Discussion time!

[gaudior]

Because I'm curious...

Writers on my flist-- how do you make time to write? And how do you get yourself to keep writing consistently?

Myself, I find that it works to have a block of time each day which is for writing-- I use "on the train between my jobs." It's about an hour, and it's relatively free from other stuff I could be doing. But I've also found that my motivation to keep writing is much higher as I'm getting toward the end of the book, such that I have little trouble getting myself to sit down and write even at times other than my scheduled time that day, if I miss that time. (Whereas before, I would often have days where at my scheduled time I was not in the mood/tired/hungry/too interested in reading a book/etc, and skip them.)

But how do other people do it? What works well for you?

--R

Comments

[askerian]

Because I don't work and i'm at home all day, I can write pretty much whenever I want.

Which means I only write if I'm inspired and can somehow motivate myself, since I live with the impression that there's always time and it's alright if I get sidetracked.

If you're wondering how that works, simple: most of the time it doesn't. I'm mildly disgusted at the amount of time I waste when I have so many stories demanding and begging to be finished. ~__~ I think I wrote more regularly back when I still went to school, since I spent all day unable to do anything but plot and go "omg this scene needs to be written aaaaaaa" and threw myself at the computer to type it down the second I came home.

[navrins]

Back when I used to write, I found I got less interested the closer I got to the end of something. Once I knew where I was going, actually working out the words and writing them down wasn't fun anymore. I also found I couldn't commit myself to any particular time to write. Some days I could be in the mood to write all day, and do so; other days I couldn't write no matter how long I stared at the screen, and I couldn't predict which would be which. If I wanted to get writing done, I needed to make lots of opportunities, but be willing to accept that any given opportunity might not result in any writing.

Nowadays, I can confidently predict that I will only be in the mood to write when it is logistically impossible for me to do so, and so I do not write anymore.

Interestingly, one significant transition along that path occurred when I first went on psych drugs. I pretty much just stopped writing then. (It was an entirely worthwhile tradeoff.)

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

I found I got less interested the closer I got to the end of something. Once I knew where I was going, actually working out the words and writing them down wasn't fun anymore.

I don't think "less interested" is the case for me; I find it harder to write near the end of things because Endings Are Hard.

I also found I couldn't commit myself to any particular time to write. Some days I could be in the mood to write all day

Seems to me that not being able to induce that mood a goodly majority of the time is going to make writing seriously impossible anyhow.

Interestingly, one significant transition along that path occurred when I first went on psych drugs. I pretty much just stopped writing then. (It was an entirely worthwhile tradeoff.)

Glad it worked that way for you; this is the number-one reason why I am absolutely opposed to taking any psych drugs whatsoever under any imaginable circumstances.

[navrins]

Writing was never more than a hobby for me. They say you should only try to "be a writer" if you can't not write, and that was never me. I enjoyed it, and I did it when I enjoyed it, and when I didn't enjoy it, I didn't do it. Eventually I realized that I wasn't a writer; I was simply a person who wrote. And then later on I became a person who doesn't write, and that was okay too.

(I suppose that makes me technically not the audience addressed by the question, but I felt like answering anyway. Gaudior, feel free to discount my opinion accordingly.)

Yeah, I think anyone who relies on creativity for a living or self-image ought to be more hesitant to take psych drugs than I was - and I was pretty hesitant. (Hmm. *notes interesting research topic*) When I couldn't bring myself to work at the job that was actually paying my living and feeding my self-image, it was worth it to me to risk an enjoyable hobby to address that. But I wouldn't presume to tell anyone else how to make that choice for themselves.

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, one significant transition along that path occurred when I first went on psych drugs. I pretty much just stopped writing then. (It was an entirely worthwhile tradeoff.)

Glad it worked that way for you; this is the number-one reason why I am absolutely opposed to taking any psych drugs whatsoever under any imaginable circumstances.

Huh. You know, they're really not supposed to work that way, and for the majority of people (in studies they've done on medications and creativity), they didn't. People tended to find that productive creativity was much more affected by things like how much sleep they were getting, and how good the sleep was. Which can, of course, also be affected my meds, but there's a lot of debate about the causal relation there.

Which is not to disagree with navrins' experience, because that's how it happened by you. But I'm fairly sure that if it had been important to you, odds are good that you could have worked with your psychiatrist to find a medication that wouldn't do that. But I am glad that it worked out for you in ways that you were good with!

[navrins]

Yeah, and I thought about doing that, but my psychiatrist wasn't very accessible, and I was so happy to be able to do most things again that I really didn't care to mess with it. Like I said, for me, writing was just something I did for fun anyway - going to work and having friends were far more important!

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

A block each day is totally not compatible with either the shape of my life or with my preferred working methods, but a block each week is, fortunately.

One day a week, defaulting to Friday barring other plans, I come home and write from usually about 6ish to when I finish a chapter or fall asleep, is the general plan. (Which is usually around 1 am).

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

It works best for me to set a deadline for myself of one sentence a day, on something. Because it's never just one.

Unfortunately I only seem capable of writing between three and four a.m., and when I am convinced no one else is awake. I really need a study of my own as I think this may let up then. One reason I work so slowly is that I keep falling asleep before I can manage to overcome my paranoia about writing in a room with anyone else in it (and the cats count as anyone else, because they come look at the damn screen).

[kohakutenshi.livejournal.com]

My current problem stems from the fact that I enjoy writing with my girlfriend too much and so waste my time co-writing because I can do that while doing other things like sewing, jewelry, painting, etc.

Actually sitting down and writing I haven't done in a while because I am afraid of screwing up, and I am so close to finishing I am afraid of being judged and edited and torn to shreds. Which is why I fear NaNo this year. Again.

Target of Opportunity

[rustycoon.livejournal.com]

I moved and didn't have internet or any other distractions. I banged out three quarters of my first draft over the course of a month and a half because there was nothing else to do. Deliberately creating distractionless environments helped me finish the editing I've done thusfar. Having something that absolutely MUST. BE. WRITTEN. helps. When the story itself keeps kicking you to get some work done, it also ensures you have the will to write when you have the time.

The only other writing I've done was done at work, or in class, when I should have been doing something else but there was a lot of 'warm body' time when I had (again) nothing else to do.

For me, my writing motivation waxed and waned with my understanding of where the book was going. when I hit plot holes or gaps in my story where I knew something should go, but didn't know what - those took the longest for me to bang through and the quality of the work sucked. But first drafts are about getting it down, even if it sucks, and then going back over it.

YMMV.