Writing habits/methods?

I write better at home. What I do is write only on my laptop and turn off the wireless, so internet distractions are fewer. I tend to find that I write best when I have two hours or more to spend at it -- for me, it takes a little while to get in the groove, but once I am, I can usually keep going at a pretty good pace for a while. Sometimes I can get that on a weekday evening, but it goes best when I can basically chalk off a weekend, run any necessary errands first thing in the morning and then spend the whole rest of the day hard at it.

I only write at home, and I keep a crazy schedule. I might be writing at 4 AM for the next six hours, then I'm done for the day. Maybe I'll start at 4 PM and go until 10. I rarely write more than six hours at a time, and when possible I'll spend that on more than one project.

My first drafts are written with pen and paper. I type quickly and the first thought that comes out and gets typed, is usually not the best one to go with. When you write in longhand, by the time an idea goes from your head to your hand to the paper, you're brain's had a chance to mull it over three or four times first and you end up with a better option.

That said, 90% of my first drafts are written outside the house. I find it fun, interesting and helpful to write in places that are similar to where my scene is taking place. I've written in restaurants, police stations, bus stations, on city transportation, in parks, residential neighborhoods, lobbys of corporations, museums, sculpture gardens, and, even on the Greyhound Bus! I bought a ticket and went to the next state over for lunch and came back, writing during the trip.

Some writers knock my method relentlessly and others have tried it and said it put life into their scenes. It's a great way to write authentically and actually live life while you're writing, instead of staying cooped-up at home all the time. Writing is generally a very lonely and solitary life, but it doesn't have to be. And there's no one right way to do it. Find what works for you and go with it.

I do my editing and rewrites on my laptop at home though. That's where I need the solitude and peace and quiet.

My only requirement is a bit of quiet. So... Benadryl for the children. Or Dora the Explorer. Almost the same thing.

heyjude said:

My only requirement is a bit of quiet. So... Benadryl for the children. Or Dora the Explorer. Almost the same thing.

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Ha! I wrote my upcoming novel with Blues Clues on a constant loop.

These days, I write out of the house as well. Two young children does NOT help the creative spark. Wrote my last novel at Borders. I actually got to tell the Borders rep at Random House that, and he said, "You won't believe how much that will help you."

So I felt like a corporate shill for a minute, but it strangely felt good.

I write in short bits through the day - 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there. My longer writing jags tend to be at night; between 930 and 1130 is pretty normal for a start time for an hour or longer of solid writing time. Longer if I get lost in it. I have two children (one under a year, the other is three years old). I write at home because I don't have much chance to go out without the kids. Right now, I just make the time where I can and that works for me.

I write in spurts on weekdays--maybe an hour and a half all told. But then I'm a little more stressed than normal, with college apps to finish up.

On the weekend, I can go about six or seven hours a day mostly uninterrupted. I figure if I can get about 4000 words on Saturday and Sunday, it's okay that I didn't get a thousand a day in the week.

I write every night from about 9:30 to midnight or later. This is the only time I have to myself (divorced, self-employed, 2 homeschooled kids, 1 autistic).

I think that, given the chance, I could write anywhere though.

I write either at home or in my car (not while driving, of course). I always do my writing on my laptop (soon to be laptopS), because that's the keyboard I like best and it also doesn't have internet to distract me like my desktop. I imagine I could write anywhere so long as I had my laptop, a comfortable chair, and could smoke, though. I never, ever handwrite anything, not even notes. I type over 80 words a minute and handwriting is an exercise in extreme frustration for me (my brain goes about 150 words a minute, so even typing doesn't really keep up). I hate handwriting with such a passion that I type my grocery lists.

I have to have at least a few hours where I won't be interrupted to write too. It takes me a little while to get into writing and once I do I want to get some actual word count done.

I don't write in the mornings, but I don't do much of anything in the mornings if I can in anyway avoid it, lol.

Now that I have 5 hours of battery power in my laptops, I might try taking my car out next summer and just parking in out-of-the-way places and writing. I love being outside during the summer, but my neighborhood is too distracting. Getting away from my desktop and all the other distractions in my house might be really good, though.

One of the best things I ever did for my writing was to put some of my monthly freelance income toward renting a separate studio space. It's a basement suite a couple of doors down from the house, and the act of getting out of the house, taking a short walk and going into a dedicated space puts me in the writing mindset almost automatically...

I write almost anywhere ... "waiting time" is a good time for me; I always carry a book to read and a spiral notebook for spur of the moment thoughts. I enjoy quality time with self periodically at a restaurant over coffree or a light meal. My challange is sitting down editing, and, transcribing into electronic format. I have several unfinished "books" hidden away in notebooks.