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[RokofAges75]

Does anyone else find it difficult to write when they only have an hour or two to do it?

Two hours seems like it should be PLENTY of time to write, and when I'm on a roll, I can easily get two pages done in that time.  But if that's all the time I have, I find it difficult to get started, knowing that if I do get into it, I'll only have to stop.  That's why I don't usually write on weeknights.  If I'm already in the middle of a part, it's a little easier, but even then, it's sometimes hard to get the inspiration back just for a short spurt.  I'm definitely a marathon writer, not a sprinter.  Give me a whole day in which I can do nothing but write, and I will.  I'll churn out a 9-page chapter all in one sitting.  But give me a random hour of free time, and I can't take advantage of it to get a single page done.

Anyone else have that problem?

Also, do you find that it takes you a long time to get started, or can you sit right down at the computer, open up your word processor, and start typing right away?

And while I'm asking questions about time... how long does it take you, on average, to write a page (or 500 words)?  A chapter?

[mare]

Good topic for discussion, Julie.

I am the complete opposite of you. I tend to write in small spurts throughout the day when I actually manage to motivate myself to start writing. I can't write nonstop. I always have spider solitaire open or have to pause and take breaks during my writing time. I'll have word open all day long and it'll take me all day to write the chapter but it's because I come and go. I don't work well when I write from start to finish.

I do agree with you though about the weeknights. I find it hard to write at night in general. I'm more of a morning writer. At night, especially on the weeknights, I feel like my brain is fried. lol

To answer your second question, it takes me FOREVER to start writing. I'll open up word and then there it will sit until I feel the inspiration. Once I start though, I usually get a nice flow going. The starting is the hardest part.

When I first started to write, I could churn out a chapter in about an hour tops. Now, i'm a lot slower. Sometimes all of that mojo and keeping word open all day will just get me to that one page mark, while other times i'll complete a whole chapter that way.

[cabybakes]

I can relate in a way, Julie.  If I am feeling inspired...I can usually whip out a scene in 1-2 hours or even less at times (which is anywhere from 1000-2000 words on average for me).  The last chapter I wrote was just under 6000 words and I probably wrote it in about 2ish hours, but I was on a major roll. 

Now, if I am not inspired, it is nothing...it can take me hours, days, sometimes even weeks to get inspired.  Lately, I have had blips of inspiration but no time...and when I do have time there is no inspiration.  If I don't sit down and write it when it is coming to me like that, it is a struggle for me because I loose it.  So, in that way, I can relate to Mare.  But, if it is flowing, I can go on and on and on just like Julie.  So there is no pattern, I guess I'm random.

My most productive time to write is mid-afternoon, which is odd.  If I get on a roll, I will break away and workout, cook dinner, tend to the family and pick it back up once everyone is in bed.  I usually finish chapters late at night during the week and I rarely write on the weekend because we have a lot going on usually.

[Rose]

Does anyone else find it difficult to write when they only have an hour or two to do it?

Two hours seems like it should be PLENTY of time to write, and when I'm on a roll, I can easily get two pages done in that time.  But if that's all the time I have, I find it difficult to get started, knowing that if I do get into it, I'll only have to stop.  That's why I don't usually write on weeknights.  If I'm already in the middle of a part, it's a little easier, but even then, it's sometimes hard to get the inspiration back just for a short spurt.  I'm definitely a marathon writer, not a sprinter.  Give me a whole day in which I can do nothing but write, and I will.  I'll churn out a 9-page chapter all in one sitting.  But give me a random hour of free time, and I can't take advantage of it to get a single page done.

Anyone else have that problem?

Also, do you find that it takes you a long time to get started, or can you sit right down at the computer, open up your word processor, and start typing right away?

And while I'm asking questions about time... how long does it take you, on average, to write a page (or 500 words)?  A chapter?

I'm a marathon writer at night, you've seen me do it lol. But yeah, at night, with inspiration flowing, I can keep going till it's finished. I can just go go go, and get a chapter done in a couple of hours.

During the day, I'm more like mare. On my days off, if I'm at home writing, it's in blips throughout the day where I take breaks and do something else, and then go back. So then rather than finishing in a couple hours, it takes me a full day, or days to do it.

I also find myself inspired at school. So sure it's the I'm bored so lets focus on anything but this but in my notebooks (in a class where usually I don't have to notetake cause they're online in powerpoints or something) I find myself writing for one of my fics rather than focusing. So school helps too lol. I've written full chapters in the span of two classes. It's always a little annoying to then have to type them up and edit, but hell I write when the juice is flowing.

[Chaos]

I'm more like Mare and write in spurts throughout the day, but that's usually out of total necessity because I never have any real block of time to myself that I can devote to writing (well, unless I'm being an insomniac and everyone else is asleep)...and I always have too many stories going on in my head to NOT write.

I do have the problem getting started even when I know what story I want to work on and where I want it to go, etc. It's just getting the flow going. For me, what works is just forgetting about the one I really want to work on and start writing a completely random scene that isn't inteded to be developed into a fic of any sort. It gets me into the writing flow with no pressure for it to actually be good or go anywhere. Once the flow's started, then I can work on what I really intended to work on. (And I save those scenes because sometimes they do end up coming in handy or fitting into a story that I hadn't even conceived of when I wrote it...)

How long it takes me to write 500 words depends greatly on how "into" the fic I'm writing I am. If I'm into it, I can do 500 words in half an hour no problem (even more than that if I'm not being distracted and don't let my attention span wander). On the other hand, if it's a "chore" chapter or a fic I'm no longer interested in...yeah 500 words can take FOREVER.

[mare]

Today for instance I thought I was going to tackle the last chapter of A Million Little Things so as soon as I woke up, I opened word and it's been sitting open all afternoon and so far I haven't written one solitary word! *sigh* It takes me forever to get started!

[Jellicle]

I think I'm somewhere in the middle.. Usually it's about how much I have the story finished in my mind and then only an hour or so will do for me to get through a part.. if I start writing and then more ideas develop - which happens most of the time - then it can take up to a day to finish a part or something.

It also has a lot to do with motivation and inspiration, as well as how much I am able to give my focus on my writing. Sometimes, even though I have everything figured out and all I need is to sit down and type it out, I just can't seem to find the words to match or write down one decent sentence at all. It's kind of irritating because I have a short attention span and I think of millions of things when I'm doing one thing. If I have the whole weekend for the writing, I can go on and off writing all day which usually ends up with good results, like 6-7 pages. Then again sometimes I have those nights where I just need to get it all out and all I need is a couple of hours and I'm good to go. But most of the time I suffer from major lack of concentration and time during weeknights, my brain's being usually too damaged to write anything.

And it definitely takes A LOT of time for me to start. I can sit infront of my laptop and stare at the screen for a while, surf the net, talk on the phone, stare at a blank word .doc, sing, watch tv, cook and do all sorts of other irrelevant stuff with a blank word page in my mind. LOL. It's irritating.