There are two groups of writers; those who write on a schedule and those who write when inspiration hits. While I am in the group that writes when inspiration hits, I want to be in the group that writes on a schedule.
The first reason for wanting a schedule is that I feel it would help me get into my writer mindset. A schedule would make me write rather than me saying “I can write later”. I would be able to train my brain that at a certain time I start writing and I don’t stop until the time limit is reached.
The second reason is that I want to have a divide between my writing and life. At the moment my life has no schedule because Sweety and I are both off work for health reasons. Because of this lack of schedule I’ve been attempting to write while spending time with Sweety. It has gotten to the point where I am interrupted every time I open up my computer to start writing. With a schedule I can let people know that for this time period I am writing and don’t want distractions.
My last reason for wanting a schedule is so that I can give myself deadlines. I can say that I want to write a certain number of scenes in each time period or that I want to use one of the time periods to edit a story. By setting deadlines I can measure my writing goals and try to improve my output.
Do you find yourself writing on a schedule or do you write when inspiration hits? Do you prefer one method over the other?
I would find a schedule that was too specific very hard to work to. I tend to write better once properly awake so I write in the afternoon (before i get sleepy again) and each day I will have a different goal in mind, but I don’t do well with a time limit as one day I might have lots of ideas and another I won’t have any inspiration :). I do still try and stick to my 250/250 words a day- 250 for blog and 250 for novel.
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That’s true, every day has different writing inspiration so there will be a changes in the number of ideas. Though having a minimum word count goal would definitely be a help.
I really like your plan of 250 words for each rather than a total word count for both. I may have to poach it for my own writing. 🙂
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Well you were the one i got the idea of writing 250 words a day 🙂 so you are taking back your idea 😀
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Maybe but you have separate word count goals for your blog and writing. I’m usually happy if I can add both word counts together and get close to my goal. 🙂
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I found that i write way more in novels so i’m thinking of changing it to 250/500 or maybe 250/1000 but i can’t seem to stick to a strict goal plus i have days where i’m out nearly all day 😛
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That pesky life just keeps getting in the way of writing. Honestly, the writers of the world need to sit life down for a good talking to.
Maybe you need fluctuating goals for your novel? When you know that you don’t have a lot planned outside of writing you can challenge yourself to 1000+ words and lower it to 250 for busy days.
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Yes i think i will try that thank you 🙂 managed to finally finish a first draft today of a short story and hope to do work on a novella so that it is a complete first draft by end of next week. so sticking to goals is very important 🙂
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That’s awesome. 🙂 Good luck on the novella.
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Thank you 🙂
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I started writing to a schedule about three weeks ago. However, the trick is to work out the limit of words you should be writing. I started my habit with 2000 words five days a week (with Saturday allocated to blogging) but after I lifted it to 3000 words a day it did not take long until I was burnt out.
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That is a good point. Everyone has their own word count limit that works for them. I have a friend who can only write 500 words before she gets overwhelmed whereas I’ve been known to write upwards of 20,000 words in a single day. Of course, I will not be planning to have that as my daily goal. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
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I write on a schedule, but I have to change it often because of work and other real-life circumstances. Writing on a schedule has always worked better for me… it sort of “trains” you to meet deadlines and to write even when you don’t always feel like it!
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I hope I can train myself for deadlines. I am horrible for waiting until the very last minute or just deciding not to write. 🙂
Of course, I completely understand the changing schedule. Life is just so inconsiderate of writing and always seems to get in the way.
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Those are all excellent reasons. Now go set your schedule!
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Thank you. 🙂
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