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Alistair Roberts
Guest
I'm like the majority (I think), and when you aren't inspired, there's a tonne of editing to do... or praying for inspiration.
Sounds like us!
- Thread starter Quillwitch
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KG Christopher
Basic
- Oct 25, 2015
I'm the same, I'm either on a roll or...doing something else. I try and write to a plan, but I feel better when it gushes out of me...
Paul Whybrow
Full Member
- Jun 20, 2015
Quite! This is where I first learned of the 'if it doesn't come naturally, leave it' philosophy of life—the great lyricist Al Stewart.
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Jason Byrne
Guest
I work similarly, though I don't know whether that's good or bad. I will be turning out 2000-4000 words a day consistently, and then one day I just won't write anything, and it could be a week, three weeks, or a year and a half before one day I just open the story again and pick up where I left off. I actually just started doing some writing yesterday in a story that I've had on hiatus for seven years. But usually it's a few weeks to a couple months.
If I'm not writing, I know it's because sooner or later inspiration will strike, and I'll have an idea for the next scene that will be the perfect direction to progress, which if I had kept to the grindstone and kept my production constant, I would have written past and missed out on. It's sort of a what's meant to be will be philosophy, which is like Paul's sprinkled with fate.
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Madeleine Conway
Guest
Usually I'm not writing because I'm marking or planning...this term has been one of the all time worst in terms of the demands of the day-job, and I've been very lax about avoiding the TV. But I'm about to earn money doing exam marking, and once my family get used to my routine of disappearing upstairs for a couple of hours of marking every evening, I will get my writing time back. Marking starts over the next week, and I'll be doing my best to finish by 10 April, which will leave me another month before the next batch of exam marking comes in. When I am writing regularly, I do write every day, and I hit 500-1000 words relatively easily.
Richard Sutton
Flash Club Supremo
- Aug 27, 2014
I spent quite a few (20+) career years writing to deadline. It trained me to be productive and to force my fingers onto the keys, but since it was mostly corporate speak and marketing hype it was very formulaic and not terribly satisfying. Since I've had the luxury to write fiction more or less full time, the really odd thing is that it seems to utilize completely different synapses and the muse is the only one who knows what is coming next or how it's going to arrive. I seem to now have at least two WIP's at hand, but I can only work on one at a time, with long hiatuses in between. I'm a confirmed pantser and beyond as you go line edits, can only tackle developmental issues after the draft is done. As far as the word count, when I'm "on" I do between 2 and 5K words daily. The past few days I've been writing between 7 and 8K words, but it's a fluke. Time seems to also stand still when I'm on a roll. Yesterday (or was it Tuesday?) I got up and went into the kitchen to refill my coffee. The clock said 11:48. I went back and completed another chapter, looked at the clock and it said, 11:48. Really creepy feeling. Like someone else has been using my hands and brain...
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