What time of day works best for you/do you actually get to write at that time?
What writing conditions are most suitable for your writing style?
Do you need your own area, etc?
I've been thinking about stuff like this lately. Since I started writing in high school, I've been a night writer. If I could write from 11 pm - 3 am, that worked best for me. I even indulged myself in stuff like this last year, but I found myself dragging too badly during the day, and I just wasn't functioning very well on that schedule. So this year, I'm trying a different approach. I'm getting up around the time Stanman has to leave for work (5:45 am) and writing early in the morning. Today that worked really well for me, because I got my writing done and then I had time to be productive. So this is totally making me re-think how I approach writing.
To answer my other two questions, I tend to write with music. I love instrumental soundtracks, but if I feel like the words or mood of the song fits the scene, other music is fine too. I can write with other distractions like people and tv, but I don't count on it to be my best work. Don't really have my own space, either. This morning it was in bed. :)
So what works best for you guys? Have you had a set pattern for a long time, or are you just finding one now?
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Co-ML-IN-TRAINING: United States::Michigan::Flint
Twitter: @leianajade
61,616 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 18 52
"What time of day works best for you/do you actually get to write at that time?"
I normally do my best writing from around midnight to 5/6am. it's not always possible to be awake at that time though. but since i'm currently unemployed, i've pretty much been able to write when i feel like it. Then i do editing during the day since i cant seem to produce a lot at that time. I think it's because at night, my husband is home, even if he's sleeping, he's still here and it's comforting.
"What writing conditions are most suitable for your writing style?"
I have to have the TV on, even if i have no clue what show is on. I can't write in complete silence. Music distracts me though. I can't have music playing when I'm writing.
"Do you need your own area, etc?"
Since i got my laptop, my area is in the living room, sitting on the floor with the laptop on the coffee table. Usually with PsychoKitty next to me meowing for attention.
----------Shell Lee http://shellsletters.blogspot.com/
2009: "Hide Me (Hideaway Inn)" - In progress
2009: "Just Five More (and You'll Be Perfect)" - In progress
2008: "Dragon Eye" - 50,126 words on November 30th, 2008
55,032 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 19 15
Stan doesn't understand my need for background noise sometimes. He grew up in a house where if the tv was on, they were watching it. Sometimes it's just a silence killer for me.
I don't think I could get away from my animals if I wanted to. The good thing about writing from the bedroom is that I can turn on the electric blanket and get them to sleep. Otherwise ... who knows. My animals aren't psycho - just quirky. :)
----------Co-ML-IN-TRAINING: United States::Michigan::Flint
Twitter: @leianajade
36,294 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 19 21
Let's see if it will let me post this time....
Time -- my only option is "after 5". I think, if left to my own devices, I'd go for something like noon-3 and 11-1, then sleep all morning.
Conditions -- if I have the Headphones of Isolation, I can write anywhere. I prefer a chair or couch, but the bed is decent, too.
----------Go to my website: http://www.stanmanx.com
22,355 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 20 27
Usually at night, starting at midnight, I can type without stopping for like two hours. Happened to me this morning, technically, which is what got my novel off to a start. It was 2:30 before I stopped. I'm definitely a night-owl, so in areas like this, the fact that I'm home schooled comes in handy. haha. I don't have to start school as early and whatnot. But I write throughout the day, too, and sometimes get random bursts of muse. :)
Hm. Well, I mostly write my NaNo on the computer, as when I go type stuff up to check word count and whatnot, I tend to get all wrapped up in the editing and just stop writing altogether. Therefore, my environment is kind of the same all the time: the basement. It's actually almost always quiet, since people don't come down here a lot. I like to play music when I write, but it doesn't usually register. I'll all of a sudden realize I'm in the middle of a song and be like, "Oh! I actually wanted to listen to that!" haha.
I'm extremely uncomfortable knowing people could read what I'm writing over my shoulder, since I know NaNo doesn't churn out the very finest. So when someone comes into the basement to talk to me or whatever, I almost always go and do other things on the internet, or at least minimize Mircosoft. I definitely need space to write. If people are talking to me, I get confused and anything I write is probably not well-thought-out crap. haha. Yeah.
----------"But you were so enjoying yourself, my friend. I had not the heart to shatter your illusions." ~Hercule Poirot
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Nov 3, 2009 - 04 53
What time of day works best for you/do you actually get to write at that time?
Mid - day usually works for me. It takes me a good couple of hours to wake up, exercise, get other things done before I can really focus and get down to business.
What writing conditions are most suitable for your writing style?
To really be able to get into what I'm doing, the house needs to be clean. Like immaculate, or I'm distracted with all the things I should be doing and almost feel guilty for writing and blowing off my other responsibilities.
Do you need your own area, etc?
Well being that I live alone, I have my own area. The only time I can work around other people is if they're writing as well. I get frustrated if I look up and I see people watching me or constantly hear "Whatcha working' on?"
----------Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.
-- A Cinderella Story
23,664 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 11 10
Oooh lookit! Something to do so I can stall sitting and staring at my NaNo project with nothing but emptiness in my head!
What time of day works best for you/do you actually get to write at that time?
