Comments on: Not Writing

By: Georgia writers directory

Georgia writers directory — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:22:07 +0000

Georgia writers directory…

[...] Do you feel there is a bias against genre writers? If Die Hard and Brokeback Mountain were competing in the same writing competition it seems to me Brokeback would win every time. As a genre writer, are the odds even more against [...]…

By: Mike Brotherton

Mike Brotherton — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:36:07 +0000

Sounds like me, only I’ll take months off without writing (full-time astronomy faculty jobs can be draining, especially if you want to have a life, too). Once I start a project, keeping up the daily momentum is crucial, as one day off is rare for me and always grows to several.

By: glenda larke

glenda larke — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:47:57 +0000

Warning: age slows you down. Hit sixty, and 3,000 suddenly slowed to 1,500 words on a good day. Now no one warned me about that. Wrinkles, arthritic joints, grey hairs and stuff, yes – but no one mentioned that the Muse gets arthritic too and starts slowing up. Fortunately the cool ideas keep coming…it just takes longer to put them into words.

By: Nicole R Murphy

Nicole R Murphy — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:22:22 +0000

Glad to hear the comment about the well of creativity. I was having real trouble writing for a few years, because my job involved writing and creativity (I was a journalist) and I had nothing left at the end of the day. I started to think that I had no more ideas, but this year I’ve gotten a non-writing, non-creative job and what do you know, ideas are flowing again. I thought it wasn’t good that I had a finite amount of creativity, but you’ve made me feel so much better. Thanks

By: Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:40:19 +0000

I hadn’t noticed, but perhaps that’s because I’m really a pen name and no one told me. Actually, I think there might be a great surrealist story in that idea somewhere.

By: David B. Coe

David B. Coe — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:47:28 +0000

My pace is similar, Alis. 2000 words a day right now. But I know that I’m slower at the beginning of a book and much, much faster at the end. I liken it to doing a jigsaw puzzle: as more and more pieces are in place, putting the remaining ones in becomes easier.

Right now I’m in the Life-Getting-In-The-Way phase. Travel. Family vacation, family visits, camping. And then WorldCon. I’m not going to get much done over the next few weeks….

By: Alma Alexander

Alma Alexander — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:04:43 +0000

I’ve been known to write 4000, 5000 words in a day – on one memorable occasion 10 000 words (and they had to pry me off the computer with a crowbar) -but that was all first-draft, as Kate said. 2500/day for a first draft sounds doable.

(back to my current 2500 now. I have two chapters to finish before next tuesday because of various internal deadlines. I think i can I think I can I think I can….)

By: Jessica De Milo

Jessica De Milo — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:48:55 +0000

These are good thoughts. It’s nice to hear – kind of freeing in a way. Thanks!

By: Kate Elliott

Kate Elliott — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:33:44 +0000

Kelly, notice how we’ve never been seen in the same place at the same time???

John, the 2000-2500 count is about 8 – 10 pages a day. But (and this is a post for another day) that’s specifically for raw first draft, when I’m pushing to lay down the basic story. I do a LOT of revising, so those words are by no means polished or pretty.

Karen – it could be like the new Atkins Diet. Too bad it doesn’t work that way. 12,000 over three days is impressive.

By: Kelly McCullough

Kelly McCullough — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:11:03 +0000

Thanks for writing this, Kate. Now I don’t have to. You just described my process flow pretty much verbatim, right down to the daily word counts and consequences of same.