For inspiration, I've been listening to conference workshops and reading writing/revising books. I found a couple references to stealing bits of time out of your day to write and writing the first draft in one fast gulp.Stephanie Bond said her books are written 15 minutes at a time. She has a friend who writes six pages in an hour and then spends the rest of the day doing other writerly tasks. Julia Cameron talks about not waiting for big chunks of time to start writing because you can forever figure out an excuse not to write.
It's very rare that I sit down to the computer for more than an hour. I tend to write in short spurts of twenty to thirty minutes with breaks in between to do what needs doing. The breaks give me time to think where I'm heading next and formulate where the next two to five hundred words will take my characters.
I've taught myself to write fast. At the beginning of the book I'm working on now, I wrote 2000 words in 2 hours. That doesn't usually happen during the middle or end of the book, when I'm struggling through the plot or trying to wrap up the conflict/loose ends.
Since NaNo, I've discovered I can get a book written in 30 or so days if I don't reread what I've done or go back to fix things that change as I discover where the book is heading. I make notes and keep moving forward to the end. It's allowed me to write 3 first drafts in 3 months. Granted, they're full of messy, ugly writing, but I feel a great deal of accomplishment knowing they sit like unformed clay on my hard drive.
I like writing first thing in the morning, but that's not always possible. If I write soon after rising, I accumulate more word count at a faster pace and in a bigger lump of time. Otherwise, I snatch minutes here and there throughout the day. When crunch time comes and it's eight o'clock, however, it's amazing how much I can pound out before bedtime.
What's your process? Hours of writing or minutes? Do you write a fast first draft and then edit or edit as you go? Have you ever tried another way?
