Bread & Butter Writing

[prophet224]

I've read 4 pages a day.
I've also read (in the same book, as it happens) that the important thing is to set a goal for YOUR life and YOUR commitments and then stick to it.  If it's 3 pages, fine.  If it's 8, fine.

By the 250 words/page formula, 2000 words would be 8 pages.  Four pages is 1000 words.

Now if I could only stick with that...  we'll see.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I've read 4 pages a day.
I've also read (in the same book, as it happens) that the important thing is to set a goal for YOUR life and YOUR commitments and then stick to it.  If it's 3 pages, fine.  If it's 8, fine.
By the 250 words/page formula, 2000 words would be 8 pages.  Four pages is 1000 words.
Now if I could only stick with that...  we'll see.

If you call one novel a year 100,000 words, that's 2,000 words a week plus revision time, and two weeks off for good behaviour.   Putting in a good solid session most Friday nights - unless there is a reason to do it Saturday instead, as there happens to be this coming weekend - works a lot better for me to get to that than trying to get into the right mindset for writing every single evening.  Forcing a story that's not ready can kill it

[blgarver]

If you call one novel a year 100,000 words, that's 2,000 words a week plus revision time, and two weeks off for good behaviour.   Putting in a good solid session most Friday nights - unless there is a reason to do it Saturday instead, as there happens to be this coming weekend - works a lot better for me to get to that than trying to get into the right mindset for writing every single evening.  Forcing a story that's not ready can kill it

Wow, I like that angle.  I REALLy like that angle.  2000 a week is cake.  Don't know why I've never thought about it that way before.  I may just try to do that.  Though I might shoot for 500 words a day, to add up to 3500 each week.  I like to write SOMETHING every day, it keeps me in a good mood.

Thanks for that perspective, neurovore.  Yesterday I did 980 words in about an hour and a half.  I only stopped because the ex showed up at my writing spot and I had to make a speedy exit.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Wow, I like that angle.  I REALLy like that angle.  2000 a week is cake.  Don't know why I've never thought about it that way before.  I may just try to do that.

It doesn't work if you are Jim Butcher or Charlie Stross and trying to deliver two or three books a year, but then by the point in your career where you're Jim Butcher or Charlie Stross you generally don't have a day job to worry about.

Though I might shoot for 500 words a day, to add up to 3500 each week.  I like to write SOMETHING every day, it keeps me in a good mood.

If that works for you, sure; I'm not pushing the method that works for me, specifically; just concerned that anyone looking at writing advice, even good writing advice, is reasonably aware of people's working styles varying and that being a legitimate thing.

Yesterday I did 980 words in about an hour and a half.  I only stopped because the ex showed up at my writing spot and I had to make a speedy exit.

I don't think I have any exes that would prompt that reaction, which is probably for the best.  (Last time I worked it out, I was still on close and friendly terms with almost exactly three-quarters of the people I have ever been involved with; getting those numbers to come out absolutely even would be a damned stupid reason to seek out one more new sweetie, I think.)

[blgarver]

Well I usually end up with passionate/unstable women for some reason, so I've only had one relationship end gracefully.  Just the most recent ex being there threw me off and I couldn't concentrate any more.  Crappy deal is that I live in a small town, so unless I want to lock myself in my apartment I will inevitabley run into her.

The ex in question is also a member of these boards.  Awesome, right?

But anyway, I can usually get 500 words in after work with little difficulty before Real Life swoops in and clouds my thinking. 

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Just the most recent ex being there threw me off and I couldn't concentrate any more.  Crappy deal is that I live in a small town, so unless I want to lock myself in my apartment I will inevitabley run into her.

My sympathies, and I hope that did not come across as pushy.

But anyway, I can usually get 500 words in after work with little difficulty before Real Life swoops in and clouds my thinking. 

Part of why that does not really fit with my schedule is that I'm a two-large-meals-a-day person, and by the time I get home from work on a working day, it's been long enough since breakfast that I am hungry.  And then I eat a lot, and then I get torpid.

[blgarver]

Lol, yeah food will knock me out.  But my main writing spot is at the Perkins in town.  So I always get something to eat.  Occassionally I eat before I go in, then just have coffee and water, but I don't think they like when I am there for five hours and only have drinks. 

My main conflict is my video game vice; I have to make time for them AND writing in the small space of free time after work.  Sometimes, if it's been a crap day at work, the video games win alltogether and I just veg out.