Roberto Llamas asked Stephen M. Holak:

What are your habits as a writer?

Stephen M. Holak I'll answer this on two levels: strategic and tactical.

But first, my Golden Rule: "Don't edit yourself as you write. Let it flow and revise later. The later, the better." The creative and editor sides of your thought processes are different and conflicting. You can't do both at once productively.

On a strategic level (starting a new project), I pretty much follow the "Snowflake Method" (Google for it) to write out the book's blurb, three-act structure, and scenes. I outline this structure in a tool called Scrivener and do my first scene drafts there, allowing myself to wander if the story and characters change as I go along. I also write out character sketches and backgrounds before I begin. I export to Word after that first draft and do subsequent drafts there until I think it's ready for my editor. Then my editor returns each chapter to me one-by-one and I revise and send it back until we agree it's done.

On a tactical (daily level), I set a goal of 5-15,000 words a week, depending on other life activities, and daily goals of 500 to 2,000 words, track the word count in Scrivener, and write in bursts throughout the day until I reach or exceed the goal. If I'm on a roll, of course I keep going. (I don't bother with word count stuff when I'm in the editing phase; I just keep plogging along.)

I run for fun and fitness; I try to use the running time to brainstorm deeper details of a scene, dialog between characters, or plot twists and storylines to move a scene from ordinary to better. Lots of good stuff come from that.

I make a point to read as much as I can whenever I can, and if a book really works for me try to take it apart and analyse why. All good writers are big readers as well.

Hope that answers your question. Feel free to follow up or ask another.

Thanks for your interest.

Regards
Steve

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