working on. Writing is like my break from academia, you see. So I look forward to it when I get some time.

 

[Lord Kyuubi]

I often have a lot of difficulty finding time to write. If I was in a mood to make excuses, I'd blame that on school and homework, which is true to a point, but I think the biggest reason is that I procrastinate a bit. And by 'a bit', I mean probably most of my free time is spent procrastinating. Ugh. I just get sidetracked by the slightest things. It's annoying.

And then of course, if I can't get at least something written in a day, it makes me get depressed, which leads to writer's block and lack of motivation, et cetera, et cetera. I really do need to work on my self-discipline skills, especially since writing is just about the only thing I can do, albeit badly.

When I do actually start writing, I can generally get a decent amount done. I just need to be in the right 'zone' to start in the first place. Which is not made easier by the many distractions of the internet, as well as the at-times rather annoying existence of real life.

Hmm, this post has turned into a bit of a rant, sorry, so I'd probably better end. In summary, I get distracted a lot and should spend a lot more time writing, like probably right now. Oh.

 

[MasqueradeOfSilence]

I haven't posted any writing here yet, but it's something I love to do. I used to have the problem where I'd only write when I felt inspired to. So that ended up being like once a month, max. Now I've been trying to write every day for NaNoWriMo. I found that while I do like writing every day, writing a specific word count like @Beth Pavell said isn't always a good idea. I stopped loving to write once I had to impose a specific word count on myself, and I ended up writing a bunch of pointless scenes. Regardless, I'll still probably do it next year, just because it's good to get the practice in.

I also have the issue of over-scheduling myself, which is why my posting online is sporadic at best. I've been trying to eliminate things from my daily routine that don't really matter, like browsing random stuff via Google, or trying to do too many things at once. It's given me more time for creative pursuits, and it's really nice to have that.

I guess what I'm trying to say is writing every day works well for me, but if I'm not feeling too inspired, then I'll just write a little bit. Inspiration will come more often if you keep practicing, though.