Your writing habits?

Lately I’ve been doing more writing lying flat on my back. I open up Scrivener on my iPad and write away. I also write during the day when I have no paying work.

Kjbartolotta said:

Everyone is reading over your shoulder, whether they're willing to admit to it or not.

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Which is why I only write in public when I can be sure no one has a line of sight to my screen. I can't bear to have anyone reading over my shoulder while I write.

I'm very sporadic with my writing, alternating between months of glacial or no progress and sudden bursts of inspiration that burn out within a few days. I'd like to write more, and more consistently, but perfectionism and anxiety are effective show-stoppers here.

Wake up
The coffee thing
Eat a small snack
Open various tabs
Experience anxiety spike
Close some tabs
Quickly read the news
More anxiety
Write furiously for about an hour
Stop and abruptly switch gears

I might write later on in the day at the kitchen table if circumstances permit.

my typical writing day

I live alone with a cat that values cuddling more than food, so all of the cat intrusions described above also apply to the following process.

Wake up on day off from clock-in job. Roughly 10 am.
Brew coffee. Feed cat.
Advance to office and take seat in front of big window at long ottoman serving as desk.
Open laptop. Check email.
Back to kitchen. Pour coffee.
Check forums. Read weekly horoscopes. Read other distractions*.
*this is important* Close browser. Roughly 11 am. (If I have to research quickly something I will re-open the browser, but I am very careful to bookmark distractions* and re-close.)
Open Outline. Open WIP. Review last sitting.
Write/edit until eyes bleed and roll back into my head stopping only for coffee/bathroom breaks and to stretch (yogi here). Could be finished as early as five or six pm or as late as ten, depending on the task of the day.

Lay on living room floor in a back bend for as long as needed not to feel like a hunchback.
Feed cat.
Sit on couch, let eyes glaze. Turn on television.
Pray there is something microwaveable in the refridgerator or freezer. Sometimes look. Probably find there is not. Only things that must be cooked or nothing.
Pray delivery is still open. Often it is not. Despite living in a fairly metro area, my delivery options are weak and dwindling by the day.
Sometimes opt for sleep for dinner.

I write and edit in concentrated chunks. Writing my novel was the only time I clocked word count. It was between 3500-5500 words a sitting. I am super task oriented. Stopping before completeing a task (chapter, character, portion of outline, whatever I deem reasonable) and not being able to return to it until the following week will drive me nuts at the clock-in job. And then I will drive everyone else nuts with my foul mood. In fact, commonly if I do not meet my self imposed goal, I end up getting the next possible shift covered to return to said task. It restores my sanity, but often to my financial detriment.

If I had absolute flexibility in my schedule it may be a different process entirely, but I'm like everyone who has posted above me. It seems we work with what we have.

Researching (agents and whatnot) process is pretty much the same with the browser open, but I am always about the task at hand and still careful to bookmark distractions and come back.

And I've tried seventeen different query letter processes and I'm still not sure I have a winner, so I come here.

I am crazy jealous of all the authors that post Twitter or Instagram photos of them writing on the beach, at a sunny cafe' table etc. I have tried and failed many times to pack up my laptop and write in various places. I'm like a squirrel in traffic! I can't focus. I write at my desk and that is the ONLY place I can get the job done. So boring - and I do get sick of being locked away and tied to my desk.

As far as process goes - I've got nothing. I don't write everyday. I'm really bad about making something a habit. I will write nothing for several days, but then I'll sit at my desk and write for hours on end. Obviously this works for me as I managed to knock out a 75K novel in about 2.5 months. It's completely finished and off to my editor. Honestly I have no clue how long it takes most writers to complete a book. I hear people say they do it in a month, I hear stories online of it taking years.

I try to write every day even if some days it's just an idea or specific lines in a notebook to use in a story later. I write at home but I can get easily distracted there so I sometimes go to cafés for big writing sessions. I normally put my headphones on, put my head down and write.

Lisa Driscoll said:

As far as process goes - I've got nothing. I don't write everyday. I'm really bad about making something a habit. I will write nothing for several days, but then I'll sit at my desk and write for hours on end. Obviously this works for me as I managed to knock out a 75K novel in about 2.5 months. It's completely finished and off to my editor. Honestly I have no clue how long it takes most writers to complete a book. I hear people say they do it in a month, I hear stories online of it taking years.

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Process is different for everybody. I don't think there is a good or bad process, just different things suit different people. I read mostly contemporary and literary fiction and most author's interviews I read or listen to mention an average of 2/3 years to write a novel from start of the 1st draft to revisions, beta readers to the last final edit (especially debut authors). One of my favourite books from last year took 5 years for the author to write. I think the quickest I've heard of for writing a first draft was Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of The Day. He literally locked himself away for 4 weeks and did nothing but write. But still after that first draft he went on to have several months of editing before he got the final version.

I do try to write every day, but sometimes I can't. Sometimes I also procrastinate...

I like writing outside, when the weather is nice and I have time.

I am sitting at a desk or table. My bones wouldn't like it any differently.