McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Writing every day

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Tasmin21:
I write when inspiration strikes me.  There are days when I want to write, and it's like grasping at smoke, there's just nothing there.

And there are days when all I get done is some mental musing as I take the bus to commute to work.  Sometimes, it's all the alone time I get.

blgarver:

--- Quote from: pathele on January 02, 2007, 09:14:50 PM ---all,
couple of quick questions: 
1) How much do you write each day on your current project? 
Someone told me recently that on days that I write less than a thousand words that I shouldn't have bothered.  I try to write everyday, but with two young children (3 yrs and 5 months) I don't always get to spend as much time as I would like.

2) do you consider work on your plotting (outline/notes/whatever) as part of your writing for the day?

To me, when you quantify your writing (ie, you must write 1500 words / day) then you stifle creativity by trying to force something that will, in all likelyhood, be edited out later anyway. 
thoughts?

-paul

--- End quote ---

I work in cycles...for a week or two I'll be really good about writing every day, and then there will be a couple of weeks where, for one reason or another, I'll get thrown off the pattern.  Recently it was because of the death of my little cousin, and then the holidays a week later.  So for about a month I was all out of wack.  But when I do write, I usually write around 1500 - 2000 per sitting.  That's quite a chunk when I can keep it consistent for a couple of weeks. 

I consider outlining, brainstorming and all that part of the writing day.  If I sit at Perkins for three hours and come up with a skeleton of plot points and ideas for a story, then I feel pretty friggin accomplished.  And brain dead, to boot.

However, I have to strongly disagree with whoever told you that writing less than a grand a day was a waste of time.  I guage progress by story movement, not word volume or page number.  If I can reach the next plot point in 300 words, then I've reached my goal for the session.  If I can't get it that quick, then I keep writing.  When it's all said and done, every word you type is a word - a piece of the story - that wasn't there before you sat down and started typing.

And as far as writing a big chunk and having to force it, only to edit it later, well...for the first draft the goal is to just finish.  If you've got nothing on paper, then you can't rewrite it.  And writing is, if nothing else, rewriting.  So, I say write write write, even if it's sh*t. 

resurrectedwarrior:
1. I'm with Garver here. Whoever told you less that writing less than a thousand words per day is worthless is nuts. During the school year, I consider it a success if I get up to 500 words in a day. While that may not seem like much, it does add up after a while. They key is to keep plodding along--stay in the habit of writing.

2. Personally, I don't. I tend to consider my writing day when I'm sitting at my computer writing. I scribble down plot notes between classes or when I'm riding in the car. Of course, thinking about it now, maybe if I did consider outlining part of my writing day, I wouldn't feel so bad when I've finished a chapter and am finalizing my outline for the next one.  :)

Josh:
I do try to write every day, though this doesn't necessarily come through as the "word-count" mode. When I'm in the middle of a novel, and it's flowing, yea, I can do a couple k a day sometimes. Other days, I'm happy with 500. Other days, I just journal free-form for a page or two, or work on my blog, or revise past drafts, or maybe do a teeny poem...just to have written something. For me it's like checking the spigot to make sure it stays unclogged and that my mind stays in a writing mode.

I guess that kind of answers both questions. For the outlining/story building stuff, I certainly consider that writing. When approaching a new story, I do a lot of pre-work before I tend to start the first scene...it can take me two, even three weeks before I think I'm ready (not counting research). But during all that time, I don't stop writing, even if it's dishing out character and plot notes, or describing a new system of magic or culture to be put in my story.

Abstruse:
Ask yourself, which is worse?  Writing only 100 words that are really good, or writing 1500 words that are complete crap?  If you force yourself to meet a certain word count deadline, you're encouraging yourself to put whatever crap you can down in order to make your goal.  I'm much more of a quality over quantity person.

The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.

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