Question for writers

[hjffkj]

Professional or otherwise. When and where do you write.

 

I used to write all the time in highschool, college, and while my oldest was little. I've been paid for my writing sporadically and have won small writing contests, the most in prize money for one contest was $1000. But I lost my ability to write. It is odd, I sit down to write and nothing comes out. I miss writing and have decided I need to just set time aside each day to do it so I'm starting that process. This is purely for my enjoyment of writing, I don't really plan to try to make money off of it, at least not now.

 

But it got me curious as to when and where other people devote their writing time. For me, I'm trying to figure out the best time of day for no interruptions while I still have energy. Still figuring that out.

[scrapbookbuzz]

The time varies for me. But I've found I definitely cannot write at home! Too distracting. Every sound is one I'm tuned into and potentially

responsible for so it does not help the concentration! I find certain Starbucks and other coffee shops are ideal. The ambient noise doesn't bother

me as I am not the one responsible for it or to do anything about it!  :D

 

If the noise there gets to be too much, I plug my earphones into my phone (or the computer, if I have it with me).

 

Hope that helps!

 

[freeindeed]

I write in my computer room. I write best in the mornings or afternoons. I light a candle that's only lit when I write. When it burns down, I purchase another. I also have a special coffee mug that I drink from when I write. I listen to a certain playlist. This is my writing ritual. I have my teens take care of my special needs daughter during this time. I shut out all distractions. Even when I'm not feeling "inspired," if I start my ritual, then suddenly I will find myself able to write.

Edited July 12, 2017 by freeindeed

[hjffkj]

The time varies for me. But I've found I definitely cannot write at home! Too distracting. Every sound is one I'm tuned into and potentially

responsible for so it does not help the concentration! I find certain Starbucks and other coffee shops are ideal. The ambient noise doesn't bother

me as I am not the one responsible for it or to do anything about it! :D

 

If the noise there gets to be too much, I plug my earphones into my phone (or the computer, if I have it with me).

 

Hope that helps!

Distractions are a huge issue here but getting away daily isn't an option. I plan on chiselling out one day a week to get away to write. The daily writing is going to have to be early morning before people wake up, during relax time, or after kids are in bed. So right now I'm figuring out which of those time slots works best for me.

[hjffkj]

I write in my computer room. I write best in the mornings or afternoons. I light a candle that's only lit when I write. When it burns down, I purchase another. I also have a special coffee mug that I drink from when I write. I listen to a certain playlist. This is my writing ritual. I have my teens take care of my special needs daughter during this time. I shut out all distractions. Even when I'm not feeling "inspired," if I start my ritual, then suddenly I will find myself able to write.

That sounds like a nice ritual. My computer room is currently a room that causes high anxiety for me so I stay out of it at all costs. Until I can get a handle on it my writing area is a nice place in my bedroom. There is a big comfy chair and a card table. The hardest thing is not allowing myself to turn the TV on.

[ktgrok]

Do you read?  I can't write if I haven't been reading. I need to refill my head with words or something. 

 

Stephen King says writers can't afford to not read. 

[freeindeed]

That sounds like a nice ritual. My computer room is currently a room that causes high anxiety for me so I stay out of it at all costs. Until I can get a handle on it my writing area is a nice place in my bedroom. There is a big comfy chair and a card table. The hardest thing is not allowing myself to turn the TV on.

 

Yes. I have to keep myself from checking Facebook or coming here.  :laugh:

[ktgrok]

oh, I find the Write or Die app to be helpful...it forces you to keep writing rather than erasing or staring at a blank screen. If you stop for too long it sets off an alarm, puts up a picture of a spider (if you want it to), etc. Or you can set it to put up a purring kitten every so many words, etc. 

[hjffkj]

Do you read? I can't write if I haven't been reading. I need to refill my head with words or something.

 

Stephen King says writers can't afford to not read.

I have been getting back into consistently reading as well. That is now habit again and I think is what made me want to write again.

[hjffkj]

oh, I find the Write or Die app to be helpful...it forces you to keep writing rather than erasing or staring at a blank screen. If you stop for too long it sets off an alarm, puts up a picture of a spider (if you want it to), etc. Or you can set it to put up a purring kitten every so many words, etc.

Oh I'll look into that app.

