Writing Every Day vs. Binge Writing

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• I think I'm a little of both. I learned a lot from participating in NaNoWriMo and writing novels in 30 days and generally I do write most days. Sometimes I don't though. Dry periods of listening to the critic that says, Your can't write, your story stinks and in fact you stink Misty." I sit around feeling sorry for myself but then I go out and live in the world a bit. Next thing you know I'm itching to write it all down. Can't keep it locked up. I guess I go mad without writing and really I feel most alive when I'm connected to the " creative pen.";)

  • I love to wait until I feel like I'm going to explode unless I write and then I get it all out at once!

• Some comments from twitter
  @thedum "I set deadlines and the bingewrite as time runs out! sometimes I write every other day"

  @Kennecto "I like writing a little every day."

  @NakiaRL "I'm a binge writer. Hangs head low in shame. I get in this weird zone and eat all the words!"

  @FaruKazi "I was trying to write everyday but does not happen if the schedule goes for a toss, when the mood is bad, etc."

  @JamesStratford "If you're on roll, keep rolling. If not, keep the pen working somehow. Discipline and creativity can be great friends!"

• Great article, Joanna.

  Great timing too. Just this last week I've been pondering this very dilemma and trying to figure out what approach works best for me.

  I came across an article recently that, although geared towards academic writing, suggested an approach that I thought I'd try this week for my creative writing.

  Basically, the article suggests you write for 90 minutes a day, no matter how busy you are. If some days get really crazy, promise yourself to write for AT LEAST 15 minutes on those days.

  Here's the article: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/pages/cstudents/dean/break-writing/break-1.html

  Of course, 90 minutes seems like a lot of time to try and squeeze in between other things on a day-to-day basis, so I've combined it with that other classic approach - getting up extra early every morning (eeepp!).

  So now I get up extra early, jump straight out of bed and hit the keyboard. No breakfast. No shower. No exercise. No internet. No distractions. Just 90 minutes of writing first, then I can start my day properly, with the satisfaction that I've already achieved something worthwhile before most people start their workday.

  That's the theory anyway...

  Of course, it's still early days. I might still end up resorting to binge writing, but there's something about writing every day that is very satisfying and makes me really want to give it a solid go.

  • Thanks Adam. I definitely spend at least an hour a day writing but on blog posts or other things. I guess I mean creative writing re a book or other large project. The 90 minutes idea is a good one though, and I use that during the binge phase - like you, I get up early and write BEFORE email! Thanks.

• Hi Joanna,

  Thanks for a great article - it made me feel 'normal'. I am definitely a binge writer. I write on my blog most days but my novel is definitely a 'binge' project.
  I'll write regularly for a few days and then take a break until I know that I just have to sit down and let it all spill out.
  Thanks for providing so much inspiration
  Cheers, Fi

• Hi Joanna --

  Thanks for the mention!
  I was a binge writer for years, and found it very satisfying during the binges and the anticipation. However, as the years rolled by I found myself increasingly frustrated by two things:
  1) When the binge came to an end, or I hit a block, that was it. I was screwed until I could muster up another binge.
  2) After a binge, I would find myself exhausted--happily so--and creatively tapped out.

  These two things coupled together meant that I spent more and more time frustrated by the feeling that I was at the mercy of my muse, that my output was comparatively small when measured against the level I was working at and the number of years I'd been writing, and that I simply wasn't producing at a rate that I would be able to make a living on.

  This dissatisfaction grew for a number of years--like you, I found daily writing to be a grind, and somewhat oppressive, and less joyful.

  Last year, I was trying like hell to shake me loose from the worst part of binge writing: success. I'd put out two very popular podcast books, and I was completely blocked up with anxiety that I wouldn't be able to repeat the performance. Try though I might, I simply could not summon my talent to do the sequel to Predestination, and I had an impatient audience writing increasingly irritated emails wanting to know when the next story would be available.

  I had to do something. I decided to work on a nonfiction book and a short story--low demand projects that would hopefully shake me loose.

  They did shake me loose. I wrote two full books in five weeks, followed it up with two short stories, and decided that, no matter what, I would *not* stop the binge. I started writing every day, on purpose, at least 1,000 words with an eye towards pushing to 5,000/day.

  Seven months on, I'm at 3k/day, give or take the occasional day off and/or difficult day when I only squeeze out 1,000. I've written more than a third of my lifetime word count in the past seven months, and I'm poised to finish my fourth and fifth books written in that time.

  I discovered that, after I got used to the discipline, the daily writing regimen is FAR more fulfilling than the binge work I did before--and the quality of the storytelling is better.

  Assuming I can simply maintain my discipline for my current level of productivity, I should finish a further eight books (all already underway at some stage of development and/or writing) by a year from now. Even if I slow down a bit, I'll still be MILES ahead of where I'd have been had I continued on the binge route, both in output and in craft.

  For what it's worth
  -Dan Sawyer

  • Hi Dan, thanks for your inspiration! You're a writing legend!
    I would ask a follow-up question though - were you working a day job while doing 3000-5000 words per day?
    I spend time on my blog before work and also in the evenings but I find I can't be "creative" with fiction on those days unless I get up very early before I put on my "day job head". I need to leave the fiction until I can separate myself from the world of IT and immerse in story. So did you manage both, or is your prolific word count because you're a pro now?

