How many hours would you spend on writing each day if you had a choice?

MsK · Aug 25, 2008

Most of us have jobs, families and other responsibilities that take up much our time. But, here's a hypothetical question:

If you had much of the entire day, every day, to work on your writing- How much time would you put into it? How would you organize that time?

Would you treat it like a regular 8 hour job and put in a solid 8 hours, only taking a short break for lunch?
Would you work in bits and pieces, putting in 1 hour here, 2 hours there- but still have the daily total adding up to 8 hours or more?

Or, would you put in way less, or way more, than an 8 hour day?

JeanneTGC · Aug 25, 2008

I'd write most of the hours of the day if I could. I like to take breaks and all, but if I could get away with it, I'd write a good 18 out of the possible 24.

(And...there are days I DO get away with it.)

Clair Dickson · Aug 25, 2008

As much as I could. And, muse willing, it would be a lot. Probably a good ten to twelve hours would be nice, but never in one stretch. I can't sit on my tailfeathers for that long at a time. I have to get up, move, or putter. Sometimes I even have the urge to get out of the house.

I did this over Christmas Break last year-- two weeks without having anything to do but write. It was wonderful. I got some thirty thousand words written that two weeks. And loved it. I'm hoping for an encore this year! (I'm a teacher. =)

Fillanzea · Aug 25, 2008

My brain burns out if I try to do more than about 3, 3.5 hours a day of new material. I could put it up to 4.5 for revisions and writing-business stuff.

Shadow_Ferret · Aug 25, 2008

If writing fiction was my actual job I think I'd look for ways to get out of actually doing it, just like I do now for my real job.

DeleyanLee · Aug 25, 2008

It would vary, day to day, but would probably equal about 30 hours in a 7 day time span.

Sitting and just writing for hour after hour isn't something that's natural for me and when I've forced myself to it, all I've gotten is drivel. Sitting down and working on it as I desire yields about the same number of pages--but ones I can keep--and allows me to take care of other things without guilt.

Dale Emery · Aug 25, 2008

I do have a choice, so apparently my answer is: near zero.

MsK · Aug 25, 2008

Dale Emery said:
I do have a choice, so apparently my answer is: near zero.

Willowmound · Aug 25, 2008

C.bronco · Aug 25, 2008

Three to five. Then I get stiff from sitting.

Mr Flibble · Aug 25, 2008

about 8 hours

I did this once five days a week for three months straight. At the end I lay on the sofa and quivered while my brain melted out of my ears.

So maybe not allll the time

Mad Queen · Aug 25, 2008

I confess I enjoy daydreaming about my story more than I enjoy writing it.

Blondchen · Aug 25, 2008

Writing? 2-3 hours.

Thinking about what I am going to write? 2-3 hours.

Bubastes · Aug 25, 2008

My ideal day: 3 hours writing new material in the morning, a 2 hour lunch to take care of business-y stuff, 4 hours revising a different WIP in the afternoon. That still leaves me plenty of time in the day for 2-3 hours of music practice, meeting friends, and just enjoying life.

Ah, I love dreaming!

Writer2011 · Aug 25, 2008

As much as I can possibly get done in one day

Claudia Gray · Aug 25, 2008

Most days, I'd probably write between 4 and 5 hours, with another hour or two of research, etc. Some days I'm sure I'd write a lot more, some days a lot less, but I think that would be close to "normal" for me.

rugcat · Aug 25, 2008

I've had deadlines. I've noticed that when I write more than about four hours, the quality starts to decline.

Robin Bayne · Aug 25, 2008

Fillanzea said:
My brain burns out if I try to do more than about 3, 3.5 hours a day of new material. I could put it up to 4.5 for revisions and writing-business stuff.

Same here. I once had 6 months off between day jobs, and I didn't get any more written than I do when I work full time.

otterman · Aug 25, 2008

3 hours of writing (preferably in the morning), 2 hours of revising/editing (in the evening). That's my summer holiday schedule and after a number of years I've found it works best for me. I only wish the holiday never ended! Hold on, I haven't checked my lottery tickets...

Ol' 61 · Aug 25, 2008

I'd like to fool myself into thinking that, if I could just write and not have to have a day job, I would write 8 hours a day.

The reality is I'd probably only write abour 3 hours a day. Unless I'm on a roll. Then the story is like last night's really bad dinner--it has to come out, one way or the other.

ChaosTitan · Aug 25, 2008

I don't know if I'd want to break the day down into a schedule. I tend to write for a while, go do something, write for a while, wash the dishes, write for a while, do laundry, write for a while, go grocery shopping. I can't sit down for four hours and just write, I need to take little breaks.

So I'd just continue to write like I do now: as often as I can manage, squeezed in whenever possible.

ChaosTitan · Aug 25, 2008

I don't know if I'd want to break the day down into a schedule. I tend to write for a while, go do something, write for a while, wash the dishes, write for a while, do laundry, write for a while, go grocery shopping. I can't sit down for four hours and just write, I need to take little breaks.

So I'd just continue to write like I do now: as often as I can manage, squeezed in whenever possible.

roncouch · Aug 25, 2008

KrystalR said:
Most of us have jobs, families and other responsibilities that take up much our time. But, here's a hypothetical question:

If you had much of the entire day, every day, to work on your writing- How much time would you put into it? How would you organize that time?

I retired at age 52, and have a generous amount of free time. I've chosen to spend one to two hours per evening writing on my laptop - in bed, between eight and ten pm. Sometimes - when I become super involved in the story, I forget time and may type three or four hours. If I was trying to earn a living by writing, I would write a few hours early in the morning, and a few in the early afternoon. I allocate approximately ten percent of my time editing i.e. editing material written the previous day, etc. If I miss a day, I do not change my routine.

Matera the Mad · Aug 25, 2008

As many as I felt like on any particular day.

Grrarrgh · Aug 25, 2008

I think it would probably be much like it is now. With a full time job, sometimes I write at work during lunch, sneaking some in during the actual work day as well, then come home and write all evening. Other times I might write 2 or 3 sentences all day.
If I had all day to just write, there would probably be days I would write for 8, 9, 10 hours. Other days, I'd probably open the document, look at it, feel no inspiration and close it again without writing a single word. And plenty of variations and combinations of the two.

How many hours would you spend on writing each day if you had a choice?

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