On a roll... what do you do?

Namatu · Apr 26, 2007

When you're on a roll with your writing, but must break up each day's creativity with your paying job, how do you cope? If the streak is strong, do you stay home and write like a fiend? Can you suck it back and hold out until the end of the day? (I'm an evening writer, but I suppose you could wake up extra early too!)

I'm on the fence about invoking vacation time for writing. I'd like to actually use it for travel, but... what if the streak goes away before I can push through what I need to? I've been staying up late trying to take advantage of things, but it's wearing me out, and my characters won't take themselves a nice nap during work hours. They keep bugging me.

I'll hold out for the weekend now, but if I'm increasingly tempted to just stay home and write.

What do you do?

:e2seesaw:

Writer2011 · Apr 26, 2007

Well i'm out on medical leave so I do a lot of writing...well not a lot but if i'm on a roll I keep going unless the train of thought is disrupted and I have to start over again

Niapri · Apr 26, 2007

Hmm...is this the kind of job where you could keep a notebook or something handy to write things down in?

It might be different for you, because I'm in college and rather jobless at the moment. I usually save it until the end of class/work when I have a job, or write something down frantically when it comes to mind, hoping it will be legible later. But I've also skipped an entire day of classes when I was really bitten by the writing bug. After that, I was almost entirely back to my normal writing times. Jobs are less flexible than lectures, so maybe planning just one day off to write can't hurt? Maybe giving yourself a three-day weekend?

Shady Lane · Apr 26, 2007

I've been home sick all this week, and I've written about 15,000 words.

I'd suggest getting sick.

Elektra · Apr 26, 2007

Whenever this happens to me, I always regret choosing the obligations over the writing. The words are never as good as they were in my head, when they were just itching to get onto paper, and I ignored them.

Niapri · Apr 26, 2007

Shady Lane said:
I've been home sick all this week, and I've written about 15,000 words.

I'd suggest getting sick.

I concur! This is the ideal option.

And what Elektra said about choosing obligations over writing is very, very true. I've found that if I've put off writing for too long, the scenes I had in my head that seemed brilliant for hours or days or weeks, just aren't as enjoyable because I either (A) already know every detail, and everything seems rehearsed, or (B) forget what was supposed to happen or otherwise lose my inspiration.

Namatu · Apr 26, 2007

Elektra said:
Whenever this happens to me, I always regret choosing the obligations over the writing. The words are never as good as they were in my head, when they were just itching to get onto paper, and I ignored them.

Exactly! I've found that if I think the words for the scene/dialogue, they go away by the time I can write them down. So even though they might be pushing at my brain, I keep the fence up.

I'm trying the notebook thing today, but just for notes, not scenes. My job pretty much keeps me glued to the computer.

NeuroFizz · Apr 26, 2007

My job provides a comfortable life (financially), and I have specific obligations to earn that comfortable life. My writing can't match it (financially). No brainer. The really good ideas will persist until time is available, and if I don't have the self-motivation to get into it then, I probably should consider giving up writing.

I guess I don't understand how writing motivation can be so capricious.

Namatu · Apr 26, 2007

Niapri said:
I concur! This is the ideal option.

If I keep missing out on my sleep, it's very likely to happen! :snoopy:

sunna · Apr 26, 2007

I'm in the same situation job-wise - glued to the PC for 9-10 hours. I usually hold out until I get home, but I will occasionally email myself notes or even short passages if I feel like it's too important and/or intersting to skip. There's nothing I hate more than trying to recover that 'mental note' while I'm driving home!

WildScribe · Apr 26, 2007

Oh, I WISH I could skip work. I write from home for a living, so when I am actually working, I am on DEADLINE. But I used to keep a notebook handy, and still jot down ideas until I am done with crunch time and ready for the fun words to come out.

Novelust · Apr 26, 2007

I'm taking a writing vacation in a week and a half - renting a little cabin for a week, lugging along the laptop, and trying to hammer through to the end of my WIP.

