Writing Routines and Processes

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

Because every writer is different and has a different process I thought it would be interesting to see how everyone else works. Please note that there is no right or wrong way it is about whatever works best for you at the moment.

Do you have a writing routine?

How do you get yourself started?
Do you have a favorite time of day to write? Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular?
Do you write everyday?
How long are your typical writing sessions?
Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write?
Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story?
Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once?
Does your writing routine or process change from project to project? 

Comments

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

How do you get yourself started?

I drag myself to the writing chair and force myself to put the first few words on the page at gun point. After that it gets easier.

Do you have a favorite time of day to write? Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular?

I prefer to write in the block of time beginning after dinner until bedtime. I think having a regular time set aside for writing helps me stick to it.

Do you write everyday?

I try to and when I do the writing is a LOT better and easier.

How long are your typical writing sessions?

Somewhere around three hours. I write slowly.

Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write?

My goal is at least 1000 words and then I get to go to bed/escape.


Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story?

I'm usually a linear writer but if I'm really stuck I'll jump around a bit.

Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once?

I used to work on several projects at once but I found that I wasn't finishing anything. So, I decided to pick one and stick to it until the end. That seems to be working out much better for me.

Does your writing routine or process change from project to project?

In some ways. The very first incarnation of the WIP liked to be written in the morning but this incarnation prefers after dinner. The rest is what I'm still learning.

routine

[green9monster.livejournal.com]

Lately my routine is to write a new section in my new novel, every night.

In general, I don't stick with routines, but on my last novel THE LEGEND OF JIMMY GOLLIHUE I always moved forward, in one way or another. The project takes on its own life and momentum.

Even just a couple of jotted notes, adding page numbers to a document, revising: these are all "moving forward"

magic9realist.com
seamusgolihue.blogspot.com

[flamingruby.livejournal.com]

How do you get yourself started?

Load the appropriate disk in the drive and put on an appropriate song

Do you have a favorite time of day to write? Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular?

In the morning or afternoon, because I'm more alert at those times

Do you write everyday?

Yes

How long are your typical writing sessions?

Depends on what I'm writing--the record goes to an episode that took 14 pages and the better part of an afternoon to write (started at noon, finished at 6 PM)

Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write?

However long the episode needs to tell itself. If I'm writing an article, I say enough to make my point and back it up

Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story?

If I'm stuck on one episode, I'll think a few episodes out and plan

Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once?

I juggle several projects, with each one releasing on a different day.

Does your writing routine or process change from project to project?

No

[cat-mcdougall.livejournal.com]

How do you get yourself started?

I send the kids to school, grab a soda, turn on a movie, and pick up the laptop.

Do you have a favorite time of day to write? Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular?

During school hours. It makes life much simpler when the kids are in school, and I can write. Writing on the weekends is virtually impossible.

Do you write everyday?

I try to. Life has a habit of stopping me though.

How long are your typical writing sessions?

Usually I work for 30 minutes, then get up and stretch. If I don't, my body lets me know how bad of an idea that is.

Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write?

Normally, I just want to get one scene done. Just one. Get a scene done, then move on from there.

Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story?

In order. Period. I bounce too much, and my brain gets caught up in the bounce, and doesn't want to go back and fill in the blanks.

Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once?

Usually I have a major project, and several minor ones that can be picked up and put down as wanted/needed.

That's the theory anyway. Sometimes, they eat me alive, and the main project gets set aside.
Does your writing routine or process change from project to project?

[magaly-guerrero.livejournal.com]

WOW! You write while you watch TV? You are my hero! Um... heroine.

[cat-mcdougall.livejournal.com]

Not TV per se, just a movie. I put the movie on my desktop, and write on the laptop. Normally, it's a fluffy fantasy movie (Like, A Knight's Tale, Eragon, Princess Bride) anything that can just be settled into background noise. I used to write to music, and still do, occasionally, but I find myself always wanting to get up and dance/sing along if I do. So, the movies work a little better.

Plus, they get my fannish brain going which kicks over to the original fiction part of my brain and I get new ideas/new lease on brain power.

[its-a-sekrit.livejournal.com]

Do you have a writing routine? No, I just write.

How do you get yourself started? Normally, stories pretty much stay in my head and develop. I try to think of the scenes I want to write during the day and, when I have time, I just start writing.

Do you have a favorite time of day to write? I used to write more in the mornings. It's my favorite time to write, but not always the most convenient any more.

Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular? No. I can write any time of day, so...

Do you write everyday? Yes, unless I have a real life disaster and then sometimes I spend my time on plotting and notes instead of "real" words.

How long are your typical writing sessions? They vary. I don't generally write only once per day. I write whenever I have the time.

Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write? I usually have a goal for the day and I whittle away at it in bite-sized pieces.

Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story? I can do either.

Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once? I usually have several project going at once, though I have one primary project that I attempt to focus most of my attention on.

Does your writing routine or process change from project to project? No, but whether or not I write in a linear fashion or jump around does.

[jinkang.livejournal.com]

Any trick on being able to bounce around?

I notice that if I bounce around, sometimes I get new ideas, which are great...but they start changing the story I am writing because some concepts are, well, better left for another story. And yet because I am bouncing around, the very idea gets incorporated and the story ends up disjointed.

