Thread: How often do you write? (creatively)/how do you write when you do?

As the title asks, how often do you write?

Personally, I have a posting schedule on my blog where I post 3 short stories a week so mostly I write a short story once every one or two days depending (don't really have a buffer though, so it's probably closer to a short story every two days)
When I do write, I do it fairly quickly. I write it all out in one go and depending on the time I also edit it after (then send it to someone else to edit it as well.)


As for longer projects they might sit for a few days or a few weeks. It really depends on how I feel or if I have ideas or not. There are a few ideas that I have, but no real interest in writing them, I just have to sit down and do it more than anything else. So on that front it might be 5 thousand words one day, then nothing for a month, the a quick scene, then nothing for a few days, then I might have a creative spurt and write a few thousand words every day for a few days.

So how often do you write? and how do you write? get it all down then edit? or write a few paragraphs, edit, continue?
write a few paragraphs leave it and go off for awhile and come back to it later?

Just get it down and edit later. If I stop to edit I lose the flow and the writing has gone for the day.
If I am in the mood, I can easily get down 2,000 - 4,000 words a day. If I have a thought that I could have written something better that I had written earlier, I simply make a quick note at the point I am at using a red background [a note to myself].
If they are short pieces of text, journal entries, parables, then I edit on the go. Find what works for you.

I write something small daily, partly for my blog and partly because without doing so I'd go mad. Poetry or little paragraphs. Short stories I only really write for uni, but when I do they tend to be done in one go, then left and edited the night before. When I'm working on something longer it's just a mood thing. I generally look at it everyday, but whether I get something down is another thing. I also tend to write down little sentences that come to me a couple of times a day, for future use really.

When it comes to how I write I like to think that I never have a 1st copy but a 1st and a half. I'm always re reading the previous sentence as I write, because my hand does the writing thinking and my head does the editing thinking. That's the best way of explaining it anyway. My short attention span probably has something to do with this need for multiple tasks.

Every day. It's my full time job.
I edit as I go, so my first drafts are mostly clean.

I try to write everyday, except Fridays, though it depends on what I'm working on and at what stage of the process I'm at. I'm quite a fussy writer, and so will go back over a few paragraphs to modify, rewrite, punctuate, etc. and thus I tend to be quite a slow writer. On a productive day I might get a couple of thousand words down, though they'll be good words, and not far from the final version. I get frustrated if I don't find the time to write even a small amount, because for example I might be busy with work, and this makes me grumpy.

I must at least read over and scribble and edit what ever I'm working on once a day. Sometime I'll write random things, sometimes I'll write a fan fiction to tide me over until I can come up with something. I spend most of my days imagining scenarios for my characters, or just random characters in weird places. I write and/or edit every day almost, or i get twitchy. I carry a notebook everywhere. I'm no where NEAR a serious writer, but you know, sometimes, urges must be quelled.

I normally just write sporadically, and throw them out. I'm quite fickle and my own worst critic, which explains why I do. I COULD write alot, if i weren't so easily distracted. I should work on that...

Every day, because I'm treating it as a job.

I have written two books (so far) and my writing experiences were vastly different. The first one took years to write, with long breaks on and off throughout the novel. I wrote the second book, approximately 164,000 words, in 3.5 months writing every day. At the start of each day I would read over the previous day's work and do some editing. It is only with this second book that I finally approached writing as a real job.

I write spontaneously and sporadically, because such is my life.

To get my creative juices flowing, I like to engage in all kinds of odd activities and even deliberately place myself in situations that frighten me, just for the experience and to overcome my fears.

I will actually become voluntarily homeless as of 30 days from now. I'll be leaving town with nothing but the contents of my backpack and just enough money to feed myself and buy a bus ticket to who-knows-where. It will either be the greatest adventure of my young life (I'm 23) or a living hell. But either way, I'm sure I'll get something out of it.

