Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, CA
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Okay, we’ve been talking about writers’ habits, spaces and rituals. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What does the real writer’s day look like? How many pages (or words) should a writer create a day?
Was that the question you’ve been dying ask?
When much of my life was spent writing, it was certainly the question I longed to ask. Confession: I’ve always been competitive. I can’t help myself. I’ve consistently kept track of my productivity and tried to better my numbers. With writing, I wanted a yardstick. I wanted to know if I was “keeping up.” But I found it was the hardest thing to quantify. Ask any writer, and he’ll give you a high and a low. Or tell you her best day and then blush to admit that many days she doesn’t get out of the email cycle.
A few years ago at the writing conference at Mount Hermon, Liz Curtis Higgs shared her technique with the Career Track. She takes her calendar and blocks out one day a week for appointments; one day for interviews, publicity and business; and then carefully guards the rest for writing. She has a different place for writing than for the business pertaining to writing. When she sits down to write, she falls into that world and only comes out when the day is over. When I saw her a couple of weeks ago I mentioned how impressed I was by her planning. She gave one of those famous Liz laughs and confessed that it doesn’t always work the way it’s planned. Drat! And she was my productivity hero.
Another productivity hero is friend and client, Debbie Macomber. Debbie is one of the most disciplined writers I know. On her writing days her output is twenty manuscript pages. That’s right–twenty pages. Once, when I spent a weekend with her, she confessed that she hadn’t yet met her weekly writing goal. The next day I went antiquing with other friends while Debbie finished the fourteen pages she hadn’t finished that week. But Debbie is quick to admit there’s nothing she’d rather do than write. When she is mid-book, her characters are as real to her as her friends. She longs to spend time with them.
When I write, I find that I can sit down for an hour and a half, dip into the story and do about 1,200 words. If I’m getting close to deadline and the story is zipping along, I’ve been known to do 5,000 words at a sitting with gusts up to 7,500. Would I be able to sustain that? Absolutely not, especially since I have a very strenuous day job.
PostScripts magazine tells about writers and their habits in The Work Habits of Highly Successful Writers, http://notorc.blogspot.com/2006/05/work-habits-of-highly-successful_23.html One story was about direct mail copywriter, Denison Hatch, who completed three successful novels by rising at five each morning and writing 500 words before leaving for his regular job. According to the article, his first novel, Cedarhurst Alley, written 500 words at a time, is still in print.
A friend of a friend is a successful picture book writer. One time he told my friend that he spent the whole morning working on a phrase. He was exhausted. One phrase.
I love what Joyce Carol Oates said about it: “When writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re actually trying to find out ‘Is he as crazy as I am?'”
So, the real question is: How crazy are you? What does your writing day look like? Is it different at the beginning of a book than at the end? Do you schedule non-writing days? Use the comment section to let us see how you do it.
Oh my, what a great topic. I love hearing how other writers section out their time.
I tell ya the truth, I don’t have a set pattern. But, when I get a story in my brain, it takes over. All I do is write.
In October, I wrote a 75k novel. Then, in January a 77k novel. Then, in February I wrote 55k of another WIP (not finished yet, taking a break to work out plot issues/do contests for the others).
But how I did it, well, I just wrote and wrote. All the time when I wasn’t at the day job. Seriously – mornings before work, lunch hours, and then the second the work day ended, I wrote. On the weekends, in between long road bikes and church, I wrote.
But now, as I edit, tweak, and put the novels to my crit groups, I work on them daily with revisions. Usually in the evenings after work.
The fact that I don’t have kids plays a big part in the amount of writing time I have…
Can’t wait to come back and see how others do it.
Realistically? By the time I’m done with all the procrastination, it’s after lunch. I then work for two or three hours. Fortunately, I type fast.
And if I’m near the end–long hours, usually into the evening. I usually need a shoulder and neck massage by the time I finish. And once I got one! 🙂
Uhhh… goals? Words per day? 5,000 words? 7,500 words? I’m now officially depressed. Will one of you come to my house and organize me?
Exhaustive research and figuring out the outline has taken much of last year. This year I was under “writers block.” We won’t mention I am really bad at procrastinating when I have no deadlines. When I met a friend who inspired me, suddenly I knew how to start my book series. Last night I was able to get into my little world and get over 1200 words done. I am quite satisfied with the format. My only question is: How long is a chapter? I’ve read many articles on it. I’d rather hear from someone in the business than an article in which I do not know the background of the author.
The chapter I wrote is introducing the character and one of the plot points. The chapter ended just over 1200 words to introduce Chapter 2 and the next scene.
Nikki
My schedule for writing is every other day after my husband has gone to bed. This gives me time with him, and then I can fully get into my little world. I have a playlist on Microsoft Media of music that inspires my writing. It helps me visualize like a movie the entire plot. I could probaly do it for the same amount of time in the morning before work, but I am not a morning person.