Penguin Queen · Apr 26, 2007

Actually, I have found that having only a limited time window to write in really benefits me -- when I still had my 9 - 5 (ish) day job, I HAD to write in the two hours I had before going to work; & often I'd be scribbling away on the platform while waiting for the train, & on the train itself. Then I went & worked 8 stupid hours, & ran home & typed up the scribblings. Worked like a dream, although not having more time for writing was very frustrating.

Then I took half a year off because I wanted more time to write, and spent an awful lot of it dawdling & procrastinating. Because I had too much time.

PQ, clearly lacking in discipline

Ken Schneider · Apr 26, 2007

You don't have to be at the keyboard to stay on a roll, but you have to have a good memory.

Continue your thoughts in your head, and write them down when you get a chance.

Uncle Jim said he used to get up extra early before work to write, everyday.

How bad do you want it?

job · Apr 26, 2007

Writing ... professional writing ... is a 'long haul' thingum.
You're doing the marathon, not a sprint.

-- Keep a laptop or a notebook or a voice recorder handy so you can catch the ideas that come to you at work.
Yes.
.

-- But mostly, you write on a schedule.
Ink in appointments for 30 minutes, or two hours, or four hours every day.
Some of this is commute time and time over a sandwich at lunch and the hour when the kids are at ballet.
This is your second job. Your writing time. Make serious space for it.
.
.
-- The flip side of dedicated writing time is ...
when you're not writing, you don’t cheat the rest of your life.

Read, exercise, give honest and intense attention to your day job.
(There is no good Karma in stiffing folks you have made a contract with.)
Telephone your mother. Take long walks in the woods. Volunteer at the local Food bank. Learn to juggle.

This keeps you whole and sane (and, incidentally, makes you a better, more productive, writer. )
.

-- Everyone loses good work before it gets locked in electrons.
Fish slip away because we don't have the net ready, or we're steering the goddammed boat or wiping somebody's nose or answering the telephone.
Flick. They're gone.
And they were quick and fickle and slim and more beautiful than the rain.

Trust yourself. You'll catch fish just as beautiful next time you sit down to write. Your mind is endlessly creative.

ccarver30 · Apr 26, 2007

I write until I have completed the thought/scene.

Claudia Gray · Apr 26, 2007

I make brief notes during the day and remember what I'm going to work on that night. It's the nighttime stuff and the weekend activities that I cancel. When on a roll, I've been known not to leave the apartment once between Friday evening after work and Monday morning. Yeah, I'm a little wiggy at the end of that, but I've gotten a lot of words down.

Niapri · Apr 26, 2007

Penguin Queen said:
Then I took half a year off because I wanted more time to write, and spent an awful lot of it dawdling & procrastinating. Because I had too much time.

Yeah, that's something to be careful of...I'm coming to the end of the semester I took part-time so I could write, and only now that I'm coming to the end am I writing. I was pretty: :idea:

Deadlines seem to help me and most of the writers I know. So maybe a shortage of free time actually works to your advantage. A reasonable shortage, that is. ^^;

Rob B · Apr 26, 2007

Everybody has hit on it in a big way for me. Eons ago someone suggested I develop a means for taking notes (there weren't PC's in those covered wagon days). I originally never took the advice and have forgotten several
DA VINCI CODE'S. At least that's my excuse, and I'm stickin' with it.

If I've got something that's complex (or course, everything seems like it's an ordeal for me anymore), such as a revision, I'll do like the lady does and stay with it all weekend if I have to. But, from a standpoint of remembering ideas for passages and the like, some years ago (when I'd acquired one of them there new-fangled PC things), I created a brilliantly titled "passages for novels" folder (duh) I still add to based on whatever I conjure up that I think might have future application. To accommodate my work schedule, this was the best thing I'd ever done to help myself with any coruscations (yeah, right).

BardSkye · Apr 26, 2007

I jot notes down if I'm at work and mull them over on the bus ride home. That's the only real advantage to public transit. It gives you lots of time between missed connections to plot things.

