Jean Wilson Murray

How Much Daily Writing Time is Enough?

by Leave a Comment

How many hours a day should a writer work? What’s too much (or is there such a thing?) What’s too little?

On the one hand…Deep Work and Flow

I’m a big fan of the concept of Flow, a concept that features in the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (yes, I know that’s quite a name).  Flow is “optimal experience,” the time when you are most creative. It’s that time when you are so immersed in your work that time passes and you don’t realize it; it’s a time of deep involvement and enjoyment. For a quick overview of the concept of Flow, see the author’s TED talk.

A recent FastCompany article includes the concept of flow to show that an optimum number of hours of creative work should be about 5 hours a day. It’s about what Cal Newport calls deep work. Newport defines deep work as  “cognitively demanding activities that leverage our training to generate rare and valuable results, and that push our abilities to continually improve.”  Newport says we waste our creative time doing shallow work (like emails, blogging, etc.) when we should be doing deep work, to improve the value of our work, increase the volume, and create more satisfaction. He says skill trumps passion and the only way to get skilled is through deep work.

So, 5 hours a day?  Does that mean I’m not doing good work if I stop at 1000 words a day?

On the other hand…Write a Little a Day

Write a little every day, without hope, without despair.” (Karen Blixen/Isak Dinesen)

Stephen King (On Writing) tells fiction writers to aim for a target of 1,000 words a day, six days a week. Sounds good to me.

Leo Babauta at Zenhabits says that writing daily is life-changing. It clarifies your thinking, makes you a better writer, helps you break through writer’s block and come up with new ideas regularly.  encourages you to start small. Maybe that’s less than 1000 words. It doesn’t have to be 5 hours!

And Colin Nissan at McSweeney’s has an even better reason to write a little every day: It strengthens your writing muscles.

In conclusion – a balance

A little a day is what I can handle. 1000 words on one novel, some work on another. I have a life, even if I’m retired. But on some days, when I have time, I can set aside 5 hours or so and see what happens. Maybe a little a day PLUS some “deep work” days is the secret.

More on daily writing:  Daily Writing Tips

 

 

Write Less to Write Better

by Leave a Comment

Goodreads Quote of the Day for today:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet black bough.

Ezra Pound

October 30, 1885: Though Ezra Pound wrote some epic poems, he is also well known for the two-line work, In a Station of the Metro. In its first incarnation, the poem was 30 lines. Later, he reduced it to 15. Finally, a year later, he boiled it down to these 14 words.

___

I love the idea of taking a work from 30 lines down to 14 words. It shows attention to detail and cutting out the extraneous and unnecessary.

I had heard of this poem many years ago and I think of it occasionally when I’m in some public place and there are lots of umbrellas (petals) in evidence. Another reason to appreciate this poem, because it calls up an image.

In The Elegant Art of Writing Less, Leo Babauta lists 4 steps to writing less. And Jeff Goins lists weak words that you should try to eliminate.

One of the most effective techniques: Kill your Adjectives (from Mark Twain). Don’t say “really smart,” just say “smart.” Or, better yet, SDT (show don’t tell) this person’s intelligence.

One of my favorite quotes, again from Mark Twain:

“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

As I worked on this post, I found myself paying attention to how much I was writing and how I could shorten. So I’ll just quit by saying, “Write less to write better.”

Related articles

Why I’m Doing NaNoWriMo

by Leave a Comment

First, I should explain. NaNoWriMo is short for “National Novel Writing Month.” It’s a non-profit organization that has been around since 1999. They believe that stories matter and want to encourage writing. To date, over 250 NaNoWriMo authors have been traditionally published. (See the list of NaNoWriMo published authors here). Last year (2012), over 340,000 people all over the world participated. That’s a lot of potential novels!

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month
Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

So, why am I joining NaNoWriMo for the first time?

1. I need a kick in the butt. I finished the first draft of my novel They Also Serve (more about that someday) in late August and went to Ireland in September. Before I went, I was very disciplined about writing first thing every day, at least 1500-2000 words. Since I returned I lost that discipline. I need a kick to get it back.

2. Habits take 21 days to solidify. I got into the habit of daily writing easily and quickly. I got up every morning about 6 a.m., got my coffee, and sat down to write. I need to get back into that habit and 30 days in November should do it. Then, when I am done with NaNoWriMo at the end of November, I should have a good habit formed.

3. I am looking forward to the pep talks. Each year, NaNoWriMo asks published authors to give pep talks to participants. Everyone needs a pep talk to keep going, and this year should be good, with James Patterson and others to keep us motivated.

4. I’m wondering if I should join a writer’s group. Haven’t decided yet, but NaNoWriMo has some local groups and online groups I might decide to join. I would be most interested in a group focused on historical fiction or mystery writing. I figure I’ll wait and see who finishes the month with a novel. I’d rather work with and discuss with people who are disciplined.

3. I also think stories matter. I want to support NaNoWriMo, in more ways than just writing. My current novel and future novels will all have a theme of storytelling. Not just books, but oral stories and other ways to share common feelings and ideas.

Interested in writing a novel? Are you willing to commit to commit to starting or working on a novel in November? NaNoWriMo might be a way to get started. And even if you don’t get a full novel done, at least you will have attained some level of discipline. Like me. I’m determined.

Related articles