Stamina in writing: how to improve?

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Exir

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I find that I cannot spend more than two hours on writing per day because it is so intense. I find that after two hours, my mind becomes less sharp, I become more exhausted, my brain starts protesting, and my visualization of scenes less clear, etc.

I wonder why does mental exhaustion happen? How do those professional writer write eight hours a day? Does stamina improve with age? With practice? Is it related to my physical shape? (Because I'm not a very healthy person -- I'm quite frail.) How do I improve my writing stamina?
 

Diana W.

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Does anyone really write 8 hours a day straight? I doubt I could do that. I think the most I did was nearly 3 hours.
How about taking a break when you start to feel tired. Go for a walk or do something else that relaxes you and then 2 or 3 hours later go back and do more?
Hope that helps. But I'm sure other writers have different methods so you should get plenty of helpful answers here.
 

tehuti88

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Eight hours a day! It'd be easier for me to walk that long rather than write, and I love writing and am in bad shape!

Two hours sounds about right to me--in fact, it seems like more than enough. I find that I just cannot focus on the same task for more than an hour or so, no matter how much I might like it. (Brain-related tasks, I should say.) When it comes to reading, or writing, or such, my brain just starts to fizzle out after an hour.

Lately I've been taking notes on my writing and it takes upwards of four hours a day, which of course is excruciating, so I find that halfway through I have to take a break away from the computer--eat something, watch a little TV, look out the windows at the birds, even go outside a bit with the cat and check the mail. Then back to work until I'm done (probably with a few more little breaks in there). It doesn't make it any easier. But it makes it a bit more bearable, so I can actually finish.

Maybe there just ISN'T a surefire way to write longer? Maybe, like with exercise, everyone has their limits. You can't fault some people for not being able to run marathons; I don't think some people should be faulted for not being able to write for eight hours. Writing for that long seems like the exception rather than the rule, to me, but I wouldn't really know.

I HAVE found, however, that my attention span has grown considerably lousier since coming online some years ago...
 

Phaeal

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Professional writers don't necessarily write eight hours a day, simply because writing is such an intense activity.

I find I can write for about three hours at a stretch before feeling the strain. At that point, if I take a few hours off, I can often write another three hours that day.

Try doing your two hours, then taking a break for an hour or so, then coming back for another hour or two. Exercise, go for a walk, have some food. Refresh the body, and the mind will also be refreshed.

But remember: Two hours a day is all you need to do.
 

Exir

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Phael: Thanks! I wonder how professional writers spend their time, if they don't write more than four to six hours. Since I am a student, on normal days I can only squeeze out one hour of writing time, but I have quite some time to spare on weekends. I want to use most of that time :)
 

DonnaDuck

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I just think it's dependent on the person and their schedule. Two hours is the max I write during the week simply because that's all I have time for. Even on the weekends I can't seem to write more than two hours at a stretch. I just start to lose focus. Perhaps writing in a room without clocks could help since you wouldn't have a concept of time, just writing. But everyone has their own different style and really, it's accustomed to their already existence schedule. I'm sure if I were a professional writer and that was my livelihood, my writing schedule would be a lot different. However now, I write what I can when I can and that has to do because I can't fit it into the rest of my time since it's already occupied by things like a job and some semblance of a life (which is pathetic in and of itself).
 

Soccer Mom

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Some writers can go for that long and some can't. If your writing time is 2 hours, don't sweat it. There are lots of other writerly pursuits out there: editing, reading, proofing, researching, to keep you busy enough.
 

inkkognito

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I can write for hours, but I find that the key is to break that up with a little web surfing or working on my other jobs. I probably can go at it eight hours if I do it that way. When I worked an 8 hour corporate day, I didn't spent it all chained to my desk. I had coffee breaks, chats with friends, lunchtime etc. I simply work breaks into my self emplyment too and it really benefits my writing productivity.
 

MumblingSage

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My limit is more in words per day that hours, partially because I don't write straight for hours at a time--I write in between classes, and during boring classes, and during lunch break. I stop when I need to think and start up again when I have time. That said, I can still be mentally exhausted by the end of the day and unable to write more. I don't know if this has to do with school or writing, or both.

I guess to improve you have to keep adding minutes to your writing each day, slowly, until you get used to writing three hours a day, then four...
 

CBumpkin

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I think that's great advice, Dale. Excellent.

My stamina came when I started taking writing seriously. I learned to love the entire process, even the tedious parts. I can honestly say that there isn't a single aspect of writing that I don't like.

People always find a way to get what they want. I've seen people who said they couldn't pay their electric bill suddenly find $275 to attend a special concert given in a department store by a famous singer. If a person really wants to write, I believe they'll make the time for it and their stamina will increase because they'll see writing differently. I can write for hours and hours on end without blinking.

(Please don't take that as me thinking I'm better than anyone else here or anywhere. I don't think I'm any better than anyone else at all. I'm just giving my experience of retraining the way I thought. I simply got tired of talking about writing and just did it. When it was difficult at times, I reminded myself that I chose to do this. Nobody is making me. I can stop anytime if I think it's too hard. So, how badly do I really want to make a go of this? I knew I wanted to write more than anything else, so I changed the way I thought about the hard parts.)
 

VGrossack

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It depends! I can write more and longer and better when I know what I'm going to write. So, in the editing stage, I can "write" for hours and hours. When I'm beating my head against the wall, trying to get started (see the getting started thread, and by the way, the wall is a bit dented now) it is less time at the keyboard and more time thinking and staring into space.

And it's also a matter of practice and stamina. There have been periods of my life when I could get an hour of writing in before work - and I got so accustomed to writing for only an hour, that it was difficult to write longer.

It may also be your environment. Are there too many distractions? Sometimes I need to turn off the connection to the internet (although then I find myself turning it back on five minutes later, as I want to check the on-line dictionaries or thesaurus, or research some obscure point).

I guess that's the trick. Ask yourself why you run into difficulties. Is it you? Your environment? Where you are in the story? Some combination? If you get a handle on the why, you may discover a solution.
 

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I read, in On Writing by Stephan King that he reads for about 4 hours a day, and then writes the other four (I believe this was before he got hit by the van.) I expect there are a few breaks in there, as well as a lunch.

Practice brings stamina as VCrossack has said above.

Personally I work in "spurts." I can sit there thinking for three hours and then write five or ten pages. I also end up not wanting to write complete chapters or scenes, so I have a ton of "assignments" waiting for me. So I might write 5 paragraphs to add to a half finished scene, and then start another scene and write 3/4ths of that and then go on to another scene and write 1/4th of that. generally, I end up bouncing all over the manuscript. At first I thought I was crazy, now I realize that is how I write.
 

C.M. Daniels

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I don't have a schedule, at all, save for trying to do a little writing right before I go to sleep at night, and even then, it's only when I feel like it.

You have to write when you feel like writing. Even without a schedule or set word counts, I've finished four novels, more short stories than I can count, and started several other projects. They happen when they need to happen.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't force yourself. You'll feel better for it and your work will be better as well.
 

scope

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Very, very few writers spend eight hours a day writing. And even the few who do rarely write eight consecutive hours. Two to four hours a day is probably the norm. If you are good for two hours, that's fine, don't sweat it. You are not looking for quantity, you are looking for quality. If possible, write during the same two hour period each day. As time goes by you may find that you can write productively for two and one-half hours a day, then maybe three hours a day, and so on. But if not, that alright.
 
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