Raphee · Apr 26, 2007

I have a day job too. Sometimes I get the extra coupe of hours to write at work when work is slow.
At others I can't put in a word of writing because I am working till midnight.
So I just adapt to the amount of work. Still I have to admit that writing does make me lose some of my focus on my real job.
I do believe that the really good ideas tend to stick. Its the beautiful sentences, your mind came up with from nowhere, that tend to slip away.
Jot then down in a diary. They can be useful later.

Nolita · Apr 26, 2007

There's a program called Go To My Office PC click the link and check it out. If your boss doesn't look over your shoulder, or monitor your computer activity, you could flip it's intended use.

That way, you could access your writing and notes from the office, safely and securely. One thing I would do, if in that position, and able to use the program, is use an egg timer, to remind me when I'm finished. Or, if you have an mp3 player, you could make a playlist that's songs just long enough to fill your break. Use it, and when the playlist stops, breaktime's over.

You could even explain to your boss, that your personal writing helps to relieve stress(it's just a semi-fib). If the boss complained. Besides, the coffee break can be good for more than just coffee. Actually, if you brown bag your lunch, you can use your lunch hour to write as well.

Optionally, get your mitts on a laptop. It doesn't have to be new and fancy for writing. Maybe it's better for it not to be new and fancy(fewer distractions).

Of course in a slightly less than perfect world, you could just grab the nearest beautiful co-worker and write on his or her back.

Namatu · Apr 27, 2007

Thanks for everyone's responses and ideas. They're helpful. It's also very nice to hear how not alone I am.

job said:
-- The flip side of dedicated writing time is ... when you're not writing, you don’t cheat the rest of your life.

Read, exercise, give honest and intense attention to your day job.
(There is no good Karma in stiffing folks you have made a contract with.)
Telephone your mother. Take long walks in the woods. Volunteer at the local Food bank. Learn to juggle.

This is very important to me. It can at times literally pain me to write if I spend too much time at my home computer, where the ergonomics leave something to be desired (and must be fixed). This stems primarily from an old injury, but I have to pace my computer time with other activities to avoid a flare up. I've also returned to the pen and paper, but my brain and body respond best to variety.

ClaudiaGray said:
I make brief notes during the day and remember what I'm going to work on that night. It's the nighttime stuff and the weekend activities that I cancel. When on a roll, I've been known not to leave the apartment once between Friday evening after work and Monday morning. Yeah, I'm a little wiggy at the end of that, but I've gotten a lot of words down.

This is actually my plan for this weekend. Aside from outings for necessities like food restocking and the gym, I aim to be homebound and computer/notebook chained.

Regarding any writing at work, I don't write anything aside from a note or two. I don't feel right pursuing something I hope to get published and make money off of while I'm on payroll hours for someone else. It can give work a greater sense of urgency as the ideas push around inside my brain and demand to be let out. I'm such a "color inside the lines" girl!

BardSkye · Apr 27, 2007

Namatu said:
Regarding any writing at work, I don't write anything aside from a note or two. I don't feel right pursuing something I hope to get published and make money off of while I'm on payroll hours for someone else.

Know what you mean. I didn't have a problem with it when I worked retail for the same people; there were enough missed or interrupted lunch hours to make up for the odd one spent writing but now I work alone and unsupervised. I don't dare start writing there now. I would lose track of time and spend all day writing instead of working.

Enzo · Apr 27, 2007

When I had a job, I took one-hour lunch breaks. I actually spent half an hour on eating, and half an hour on writing or - if I didn't have my laptop with me - on taking notes.

On a roll... what do you do?

Lost in mental space.

my name is hannah

Don't Call Me Sweetheart

Lost in mental space.

The grad students did it

Lost in mental space.

Slave to the Wordcount

*Does not molest books.

Break the rules.

Absolute sagebrush

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

Nicole Castro

Barbershoppin' Harmony Whore

In debt to AW

Lost in mental space.

Barbershoppin' Harmony Whore