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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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I once read an interview with Roald Dahl. He said his daily habit was to go to his writing hut behind his house for two hours every morning. No more and no less. He would allow himself to write for those two hours and no matter how well it was going or how awful, he would stop. He said it gave his characters time to live and they were never forced onto the page. How about you? Do you allow yourself a limited amount of time, or do you write when you get a chance for as long as you have the chance?
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Joined: 3/29/2011
Posts: 19
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I try to keep to my set time of writing (two hours, starting when my daughter goes to bed), but lately it's been just trying to write something every chance that I get. When I know that I won't have the time to work on my longer pieces, I still attempt to write something, usually a short flash fiction piece that might end up working its way into a longer form.
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Joined: 5/10/2011
Posts: 69
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I have a set evening, once a week that is mine for the writing. Sometimes I write fro 2 hours, sometimes I write for 5. I try to go with the flow and be as open as possible to what is happening organincally,creatively. I would love to develop a discipline for writing a little everyday, but haven't found that to be the way I "work."
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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@amberh and Tawni...I tried the 2 hour a day method after I read that interview. It works, but I find that I can't ever find a fixed schedule. Sometimes it is catch while catch can...unfortunately. It's interesting to me. I've read that Anne Rice has locked herself in a room for a week, Stephen King does that sometimes as well. Total immersion. Sounds so nice. Some people want to get away to the beach or the mountains. I find myself with, "Mom...mom...mom." in my ear!
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 279
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I have a deal with my husband for my two concentrated hours a day. I write more than that, but those two hours are my only 'kid free' writing time. He gets up with the kids and gets them breakfast in the morning while I sleep in a bit and at night I write for two hours after he turns in. I've tried to do my two hours when he's awake, but I still get the most idiotic interruptions. "Where's the extra box of tissues?" "Where's the 4th disk from Season 4 of Buffy?" "Mommy, I need my Cars underwear!"
Since seeing my head rotate like the exorcist chick freaks everyone out, I write at night.
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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@Ivoid...I love it. My husband made me a little writing nook last weekend, and I have yet to use it. It looks so nice and peaceful, but the minute my butt hit the chair, I heard my 7 year old go screaming through the house chasing the dog. Goodbye, peaceful writing nook. ..sniff..
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Joined: 5/10/2011
Posts: 69
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I find the juggling of Mommy duties and thinking clear and interrupted long enough to get pages out a difficult act to balance too. Good to hear I am far form alone!
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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@Addley...I love your commitment! I'd probably forget what I was working on and end up with my manuscript in my work files!
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 279
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My kids are still very young so I spend my days doing rewrites or studying. Editing my manuscript is easier to do when the kids are mimicking a herd of stampeding elephants.
Six months ago I had a heart-to-heart with the hubby about needing 'me' time that didn't include having someone hanging on my arm. Or tapping my shoulder to ask what to feed the five-year-old. If I have a hard time getting that time consistently I'll pack up the laptop and leave the house for a few hours.
Even hanging out at Cafes is distracting. I used to go to the same cafe every day while the kids were at school and the regulars started coming over to talk. The 'If you bug me one more time I'll rip your arm off and beat you to death with the stump' look needs work. Finally, I found THE BEST place to write, it's freaking perfect. After a treatment one day I camped out in the hospital cafeteria to work and....nobody even LOOKED at me.
Now I just go there while the kids are in school. Nobody ever wants to chat or ask you what you are doing in the hospital cafeteria. Free internet...bonus.
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Joined: 3/29/2011
Posts: 19
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I honestly have no idea how people can write at cafes and such.... I'm a natural people-watcher, and I don't end up getting any writing actually done.
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 279
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I face a wall and use noise blocking headphones. It's pretty effective.
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Joined: 3/12/2011
Posts: 376
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I actually have taken to writing whenever I can get near a computer. I keep all my MSs on a flash drive, which never leaves my pocket.
Of course, I need to *back it up* more often, as I recently lost about 5 K words when my old drive flew out of my pocket when I was chasing a student, but other than that, it helps. I wind up getting a few hundred words here, a few hundred words there, and eventually it all adds up.
I tried the 'one hour a day' method, but between a two year old, a six year old, and a loving wife who gets really *disturbed* when I'm in the zone writing, I can't actually get an hour straight without distraction. *sniffle*
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Joined: 3/11/2011
Posts: 156
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If my butt is in a chair, my netbook is probably open with one project or another on it. I don't find time to write. That's what time is for. Though I have been setting aside the netbook once a week when Doctor Who comes on.
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Joined: 3/29/2011
Posts: 19
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@MarieDees - How do you find typing on a netbook? I think I've become too used to a larger keyboard, but I recently inherited a hackintosh (Dell Mini 10v that's running Snow Leopard). I'm having some time getting used to all the typos that I'm making. I love the small size in theory, but I'm not really sure I like it in practice.
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Joined: 3/12/2011
Posts: 376
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@amberh - I actually have a sony micro UX, and I got around the itty bitty keyboard by using a flexible usb keyboard for typing on.
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Joined: 3/11/2011
Posts: 156
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@amberh - I have fairly small hands so the netbook keyboard works well. It's an Acer Aspire. Some of the EEE PC ones are even smaller.
@Robert - Wait, another UX user? I have to clear off some of the clutter on mine but used it for years. At home, I docked it to a full size monitor. But I was always losing commas in my writing.
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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Shelundra...you just cracked me up. I know what you mean. There is nothing worse than having a great idea come to you and thinking you will write it down in the morning and ...POOF...it's gone!
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Joined: 6/13/2011
Posts: 1
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I feel like I'm weird because I've actually been handwriting my entire novel in a little notebook I carry in my purse and then I transfer it all to my Google doc about once a week. I love the feeling of pen to paper, and it lets me write on my commute (I live on the northside of Chicago and work downtown - it's a 30 min train ride each way). I also write on my lunch break, so that evens out to about 2 hours of writing each day. But this is really the only time I have to write, since I work full-time and I have two dogs that are big babies when it comes to getting attention... I don't know how you ladies with actual babies get anything done! 
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Joined: 5/5/2011
Posts: 37
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I carry a flash drive in my purse all the time, and do a bit of writing during lunch break and sometimes right before going to bed.
For the most part I have to not have any company over, seems like a lot of people dont like being ignored while I write so they become a big distraction. lol
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