Writing Discipline

[Black Dragon]

Do you follow a specific regimen when writing?

For example, do you have a daily word count that you hold yourself to, or a set time during which you force yourself to write?

What is your writing discipline?

 

[Map the Dragon]

I wish I was more disciplined. Right now, my rule is to write something every day. Some days, that is a paragraph, sometimes ten pages. Often, it's just organizational writing. Or I'll take a break, write an article or story. On the second half of my first novel, my rule was 5000 words a day. I kept to that pretty religiously. I'm on my second contracted project right now and knocking out a slower 3000 words a day, but this piece will be much shorter and involves more effort in terms of research and other elements.

Rule # 1 - Write something.
Rule # 2 - Set a word-count goal.

This is, at least, my attempt.

 

[TWErvin2]

I fit in writing when I can. Usually that's between 500 and 1500 words on days I do write but sometimes more, sometimes less. That doesn't include editing, research or other writing related activities.

With family, work and other obligations, there's no way I could keep the 5000 words a day pace Map the Dragon managed. But every writer is different.

 

[Sevvie]

I try to write as much as I can. However often times I am uninspired to write on certain days, so I up my caffeine intake, and bam, that generally gets the job done for a little while. At least then I can get something written.

I used to have more issues with this, but over the past month I've found it easy to just sit down and write, without it being forced.

I don't have any sort of daily goals or anything. But it certainly helps feeling really good after I've written a good chunk of something.

 

[Dante Sawyer]

Im afraid I'm not to disciplined as a writer. When I get home from football practice I do my homework and eat dinner. Then, with whatever motivation I have left, I write. If that ends up being 3000 words, sweet, if it ends up be 100, that's cool too. I don't push myself to write a certain amount. I write when I feel I can write my best work. If I'm not motivated to write then what I write isn't gonna be as good as it could.
Just my two cents.

 

[UnionJane]

Being a new writer...It's tricky to make a word count when the inspiration isn't there. If I'm not working on a story, I try to at least record my inspiration for the day/thoughts on fantasy and writing on pen and paper. Because I can't physically write as fast as I can think and type, it forces me to collect my thoughts and thoroughly think a topic out. After doing that, actually writing on a story becomes easier because I have a lot of the depth on certain topics out of the way. I suppose my discipline is to force myself to think about an idea, fantasy concept, or story while I'm doing "mechanical" things like mowing the grass. I try and pretend like that's what I must do in my free time.

 

[CicadaGrrl]

Days I sub I get a few hours in at best. Days I don't, or summer obviously, I get up, take care of the animals and then write. I usually stop around seven when the animal duties kick back in. I don't count my words or my pages. I'll just get anal about it.

 

[Theankh]

I haven't got much room for discipline - I write at work during quiet periods so how much I get down depends entirely on how the day goes. If I get lots of calls and my boss is in the office, I might not even get to open it. If it's just me and the part-time girl on a Friday, I can get through pages!

 

[misaki]

I'm not that quite disciplined either. I get home from uni and study and catch up and whatnot, and that's tiring. I try and write at least 500 words when I do get time to write but then I've discovered when I'm pushing myself too hard, my writing becomes quite bad and strained.

 

[Motley]

I've recently given up working to write fiction full time for at least six months, and I still have little writing discipline. I find it hard to write with my kids making noise around the house.

 

[Sparkie]

I follow the counsel Stephen King outlined in On Writing. I write at least 1000 words per day - no exceptions. Sometimes I write more if the time is available and my mind is working the way it should. (Does anyone else wake up feeling like their brain is broken? Probbably just me )
If you write a substantial amount every day, you help yourself stay sharp. I'm not saying you need to be robotic about it. But I feel that if writing is not done every day, then something is lost. Don't ask me what is lost, i'm not that smart. Even if you don't feel like writing, or if you feel like your efforts will be subpar for some reason, write anyway. You can always rewrite later if you don't like your work.

 

[Shadoe]

I usually write a lot every day when I'm not working. When I'm working, there are days when I come home and cannot force myself to type one more word on the keyboard.