Elizabeth Heider
From my first days as a physics student - through my professional career, I've had a bizarrely demanding study and work schedule. As a consequence, I haven't ever been able to plan my writing time in a formal way. Instead, I've been a desperate writer, putting writing into the cracks and margins of my life. For me, writing has always been an escape from the things I'm supposed to be doing; a delicious, illicit diversion. The idea of "scheduling" writing sessions never occurred to me until I started learning about the habits of Stephen King, Ursula Le Guin, and Neil Gaiman. Each of these writers (and many more) has/had a very specific way of scheduling their writing day. Such writers report that this structure can be a doorway to freedom and creation. This was something I'd never considered. The advantage of scheduling your writing is that you train your brain to expect to be in a creative mode - so that it's prepared to do this at a certain time every day. I think I miss this opportunity.
On the other hand, I'm a very spontaneous person who (as a general rule) hates routine. I dislike it when any two days look the same. So, I doubt that my character would easily yield to routine scheduling. One advantage of the way that I write (taking any time I can steal) is that I haven't ever experienced writer's block in the way other people describe it. I think this is because writing is my escape and my therapy, so I'm always seeking it out and never trying to avoid it.
Of course, I'm not so foolish to think that my peculiar relationship with writing would persist if my life circumstances changed.
I dream about a time when writing is all that I do: when I can just travel, think, and write. But what happens when writing stops being the thing I'm using to procrastinate other things, and becomes the thing I procrastinate? I shudder to consider it! This is why I'm trying out different writing habits that are more routine and less "whenever you can grab a spare second." I'm considering what it might mean to have an actual writing schedule.
On the other hand, I'm a very spontaneous person who (as a general rule) hates routine. I dislike it when any two days look the same. So, I doubt that my character would easily yield to routine scheduling. One advantage of the way that I write (taking any time I can steal) is that I haven't ever experienced writer's block in the way other people describe it. I think this is because writing is my escape and my therapy, so I'm always seeking it out and never trying to avoid it.
Of course, I'm not so foolish to think that my peculiar relationship with writing would persist if my life circumstances changed.
I dream about a time when writing is all that I do: when I can just travel, think, and write. But what happens when writing stops being the thing I'm using to procrastinate other things, and becomes the thing I procrastinate? I shudder to consider it! This is why I'm trying out different writing habits that are more routine and less "whenever you can grab a spare second." I'm considering what it might mean to have an actual writing schedule.
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