Those of you that don't write every day

I do writing marathons. My work has been such for some years now, that I have to work around the clock for months with very little down time, so when ever I get a vacation I just sit down and write. On these holidays I never follow any reasonable bio rhythm either; I sleep when I feel like it and exercise whenever I need a break from writing.

In the beginning I rewrote almost everything every time I started another writing phase, I just felt I couldn't get into the mood without doing it and the old text looked all wrong. Looking back on it, I can surely say that it is the worst way of writing. By far. I've been writing my first novel for several years like that, and when it was close to being ready, I found that I needed to rewrite the whole thing anyway. Would've just been smarter to get the first draft as quickly as possible and rewrite only when it was completely ready. If I'd done the process with a little bit more brain and a little bit less all-over-the-place, I would be writing my third book now. But I've learned that lesson now and it's gonna be a lot easier to go onto future projects from now on. As we say back home, I've paid my school fees and now I'm smarter.

If you don't get to write all the time and you feel difficult to refocus on a certain style or voice, don't do what I did. Just write the darn thing and go back to fix style and voice when you're done with your first draft.

I occasionally teach motivation (in a very different context), and the only thing I can say for sure is that no one does any one thing for any one reason. Sometimes I slap myself into writing by calling myself lazy, sometimes I just can't wait to write. Most times though, I just sit in front of the computer and have the text document open. Even if I fool around on message boards, the project eventually sucks me in and before I know it, I'm writing and it's five hours later. In the back of my mind, however, there is always that one little elf, that keeps saying that this is the profession you should be pursuing, and at some point you'll see a rainbow of crap at the end of which there is a broken chamber pot with a few shillings in it.

Deadlines. NaNoWriMo, submission dates, personal goals, whatever it is, I work best under deadlines, and when I work, it's in big gasps. I'm better at a few big projects over a year with deadlines (NaNo, Camp, Flash Fiction Countdown, etc) than at small daily goals. Those mentally wear me out.

I can get back into the swing fairly easily, so if I take a few months off in between projects I don't find any trouble getting back into the habit, and in fact, I need that off time to be able to remain sane. I keep reading and stay active on here and will usually either edit or think about my next project during that down time, so it's not like I completely slack.

Whenever I try to write daily, I find myself burned out very quick. I'll usually have a couple very productive days a week interlaced with lots of nothing or, at best, preparation for the productive days.

I don’t write every day. Sometimes it’s because I’m too busy with work, taking my elderly mum to appointments, providing guidance to my children, cleaning my house, providing food, etc. Sometimes it’s because I’m blocked in my writing. But sometimes it’s just part of my process. Even when I’m not putting pen to paper (as it were), I’m thinking about my WiP. The part of the story that I haven’t written yet is percolating in my mind, refining itself, becoming real. And when I do get my butt back in the chair, the next scene will flow more easily because it’s already written in my head.

For me, the pressure to write every day is more of a hindrance than a help. I have to give myself a break and allow myself to write in bursts, when I have time and when I’m ready.

Well, there's me. I'll go months where I'm disciplined and write every day to the tune of 20-30K words a month, with occasional binges where I'll do 50-100K+ in a single month. Then I stop, but when I do I have a mound of stuff to try to edit into publishable shape. So I spend months doing that, until it's either as good as I think I can make it or I feel the itch to get writing again. I never stop working on stories in my head, though--that's how I've always put myself to sleep at night.

I don't recommend this because it won't work for everyone, but it does demonstrate that there are many routes to productivity.

I wrote every day for about ten years. Life disrupted the habit. I ended up displacing the urge into other things -- forum posts, letters to friends, handwritten journals. I've since only written in organized bursts, mostly NaNo and Camp NaNo. I don't think I'll ever be in the habit again.

If I know I'm going to be exceptionally busy,I don't feel badly about not writing. When I would pressure myself to write everyday, I would stare at the paper and get frustrated. There's no right way to work on your WIP,the only wrong way is,deserting it.

I know *EVERY* day is completely unrealistic for me. So I have a word count goal that I average over the month. I keep a spreadsheet to track how many words I write per day. As of right now, I have had 84 days this year where I wrote 0 words, so I'm consistently writing at least 5 days a week. I look at it this way -- I didn't work 365 at my day job, and since this is my day job now, I won't burn myself out or beat myself up for taking days off.

Anyway, my goal is 500 new words a day, regardless of editing/submitting/etc. If I take a day off, I make up those words. This soothes my anal retentive little heart that would normally see one day off and scream "Failure!!!!!" and quit. So I set myself up for success instead.