I'm a natural born Night Owl, so I like to be awake then more then when that cursed SUN is out trying to blind me and burn my delicate skin. Usually I get my best writing out between 3 am and whenever the sun decides to come up. Most of the time I get to write then, but sometimes I have to fight with others over the computer. (ahh, the joys of mine having blown up and having to share...) Thankfully everyone else in the house are "normal" people and sleep at night, so it's not often I have to fight for the computer.
What writing conditions are most suitable for your writing style?
Generally, I have to be alone, with the TV going for background noise, or have my headphones on with one of my NaNo playlists going as loud as I can stand it. Music is really just a buffer for me most of the time. If the headphones are on, then the music blocks out siblings being noisy and obnoxious, and then I can tune the music out and 'hear' my story in my head better.
But sometimes, I actually NEED to have people and noise, and the normal environmental hub-bub of life around me. That's generally when I grab a friend and go sit at Archie's for the night.
Do you need your own area, etc?
Most of the time. I get nervous and don't write well if I feel like people are watching me, or reading over my shoulder.
Anubis knows all about that. Whenever we share her laptop I have to turn so my backs to the wall, and there's no space for her to fit in to "spy" on me. I know she won't, but I'm a bit paranoid when I write. And if I can't curl up in a corner or whatever, then I glare at the people I'm with/who are around me until they look away.
I'm a very... temperamental writer. What I do and don't need all completely depends on the kind of day I've had, the mood I'm in, and what kind of scene I'm writing at the time. There's no tried -and-true never-failed method for me.
----------"3K a day keeps Chris Baty at bay!" ~MidWestPrincess
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Nov 3, 2009 - 11 29
I don't really have a set pattern.
I can get things done while other people are around, but the process is pretty slow, as evidenced by the write-in on Sunday. On the other hand, when I was alone in the office space in my apartment last night, I flew through the word count and then some.
I know I can't write if I think I have other things I should be doing. Writing is, for whatever reason, psychologically, the last priority for me. Which is why I'm SO GRATEFUL that my partner volunteered to do all the cooking and cleaning this month. If he wasn't, I would never write, because I would always be like, "Oh, but there's one more little chore I have to do before I can write..." and then finally, "Oh, but now I have to go to bed, I can't write..." I am facing a fear of failure, almost daily. "What if I can't hit the word count?" I kind of have to force myself to do the little thing so I won't have failed completely.
I am actually almost half way to my highest ever recorded NaNo Wordcount, which is really exciting.
I tend to put music on, but mostly in order to ignore it. I rarely ever remember it being on.
----------2009: In the Name
Twitter: @astraev
Excerpts: writexchange.livejournal.com
LJ NaNo Home: nanoinflames.livejournal.com
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Nov 3, 2009 - 21 40
I discovered the key to waking my brain up when it checks out, today.
----------At least...today's key anyways.
My friend Strange (who is also the British boy that The Crayon doesn't approve of because he distracts me from my novel) sent me a copy of him singing Nickelback's Far Away, because he knows I love that song more then life.
I about cried when I hit play, it was so beautiful. And it almost instantly triggered something that got me writing like a mad woman.
"3K a day keeps Chris Baty at bay!" ~MidWestPrincess
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Nov 4, 2009 - 04 40
Hold on, now. If the British boy makes the word count happen, then the Crayon approves! If he distracts, the Crayon becomes angry.
----------Go to my website: http://www.stanmanx.com
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Nov 4, 2009 - 16 23
Hmmm, well, he distracts me to where I don't spend as much time as I probably should working on my novel. But when he's no longer distracting me, I'm in an exceptionally good mood that makes me pump out some of my best work.
----------He also yells at me to ignore him and write now since I mentioned the Crayon's displeasure in my being distracted.
And to go to bed at a halfway decent hour (or to actually go to bed at ALL)...Which I don't do.
"3K a day keeps Chris Baty at bay!" ~MidWestPrincess
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Nov 5, 2009 - 11 35
I write best at night, and for some reason while I'm sitting in lectures (that I can easily slip in and out of without being lost in the material). As I don't get home from school until 10pm or later Monday-Wednesday, I am able to write fairly uninterrupted as by the time I do get home, the rest of the house is in bed and the dogs have settled in for the night.
When I sit down to write, I usually need to have some sort of background noise, which this year has consisted mostly of the television since for some reason I have yet to actually listen to my NaNo play list while writing. I've noticed that this year I've been doing the majority of my writing in the family room, where last year it was done mainly in either my bedroom or my mom's office where I could shut the door and not be bothered, so I suppose I'm branching out from needing the spot to get away in order to get stuff done.
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Nov 5, 2009 - 13 38
What writing conditions are most suitable for your writing style?
Do you need your own area, etc?
I think my prime writing time happens to fall right smack-dab in the middle of the day. Problem is I'm at work during this time of the day and can't take advantage of the urge to write. I've tried writing at lunch, but that doesn't always work out. I find I tend to need my hands when shoveling food into my mouth. So, by necessity, I'm stuck with nights and weekends. Nights and weekends that are typically filled with Mommy duties. Not ideal, but you've got to work with what you have, right?
Now, when I do happen to find - well, make - the time to write, I can pretty much write anywhere. I'm most productive, of course, when no one is saying "Mom". Luckily, the hubby is pretty good about giving me my space when I go into writer mode.
----------Krista
http://krista225.blogspot.com/