    • Joanna --

      I've been self-employed for about ten years now, though when I was working a day job I found it easier to write a little every day because of the externally imposed structure (after I started the first of my companies, I actually stopped writing fiction with any regularity for several years, because I couldn't justify the time/energy--once I started again, it was in binge mode).

      For myself, my prime productive periods during the day are late morning/early afternoon, and late night (11pm to 2am). I schedule my clients and client work and non-writing creative projects around those prime hours, so I can hit my natural rhythms best (and several days a week I have to sacrifice the early afternoon session).

      Generally, when I'm in a groove, I can drop betwwn 1k and 1500 wds/hr. When I'm just writing without any particular momentum or inspiration, I'll do around 800 in an hour. When I'm really grinding it out due to a mental or emotional block, I get maybe 2-300 words in an hour.

      Once I hit 2k words in a day, I consider my minimum met, and then (depending on what time I have left and what other demands I have that day) the rest is a contest to see how much extra I can get. This slowly has pushed my minimum/average up (from my original baseline of 1k--which, if I don't meet it now, I get really pissed about). So, a 2k day is acceptible, 3k is pretty good, 5k is great, 7500 is VERY satisfying, and 10-20k in a day (which I have only ever been able to do at the very end of a book, when all the pieces are in place and I'm mostly just transcribing) is VERY exceptional.

      One of these days, though, I want 5k to be the minimum, 10k to be a good day, and 20k to be the great day. I'm a fast enough typist to pull it off, and a fast enough thinker, it's just a matter of training myself up. Might take a few years, might only take one, but it's nice to have a goal to shoot for every day ;-)

      Oh! That last paragraph reminds me: there's one other set of things I've found very useful about shifting from binge writing to daily writing. Having that goal every day--it's a mini-deadline, and it's very useful for keeping the motivation up. I know that if I average 2k/day for a year, I've got between 6 and 10 novels for the year (depending on how I parcel the length), and 2k/day is increasingly easy as I keep meeting those daily deadlines. Since the most discouraging thing for me as a creative person is the feeling like I'm not getting anywhere, and the most discouraging thing as a freelancer is the doldrums that can come from a lack of structure, the 2k/day thing kills a whole flock of birds with what amounts to being just a teeny pebble.

      -Dan

      • You seriously are an inspiration. You and Dean Wesley Smith - prolific. That's definitely where I want to get to but I'm also focusing on building this blog as a business in the non-work time. So I am not going to try and pace with your writing quite yet! Thanks for the extensive comments and sharing!

• I'm definitely a binge writer. I go through stages of trying to force myself to write daily, but when I do I tend to write badly. What's to point of sitting in front of the computer everyday feeling uninspired. I like to go out and get some inspiration. Then when the mood strikes I start writing.

• I Love to binge write – those are truly the moments when you feel in the zone. Although, for me, I find if I don’t write at least a little each day, those “zone moments” start to decrease. I have struggled with the discipline of daily writing, yet it has helped me to find a consistent voice. I believe that I’m the type who needs this level of structure to get something accomplished. I admire those of you can binge write 5,000 words and then take time off! 

  • In reading all these comments, I'm wondering if I'm actually a phase writer. i.e. I'm in a non-fiction, useful content and product phase right now. Then I'll get back to fiction phase. I can drip feed non-fiction but need to binge fiction.

• Hi Joanna, interesting article. I'm a bit of both and I enjoy both. I have done nanowrimo three times which is my binge writing. It gets words on pages and forces me through all those mental barriers that keep popping up. The target of 50,000+ words in 30 days helps me to concentrate and its so satisfying knowing you can achieve that.
  The every day bit is where currently I am finishing and editing one of my nanowrimos by getting up at 0500 every work day and writing for an hour before alarm clocks start going off. I love writing so early in the morning because my mind is rested and there are no distractions. I go to bed at 1000 to catch up on the sleep though.

  • I'm a 5am writer as well. It helps being in Australia where the sun is up so early (Brisbane has no daylight savings!)
    I'm also a sleeper so I am usually in bed by 9pm. I have thought about trying to reduce my sleep but I work very intensely and I think my brain needs those hours to process!

• I'm a "write most days" writer. On a typical day, I'll write 800-1000 words. Big days for me are 2000+ words, but they're rare. No matter how you write, you shouldn't feel guilt or shame. The best method for you is what works for you.

  • No guilt or shame round here! This is a positive thinking blog!

• I'd say I'm a binge writer (I wrote 16000 words this past weekend, and probably won't "write" on the project again for a week). That being said, I don't view "writing" to be just be the process of sitting at the keyboard and pounding out the actual narrative prose. Doing the leg-work prior to the writing, blogging about things related to your writing, even just having discussions with people about those things, are all part of the process.

  Part of this steams that I view myself as a "storyteller" more than a "writer". So, yes, I might not put digital ink to digital paper every day, but I do think or act out in some way vis-a-vis my writing (steampunk at present, but I've tinkered in low and urban fantasy and sci-fi). As I see it, even reading about other people's writing kind of counts. It is all material that will digest and compost into your own writing (so long as you get around to it, be it in daily bites or binges).

  Long-short, though, I prefer to binge, although I could happily binge daily. I wrote a 100k word novel in 20 days once. It was glorious, although it burned me out for a few months after.

  • I think I would also like to binge daily for a prescribed period. I see a future where I don't have a day job and I write a novel or two a year in shorter phases of bingeing. Then I have traveling time to gather ideas, speak and also an online blogging business. Together that would form a balanced creative and productive life as well as a sound business model. watch this space!