Originally Posted by Don

...I will actually become voluntarily homeless as of 30 days from now. I'll be leaving town with nothing but the contents of my backpack and just enough money to feed myself and buy a bus ticket to who-knows-where. It will either be the greatest adventure of my young life (I'm 23) or a living hell. But either way, I'm sure I'll get something out of it.

Brave man. I think many of us have at least toyed with that idea. Actually doing it is something else.

I do not write on days that I work. The days are long, and I am so tired from physical exertion that it makes it difficult for me to engage the brain gears.
While working, I do think. A lot. The ideas fester, build and rupture in quick succession. I remember the good ideas, and build on them during the week as I work.
By the time my ideas leave my gourd, they have already endured the crucible of my own harsh internal critique. The result is a limited need for rough drafts or re-writes.

So, how often do I write? Not often. Quality over quantity.

When I am working on something I can write a couple of thousand words a day before getting tired. But sometimes I have had periods where I do nothing but eat, sleep and write, then I can do about 5000 words a day. Other times I can write barely a sentence a day. It depends on how charged my brain is feeling with an idea. I always write creatively first and when satisfied the creative bit is over I start editting.

I have only written long stories but I want to write a short one and I have an idea but something is stopping me from making a start on it. Hmmmm oddd.

I write most days, very rarely do i miss a day, and it's usually for at least four hours a day. I write by hand so i can scratch out what i don't like, re-write what i feel needs to be, think about phrasing before writing it down so i don't have a computer screen staring at me, and then i type it up, straight into the document without pauses of thought. When it's all typed up, then i'll go through and edit. I find doing it this way much easier than inputting straight to the computer, because i'll sit there continuously deleting and cutting and pasting all over the page.

I write for about two hours every morning. What I write depends on whether I have a contract. Dollars take precedence over personal writing. Sorry if that offends. I have first breakfast around 0630, check out news sources on the 'net, then edit what I wrote earlier. I may or may not write more, late morning, after second breakfast. Lunch at 1300 puts an end to writing for the day because as a general rule I write little or nothing in the afternoon and nothing at night, though I keep a notepad and pencil handy 24/7 to jot down ideas.

These days my early morning writing is on a little Acer emachine next to my bed. When I finish the session I upload to Microsoft's Skydrive, then after first breakfast go to the shop and download the day's first writing for editing. All my hardcopy reference material is in the shop. Yes, I continue to hold books in my hand and flip pages to find much of the information I need.

I call it the shop because it's the old village grocery shop, attached to the front of my house. At one end are my books, file cabinets, and two in-service computers. At the other end is a workbench, drafting desk, and a half dozen old computers in various stages of rehabilitation. I spend most of the day in the shop, with occasional trips to the fridge as explained in another thread.

The amount I write varies widely, day to day. Now that I'm supposed to be retired I have no set goal, except when there is a contract on hand. If there are no dollars involved I may write a few hundred words or a few thousand, whatever I feel like. I suffer from a medical condition called 'laziarseitis' which I inherited from my paternal grandfather and which has prevented me, all my life, from looking for a job. Sometimes I believe Andy Capp and I must be related. We both love beer, football, pool, darts, and beer, while maintaining a safe distance from regular employment. Fortunately my maternal grandfather inspired me to write more than 60 years ago, so I've never starved or had to sleep under a bridge.

I try to write everyday. But I constantly hit blocks. My current block is I've suddenly realized that my characters are very flat, and even when I shift focus from one character to another it still feels like Ben Stein is the narrator. So I'm taking a break from the story itself and trying to flesh out the characters, so I know how to develop them and make their personalities distinct so that when I shift focus, it actually feels like I'm writing from a different point of view even though the POV remains third person. I hit this block after I finished reading Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero just the other day, which does exactly what I'm aiming for.

I write whenever I feel the urge to, and sometimes I write for hours and hours at a time because I'm enjoying myself. I normally edit on a chapter by chapter basis. I also do a lot of things between writing, eating, napping, watching TV, anything that might catch my attention.