I also work on multiple projects, so when I finish one, I don't have that mental urge to take time off in celebration.

I try to write for a few hours (in one session) on the weekend, when I can. With a full time writing job, family and other commitments, I don't sweat the writing and it gets done. I simply edit my previous session to get started, which brings me up to speed.

Daily writing and/or word counts, to me, are math goals rather than anything to do with writing and I instead concentrate on enjoying the process when I'm able.

I get really annoyed with myself if I don't get my 1000 words a day done. I guess that helps keeping me from slacking. Feeling like what you've written is terrible is better than writing nothing at all, IMO. At least you can go back and rewrite/edit it.

I could never develop the habit of writing every day. School, family, and personal stuff always got in the way, so I could never actually sit down and just write. So, I planned that I would write whenever I'm on break; just yesterday, I finished the fall semester. With winter break spanning nearly four weeks, I have sufficient time to write. Unless, of course, Christmas threatens to interrupt

SciSarahTops said:

Why you don't write every day. How you keep productive and motivated.

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I wait for the muse to land on my desk. If s/he doesn't, no writing happens. I don't like doing "chores"

I think about a possible story line for a long time before I ever start writing. Even then, I'll poke at it, putter around with it, and get to know the characters long before I do anything serious.

As has been said, we all have different approaches to what we do - we are different people after all.

spikeman4444 said:

I can get back into the swing fairly easily, so if I take a few months off in between projects I don't find any trouble getting back into the habit, and in fact, I need that off time to be able to remain sane. I keep reading and stay active on here and will usually either edit or think about my next project during that down time, so it's not like I completely slack.

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This!

If I said to myself I was going to write every day it'd be like saying I am going to go on a permanent diet. It's really setting oneself up for failure at some point. There is no way it can just happen on it's own. Putting yourself up to that level is only going to make the actual task itself worse.

Additionally, the mind needs time to rest between creative expenditure of energy. I've gone for days, weeks, and months between doing something creative, primarily because I've burned out, lost steam, or whatever. Only after your creative juices have had time to settle and rest can you demand them to spit forth new engaging content. Whether said content is the written word, painting, sculpting, photography, singing, or whatever, you need breaks from time to time.

Ever hear of singers who tear their vocal chords? It's because they've stressed their muscles too far and they rip....if your mind and body are not up to it - you'll hear it or feel it - that's when you need to pause.

It's like the earth for growth potential. If you over-farm it, the nutrients are completely drained, and the soil essentially dies.

I don't write every day, and the lack of writing rejuvenates me in and of itself.

If I miss a day, it's done, it's over, it's the end of everything. I'm off the wagon and deserve to be crushed by its wheels. What am I doing with my life?

I'm the kind of person who only makes progress with small, regular commitments.

SciSarahTops said:

I'd love to hear about your writing habits. Why you don't write every day. How you keep productive and motivated.

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Writing every day never resulted in anything anybody wanted to publish. So I got discouraged, ultimately. And now I'm not particularly productive, and when I try to re-motivate, I just start to wonder, What's the point?

caw

I like to write every day, but sometimes other things must take priority. I try to perform them with good grace, but I'm much happier when I can get back to my story(s).

I'd get discouraged or sidetracked if I set myself word count goals because removing bad stuff is as important to me as adding to a total.

Of course, I'm a very slow writer and have published only one short story in the five or so years since I set foot on this dance floor.

I find it far too stressful to have to do it everyday. I tried because everything you read out there about being a "real" author or whatever is about writing everyday. But when I finally just listened to myself about what I needed, I stopped. I write on deadline or I write when inspired. Writing everyday gave me so much anxiety that I ended up hating writing and was LESS productive, not more.

I like to write every day.

I also like to bask in the sun and drink Champagne.

Life is never exactly as you hope it will be.

I consider all sorts of things to be writing, though: planning, revising, cogitating: all are part of "writing" for me, and that makes it far more likely that I will write every day.

I think the 'write every day' mantra applies only when you have a project on the go. It does for me, anyway. In between projects, I chillax, and dirnk wine.


Just to add. Even during projects 'everyday' is unrealistic, for me. But I think what that mantra means, is DONT LOSE THE THREAD OF WHAT YOU'RE WRITING. So, if you (me, anyone) don't write for say, 4 days, the risk of losing the thread is high, and grows higher each day after that, which = disaster.

I do try to write every day, but my window for productive work seems to be before noon and lately I have had trouble getting off to sleep, which results in lie-ins. Erk!

Then there was the cold from hell...

I am just pleased with myself that I am managing to stick with my project, and I cut myself some slack, when I cannot manage to crack on as I would wish.