[ktgrok]

Yes. I have to keep myself from checking Facebook or coming here.  :laugh:

 

 

 

 

there are apps for that too :)

SaveSave

[madteaparty]

Do you read? I can't write if I haven't been reading. I need to refill my head with words or something.

 

Stephen King says writers can't afford to not read.

Except this becomes a huge excuse. "I'm not sufficiently well-read to write" , etc etc

[Guest]

Do you read? I can't write if I haven't been reading. I need to refill my head with words or something.

 

Stephen King says writers can't afford to not read.

In his wonderful must read book On Writing!

 

-------

I write freeform at night alone and clean it up in the morning during coffee time.

[Guest]

Except this becomes a huge excuse. "I'm not sufficiently well-read to write" , etc etc

I think it is my favorite one! It's also a very flexible excuse...

"I am not knowledgeable enough about this subject yet..."

"I haven't really read a ton of YA fiction..."

"I probably had better read all of Jane Austen's works again before I tackle this subject..."

[J-rap]

I get distracted super easily.  Even if someone else is in the room and not making any noise or movement, I can't focus.  So for me it's generally early morning or late at night, or sometimes mid afternoon when everyone is out doing their thing.  The thing with me is that once I get focused, then it's hard for me to pull away -- unless I have to!  So I really prefer knowing that I have at least an hour or two.

[Seasider]

I write in my computer room. I write best in the mornings or afternoons. I light a candle that's only lit when I write. When it burns down, I purchase another. I also have a special coffee mug that I drink from when I write. I listen to a certain playlist. This is my writing ritual. I have my teens take care of my special needs daughter during this time. I shut out all distractions. Even when I'm not feeling "inspired," if I start my ritual, then suddenly I will find myself able to write.

 

I do the same thing with the candle, been doing that for years! I use the tall white glass emergency candles I can get at the grocery store. I write in a spare bedroom when I want to get a high word count, and sometimes out at a coffee shop if I'm needing to add...texture?...to a piece. I think being out IN the world helps me add layers of description once the rough draft is sketched out. 

 

Do you read?  I can't write if I haven't been reading. I need to refill my head with words or something. 

 

Stephen King says writers can't afford to not read. 

 

 

In his wonderful must read book On Writing!

 

-------

I write freeform at night alone and clean it up in the morning during coffee time.

 

 

 

"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that."

That's from On Writing, if you haven't yet read that one I highly recommend the audiobook version, it's quite rich as King voices that one himself. I am currently listening to the extended version audiobook of The Stand (49 hours! FORTY NINE HOURS OF AUDIOBOOK!!!!), and I find myself wishing it were recorded by King. At least having heard his voice reading On Writing, I feel like I have a better feel for the language.

 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Seasider

[Seasider]

Except this becomes a huge excuse. "I'm not sufficiently well-read to write" , etc etc

 

 

Interesting though, that in my early days as a home educator researching teaching methods, so much of what I saw recommended, even from Jessie and SWB, was to read, read, read good books to our children. Like a bank teller, learning all s/he can about the real bills to be able to spot a poor quality counterfeit, having experience of hearing and seeing well written works helps a writer to generate quality works. So, I really do believe King's statement is a good and true one. 

 

If a person is using it as an excuse, well, that's just excuse-making. It doesn't change the validity of his statement. I guess I'll add the caveat that opinions will vary, but at the very least, if one is trying to get published in a certain genre, it would behoove her to read a significant number of titles from the authors she's desiring to emulate and the publishing houses that publish them.

[Critterfixer]

At home. At work. Whenever I go out. I keep my notebook handy.

My concentrated writing time is between 3 and 5 most days. I can sometimes get 7-8 in the morning and 7-8 at night, too. If I wake up and can't get back to sleep, I get up and write as often as not.

The first 500 words are the worst. I don't care if I have to spend the first 500 grumping about how I can't write, I'll find 500 words worth of grumping to write.

Music helps sometimes.

Silence helps sometimes.

Sometimes the best help of all is knowing that if I don't write those 500 words in the next thirty minutes I'll run out of time before I have to start school, or the laundry, or whatever else is on my agenda for the day.

[Lanny]

I am not a writer but I did contemplate writing a non fiction book a few years ago after someone suggested that to me. One of my cousins and her husband have written a bunch of short books. I think you need to do it when you can concentrate and the ideas come into your brain. Good luck! How do you pronounce your WTM user name?