[baltimoreandme.livejournal.com]

[How do you get yourself started?] A little caffeine usually works for me, or (embarrassing to admit) bad pop music from my adolescence (early 90s).

[Do you have a favorite time of day to write? Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular?] Mornings work best for me, although since I've been teaching, I've found that in the evenings, writing is an excellent way to put off grading papers.

[Do you write everyday?] Mainly on the weekends. I need to know that I've got a long stretch of uninterrupted time ahead of me.

[How long are your typical writing sessions?] a few hours.

[Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write?] I usually try to get through one scene, but this varies.

[Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story?] I have to write the story in order, otherwise things tend not to fit together when I'm finished -- I make outlines, though, and tinker with them constantly.

[Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once?] I do one at a time -- usually I get an idea, and it takes over my brain for a few years, and the result is a novel.

[Does your writing routine or process change from project to project?] It hasn't, so far -- but it may change over time.

Eclectic Pantster

[magaly-guerrero.livejournal.com]

There are times when I get the "itch" and I have to write something or I feel like I'll go mad. I sleep with a notepad by my bed because sometimes it happens in the middle of the night. I like writing between 7pm and 10pm, and morning on weekends. I try my best to write everyday, and if I can't, I at least revise what I've written. I don't have a specific goal right now, but I'm working on a schedule. I'm thinking about 1300 words per week, on my novel plus one flash story--less than 1k. 1300 works might seem like too little, but I have a full time job that's very demanding. I don't want to set unrealistic goals. I'm a linear writer most of the time. I have one big project, an Urban Fantasy Romance novel, and short stories and contests on the side. My writing routine changes all the time, but I don't mind.

[jinkang.livejournal.com]

I haven't broken into pro world yet so I'm not sure how helpful my answers might be, but here they are:

Do you have a writing routine?
I am trying to establish one and so far it's been working. I try to write during commute and during lunch hour. That's total of 1.5 hours per workday.

How do you get yourself started?
Because my 1.5 hours are broken up into three short intervals, I actually need to get started earlier. So while I am walking to the subway/streetcar or to the cafe, I try to think up what I have to write. This way, in my mind, I am more or less focusing on what part I have to add in.

Do you have a favorite time of day to write?
I think evening works alright but I don't have that slot free, so I have been writing during lunch hour. Sometimes though, I find 20 minutes on the streetcar on the way back home can produce a lot more (word count wise) than 1 hour during lunch.

May be something to do with empty stomach?

Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular?
It has been somewhat regular, though as I said, it's not an established routine, as of yet.

Do you write everyday?
Every work/week day. And if I am lucky, on weekends. But I shouldn't push my luck.

I do, however, write any inspiration or brainstorm activity whenever it happens, which is usually just before I go to sleep.

How long are your typical writing sessions?
Less than 30 minutes, usually. Except for lunch hour, which is 1 hour.

On weekends, when I can, an hour or two.

Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write?
My goal is to write 500 words per weekday. It's a small and very realistic goal. If I go over, great. The story is progressing.

Even if I do not meet the goal, I try not to make up the lost productivity; it only adds to stress, I find.

Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story?

I am mostly a linear writer. I haven't quite mastered the bouncing part.

Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once?

I have one project. I mean, I do have other projects and ideas but I write them down so I don't forget, and that's about the extend I might spend time on them.

I try to finish one story I am working on first, and file the other ideas for later. It also helps to simmer the concept.

Does your writing routine or process change from project to project?
I try not to change the routine, but obviously it depends on the story. If world-building isn't complete, sometimes I stop and do some more thinking, because such things can drastically change the way stories go. Those days, word count stays the same.

[diannefox.livejournal.com]

How do you get yourself started? I open up Scrivener, get my writing playlist going on iTunes, and get to work.

Do you have a favorite time of day to write? Does this help keep your writing sessions more regular? I write best when I have long periods of time in which to write. Half or full days of writing work best for me.

Do you write everyday? No. I write at least two days, sometimes three, every week.

How long are your typical writing sessions? 3-4 hours if it's only a half day of writing, with other things in between. If it's a full writing day, then I write from 9am until 6pm, with other things in between.

Do you have a specific goal like a time limit, a page or word count when you sit down to write? I break my writing into 250-word pages. After each page, I take a short break to do something else. That might be doing the dishes or updating my website or baking cookies; it all depends on the day.

Do you write in order or can you bounce around in the story? I'm a very linear writer. If I have to, I can go back and fill in a blank spot (I'm doing that with a novella that grew into a novel right now), but I can't bounce around at will.

Do you stick with one project or do you have several projects going at once? I generally have one project I'm writing on my own, and one project I'm working on with my writing partner, at any given time. Sometimes, I'll be writing something on my own, my partner and I will be revising something, and we'll be writing something new at the same time. Anything more than that (since she's always working on something on her own, too) and she and I both get frazzled.

Does your writing routine or process change from project to project? No, not since I finally settled into this routine. It works for me.

[andrewbrink.livejournal.com]

I write nearly every day, don't need to get myself started, the problem is getting myself to stop. I have many projects going at once. Preferred time: first thing in the morning, definitely. I set goals and meet them, even if the result isn't so good--can be reworked later. For stories I work with an outline but don't bounce around much, although I like to know what my last sentence will be. PS--I like to meet people serious about writing.