any help from you experienced writers?

first a bit of background:

*i'm 26.
*my passion since i was seven has been playing the drums.
*for the first time since then i want to do something new - write.
*i've been a journal-er on and off since i was thirteen.
*i like reading.
*english was the one subject in high school and college that made the most sense and that i performed the best in. i liked writing essays, short stories, book reviews, anything.

here's the thing. there's a million "how-to's," writing classes, this and that, etc., etc., but instead i've been studying the thoughts of some of my favorite writers on how to write (anne lamott, stephen king, hemingway, to name a few). here's what i've compiled and what makes the most sense to me:

*write a lot. don't edit, don't fix, don't analyze till later. just write.
*find a consistent time/place to write to train your creative juices to come out.
*read a lot of literature OTHER than your own material.

i guess what i'm hoping for with this post is not necessarily "how-to's," but for those of you who write a lot to share your habits. if you wouldn't mind answering any or all of the following questions, or coming up with your own thoughts, i'd really appreciate it.

*how much time do you usually spend writing each day?
*do you think journaling counts as "real writing," since you're still practicing getting your thoughts out, or is writing for a potential audience the most effective way to write well?
*do you compartmentalize when you write and spend different parts of a day writing different types of things (fiction in the morning, journaling later in the day, etc.), or do you pick a time each day to write and work on whatever you feel like for that particular day?
*do you structure a particular story, fiction or non-, like an essay where it's planned out ahead of time, or do you just work on pieces at a time and make it flow as you go?
*pen and paper, typewriter, or computer?

i know this is a long post. with drumming i always learned from listening to other drummers, reading as much as i could about what my favorites did to get good, and occasionally took instruction, though never in a formal setting. that's just how i work. so far i've been the same way with writing. i've been told that i'm ok so far, but i want to get really good. to me, sharing ideas about a particular craft with others is one of the best ways to learn. thanks ahead of time for any thoughts you guys and gals might have to share.

Hi Roger,
I don't quite count as an actual writer of quality... but I'm gonna keep this thread alive and see what input we get. I'll tell you my thoughts

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*how much time do you usually spend writing each day?

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Don't force yourself to write for time, but pick a topic and write about it...how did you make your coffee this morning. You can do basic things and then enhance it or work on the specifics right off the bat. The more you get your specifics down, the more you develop your style.

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*do you think journaling counts as "real writing," since you're still practicing getting your thoughts out, or is writing for a potential audience the most effective way to write well?

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I don't think journals count unless it is a dedicated writing journal and not a day to day. Kurt Vonnegut suggests that you figure out who you are trying to please (he says it is one person that you seek approval from)...your audience when writing, it will set guidelines in your mind.

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*do you compartmentalize when you write and spend different parts of a day writing different types of things (fiction in the morning, journaling later in the day, etc.), or do you pick a time each day to write and work on whatever you feel like for that particular day?

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I write when inspired. I think that if you do compartmentalize, you must keep all of your writings safe.

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*do you structure a particular story, fiction or non-, like an essay where it's planned out ahead of time, or do you just work on pieces at a time and make it flow as you go?

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I will pass since I haven't written many stories.

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*pen and paper, typewriter, or computer?

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pen and paper

Not much help I know, but good luck.

thanks b-mental. i appreciate the input. i realize there are no "right and wrongs" to the whole process, really. stephen king says that "the only things that can teach writing are reading, writing and the semi-domestication of one's muse." simple enough. i'm just so new to thinking in terms of writing for others that i'm trying to figure out what other people do in the hopes of finding what works best for me. really, thank you for the input.

These are good questions that I'd like to see get a few more answers from vets. I'm one of the those people who ask a lot of questions and get anal about things and writing from my current experience is very "go on your own". I hate that aspect about it, especially when you're starting out. :(

I'm a noob and I do know that I try to spend at least an hour freewriting, just to get used to translating what goes on in my mind to paper. I could always have so many cool ideas and lines, but when I grabbed the paper/laptop I drew up a blank and get depressed because I felt I failed and wouldn't make a good writer.

I was really wonder if I should just freewrite whenever I can and hope I get good out of repetition or do the focusing on a specific area during the day like you asked about.

Have confidence. And like you said just write.

Do your best and finish. Hemingway said that.

Read the prologue of my story, the rest of it I wrote in hopes a women might like. It might mellow you out a little. Because like I said you seem worried, jsut get to work. Neil Thomas.

Whether or not I'm qualified to answer the above questions is iffy. It would be self-indulgent of me to enjoy my inferiority complex by saying my writing is crap when I know it isn't, but I also haven't finished anything of note. So I'll answer the questions anyway because I can, which is of course a lovely reason...

how much time do you usually spend writing each day?

I can't go a day without writing something. I suppose I spend at least thirty minutes writing every day, but that's only because I don't discipline myself enough to write for longer than the time it takes to get down only the sentences I absolutely need to put on paper.

do you think journaling counts as "real writing," since you're still practicing getting your thoughts out, or is writing for a potential audience the most effective way to write well?

Yes. It absolutely counts as real writing. I've taken many things from my journals and reworked them for fiction or op-eds.

do you compartmentalize when you write and spend different parts of a day writing different types of things (fiction in the morning, journaling later in the day, etc.), or do you pick a time each day to write and work on whatever you feel like for that particular day?

I don't pick a time of day. I just know I will end up writing every day no matter what, and when that time comes, I write whatever I feel like writing. "Whatever I feel like" is probably not the best way of going about it though.

do you structure a particular story, fiction or non-, like an essay where it's planned out ahead of time, or do you just work on pieces at a time and make it flow as you go?

I don't do the structure-before-writing thing very much. I've tried, and it sometimes works. It also sometimes doesn't work. It's more like I decide what truth I need to tell, and then I say whatever that truth needs said in order to illustrate it.

pen and paper, typewriter, or computer?

Pen and paper at times, computer more often. When I'm blocked for writing with the one, the other will always ease me into getting something interesting down.

When I wrote a novel recently I made myself sit at the computer every morning from nine o'clock until lunchtime at least. I made myself write at least 1000 words each day. Sometimes I wrote 2-3000 words in a day. You have to treat it like a job. Forget writer's block - just sit and write. if you're any good the words will come. All decent authors will tell you this. it's no great secret. Don't get hung up on it; if you can't perform in this way, try another job.

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Originally Posted by Neil Thomas

Have confidence. And like you said just write.

Do your best and finish. Hemingway said that.

Read the prologue of my story, the rest of it I wrote in hopes a women might like. It might mellow you out a little. Because like I said you seem worried, jsut get to work. Neil Thomas.

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thanks for the encouragement.

did you mean for the prologue to be a link?

i'll read your story later today, if my work schedule slows down a little. if not, then soon.

thanks for the thoughts everyone. very helpful.

I am not a professional writer, and am still in school, so i don't usually have a lot of time to write. But I do whenever I can. So:

I am pretty erratic about how much i write a day. If i start a story, i can spend two or three hours on it for a day or two, until it either finishes or peters out. If i'm writing an essay for school, I usually finish that also in one day of a few hours' work. When i was writing my book I would spend maybe two hours a day on it. But my schoolwork started suffering then.

I also do more stories than journalizing; but i think writing is writing, no matter if you do it for commercial purposes or not. If you are writing little disconnected phrases with no attention to how things sound, it isn't GOOD literature, but it's still writing.

If i have time, or get an idea, or just feel like it, i will start to write. I don't have any particular time of day to do so.

My stories and poems and such very rarely have a figured plot when they begin, but evolve on their own.

Lastly, always computer. I find it a lot faster. Plus, papers that go in my bag rarely live very long. :p