 

Sent from my SM-G355M using Tapatalk

[hjffkj]

I get distracted super easily. Even if someone else is in the room and not making any noise or movement, I can't focus. So for me it's generally early morning or late at night, or sometimes mid afternoon when everyone is out doing their thing. The thing with me is that once I get focused, then it's hard for me to pull away -- unless I have to! So I really prefer knowing that I have at least an hour or two.

 

I'm striving for 2 hours on my day I can get away and at least half an hour on my other days for now. I'd like it to be an hour but I'm not their yet with my ability to write without getting distracted yet.

[Critterfixer]

 

I'm striving for 2 hours on my day I can get away and at least half an hour on my other days for now. I'd like it to be an hour but I'm not their yet with my ability to write without getting distracted yet. 

What's your top distraction right now?

[hjffkj]

I am not a writer but I did contemplate writing a non fiction book a few years ago after someone suggested that to me. One of my cousins and her husband have written a bunch of short books. I think you need to do it when you can concentrate and the ideas come into your brain. Good luck! How do you pronounce your WTM user name?

 

Sent from my SM-G355M using Tapatalk

Thanks! No pronunciation, it is just the letters. Think of or refer to me in posts as hj for short. You'll have to meet me if you want an explanation.

[hjffkj]

 

What's your top distraction right now?

Nursing a baby while writing my to do list for tomorrow. Once the baby is down I'm sitting down and writing. Putting 5 kids to bed by yourself is a process! I love weekends when dh does it.

[Lanny]

I believe that if someone really wants to write it must be a priority and preferably done when they are ready to write. I decided against writing the book because of the cost of an Editor and not being able to know approximately how many books would be purchased.

 

Sent from my SM-G355M using Tapatalk

[Critterfixer]

 

Nursing a baby while writing my to do list for tomorrow. Once the baby is down I'm sitting down and writing. Putting 5 kids to bed by yourself is a process! I love weekends when dh does it. 

 

 

Then be very gentle with yourself. I thought I remembered that you had a very young child in the house recently, and anyone putting 5 kids to bed by herself every weeknight is simply going to need to go to bed when that's all over! 

However, this is a great opportunity to learn to write in spurts. Try for a thirty minute word sprint. Or fifteen minutes. Then let it rest. Come back and try it again later, or just get in the habit of writing a little bit of something on anything that comes to mind. Don't feel you have to get that two hours of uninterrupted time. Eventually, you'll get that, but if you learn to write through distraction now, that will be a skill you can use at any time to help you break through distractions in the future.

[Critterfixer]

And write about whatever comes to mind. I just wrote a 850 word short piece inspired by my son and his quest to grow the next great pumpkin this year. I'm working through the last part of my third draft on the novel I've been working on for a year and a half or so. I started a new short story inspired by a line one of my characters used with another character that had a folk-story embedded in it. Anything and everything. I write little poems from time to time as something triggers the urge to make a rhyme. Really, anything makes a story or a writing prompt.

[Kalmia]

I write nonfiction at my favorite desk surrounded by my shelves and shelves of books. I prefer it to be quiet, but since it is in my house with all my people and animals and the phone I grumble at the constant interruptions. But because the topics are factual, I can get several pages written during the hour here and there I steal from my other jobs and duties.

 

My nonfiction writing requires me to be in my character's head (I write in the first person). The best writing day I had was in this little "office" alcove in the waiting room at the car repair place. They had three desks set up, each with a giant window from desk to ceiling to look out of and admire the hundreds of colorful Subarus parked outside. There must have been some kind of sound dampening materials in the room, because everything was muffled compared to the regular waiting room with magazines and chairs. I wrote pages upon pages at that desk as they fixed my car. When they were done, I asked them, jokingly, if I could just pay rent on the desk now and then because I was so productive. The cashier mentioned that many people felt that way about their little workroom. I think that being in a quiet place where I was forced to wait (can't go home until the car is fixed) with absolutely no responsibilities there was key to that magical burst of creativity.

 

Other than that wonderful day,  I find things coming to mind at odd moments, particularly when I have no way to record them such as while driving or in the shower. I imagine both the car and shower could be thought of as sensory deprivation chambers of a sort. It is often these periodic sparks of inspiration that initiate whole chapters or plot turns so I make an effort to remember them or pull over and jot them down on a napkin or hop out of the shower and drip all over a notebook while writing them down. Then, like with the freewrite loops I learned about in college, I write the line or idea that came to me at the top of a blank page and freewrite from there. The next day I might pick a line from that freewrite or a line out of some older writing and separate it in order to expand.I have found this to be an excellent way to generate material. It is awkward in a way, because often these lines and inspirations are not coming in chronological order. The freewrite loops are one way to connect them with existing writing especially if they occur further down the line in the plot.

 

I agree with doing lots of reading. I have to do tons of it researching my nonfiction. I should read more fiction.

 

 

[hjffkj]

 

"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that."

That's from On Writing, if you haven't yet read that one I highly recommend the audiobook version, it's quite rich as King voices that one himself. I am currently listening to the extended version audiobook of The Stand (49 hours! FORTY NINE HOURS OF AUDIOBOOK!!!!), and I find myself wishing it were recorded by King. At least having heard his voice reading On Writing, I feel like I have a better feel for the language.

I actually asked for On Writing for my bday, which is next week. I read it when I was in highschool at my mom's suggestion but want to read it again.

 

I do really enjoy listening to Stephen King read his works!

[Robin M]

I used to only write in the mornings. However, now I write all times of the day when have time.  I journal and/or do morning pages after breakfast, do prompts ramdomly throughout the day and afternoons are for writing blog posts.   Freewriting works best for when writing longhand. I freeze up on the computer staring at the blank screen. My writing chair is in the corner of the living room since we have a really small house.  I don't have any problem writing with my kiddo playing video games. I can tune it out easily enough.  I can't write to music because its distracting so don't usually go out to write anywhere.  This is all purely for my enjoyment as well.  I love to write flash fiction as well as short stories and have a few first draft novels from nanowrimo.    

 

I took a long haitus and just got back into writing everyday at the beginning of June. A book that really inspired me is Sage Cohen Fierce on the Page.  After reading it, I challenged myself to writing every morning, plus doing a blog post for every single day of June. I was successful and now doing the same for July.  The thing is to just sit down and write. Brainstorming ideas also helps. I'm now dabbling with poetry and drawing and feeding my creativity with lots and lots of books.  I also read about the benefits of copy work for writers. Not sure why the idea didn't strike me when having kiddo do copy work.  

 

At this point, experiment with all times of the day, writing in different environments and places in your house until you find what works for you.  Don't worry about numbers, just getting those words on the page. 

 

Highly recommend Stephen King's On Writing as well.  His book prompted me to read a few of his other books - dark tower series and a few psychological thrillers. I have a harder time with horror so avoid those. 

Edited July 13, 2017 by Robin M

[Robin M]

Then be very gentle with yourself. I thought I remembered that you had a very young child in the house recently, and anyone putting 5 kids to bed by herself every weeknight is simply going to need to go to bed when that's all over!

However, this is a great opportunity to learn to write in spurts. Try for a thirty minute word sprint. Or fifteen minutes. Then let it rest. Come back and try it again later, or just get in the habit of writing a little bit of something on anything that comes to mind. Don't feel you have to get that two hours of uninterrupted time. Eventually, you'll get that, but if you learn to write through distraction now, that will be a skill you can use at any time to help you break through distractions in the future.

Yes, this!

[freeindeed]

Something else I just thought of today...notebooks and pens! I have a small notebook in my purse and a standard-sized notebook that I carry around the house with me. I also make sure to have a pen with me wherever I go. When I go to bed at night, my notebook & pen go with me. This way, whenever inspiration strikes, I can write it down, even if it's just a quick note. It might be something funny that someone says, or it might be a beautiful sunset or flower that I see. I also write down my worst thoughts, which may or may not come out in my writing. I got the notebook idea from Pinterest. It's been one of my greatest tools.

[hjffkj]

Something else I just thought of today...notebooks and pens! I have a small notebook in my purse and a standard-sized notebook that I carry around the house with me. I also make sure to have a pen with me wherever I go. When I go to bed at night, my notebook & pen go with me. This way, whenever inspiration strikes, I can write it down, even if it's just a quick note. It might be something funny that someone says, or it might be a beautiful sunset or flower that I see. I also write down my worst thoughts, which may or may not come out in my writing. I got the notebook idea from Pinterest. It's been one of my greatest tools.

Oh my notebook stays with me always now. I've been writing so much recently because of it. I started it because I was sick of having to get it when an idea popped into my head. Now I carry it more than my phone.