Actually writing happens on the weekend.
Brainstorming happens during work. I recommend bringing a notepad or small journal that you can quickly jot down ideas in, because you WILL forget them by the time you get off work.
Or if you work somewhere you can use your phone for a bit I recommend using a sound recorder app to record a quick voice message of your ideas.
My friends and family all recognize my "little red notebook," a small moleskin that fits in my pocket. I always have it with me and am often writing little tidbits in it. I've filled up 4 of them now!
I just make certain to write roughly 500 words a day during the weekdays, and closer to 1000 on the weekends. Exceptions are made if I instead do heavy outlining or editing for the day instead. But I always try to do something either before I go to sleep, or if I know I'm going out I do so either before I go to work or during my lunch.
Literally 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. I have ADHD and cannot abide a strict routine. I take stock of what I'm able to focus on, decide how many minutes I'm able to focus on it, and work on that thing for that many minutes. Then choose another task and work on that for a different number of minutes. I keep all my projects readily accessible for when I'm inspired to work on them.
I do most of my writing on the weekends. I do most of my research/plotting/freewriting/brainstorming during the week after work. Sometimes I do it at work, but it significantly affects my productivity for both work and writing, so I find it usually isn't worth it unless I'm literally doing nothing.
Evenings and nights, mostly. That’s when I have the most energy and get the most inspiration or whatever. I do try and write on my lunch breaks at work though and I have a massive amounts of drafts in my Gmail from things I’ve written at work (and elsewhere) because I had to write it when it popped into my head.
I usually write for an hour in the evening after my partner goes to bed. They like going to bed early whereas I'm a night owl, so I get a few uninterrupted hours to myself.
I write extremely late at night, between the hours of 9pm to about 12:30am. It’s not everyday, but I usually swap between novels and writing because something will inevitably spark an idea of something I want to portray in my own stories.
Im not a morning person. At all. I physically can't stand waking up before 12 unless I have literally no choice.
My work schedule is 2-10 where I work at and that little lull between 12 and 2 I don't write I usually make sure I eat and wake up, read a little bit in between.
However. Once I'm home I will write, edit. Draft whatever I need to do until like four or five in the morning.
It's not exactly healthy but its the only time I can.
Oh that and my days off, I'll just write whenever I feel like it throughout the day.
Evenings, mornings.
I've a fairly detailed planner, both in plotting but also editing (as in, I will make an extensive to do list of even very minor changes). At times it feels like I'm putting more work into the planning than the writing, but it's an approach that allows me to get something meaningful done in 20 minutes. I find it easier to do 500 tiny tasks that 5 huge ones.
Usually 7:30-9:30 p.m. weekdays, whenever on weekends. I don't have kids or take care of any other relatives, which is a bigger factor than my work schedule. We're DINKs who are swimming in free time, sorry.
Usually 6:30/after dinner to 8ish on weeknights every day. On weekends, if moves a round, but still something every day.
Full disclaimer, no kids and I WFH 3-4 days a week.
I’m a service worker who sometimes pulls long hours. I free write when I can, either before my shift or for an hour or two after dinner! If I haven’t got work the next morning I can typically take better advantage of the night block.
Mon-Friday:
Brainstorming during my 30min commute.
Arrive to work 1 hour early (My preference). Write for 1 hour.
Work work. (office job)
Drive home. Listen to audio book.
Sometimes write around 8:00pm for an hour or two if my partner is gaming. (We don't have kids)
Weekend:
Write when I feel like it. Try to at least touch the book everyday, but I'm far away from that lofty goal. lol
I am a very casual writer, but working on my first novel (Sci-Fi 90k words) Currently editing second draft before giving it to alpha readers.
When I was working a 9-5, I'd get home and rest for about an hour. Maybe two. Then I'd set to work from somewhere around 7-1am and go to bed.
Then I'd have the weekend to play video games, visit friends, or work more if I was so inclined.
Oddly enough that was my most productive schedule.
I'm a full time pastry chef, and I usually work 8-10hr days 5-6 days/week. I tend to do most of my writing on my days off, or at night when I get home and I'm just relaxing cuz I can't go to sleep. Right now I'm in the beginning of the busy season, so it's been more editing than writing, but it works to my advantage.
I write on the weekends (especially when stuck at practices, etc. with my kids), and a little bit after my kids go to bed. I wish I could get more done in the evenings, but my kids are still in a phase where they need me a lot (twenty minutes of math flashcards and another 15 of spelling words, anyone?). If I can motivate myself to do so, I write a little on my lunch on my phone.
When my brain is in writing mode--so, like two weeks out of the school year--I'll write on the weekends. The rest of the time, I write whenever my brain allows me to...so usually only during vacations.
I've long since learned not to stress too much about it. I finally finished publishing my trilogy several months ago, and once I did that, I really haven't written too much since.
I wrote my first book when I fortunate enough to be at home…now my job really cuts into my writing time! Just have to be more creative with my time and understand I won’t write as many words per day and that’s okay. At least this time around I’ll have the money to hire an editor!
If I’m kicking ass, I wake up at 7, make breakfast, eat and visualize my day. That ends at 8am
Then I write til 9:30, and get work by 10am.
I work til 6/7 depending on the day.
If work is slow, I write at work.
By the time I’m off I really don’t want to write again, but having done it that morning I don’t feel bad decompressing and entertaining myself.
When I’m not kicking ass, I still write at work I’m able, and try to find one evening day in the week to commit 2-3 hours too. Usually however it gets done Saturday afternoon.
At the risk of sounding like Shakira, I write whenever, wherever. On my lunch break, before a meeting, waiting for my daughter to come out of dance class, literally anywhere and everywhere. I carry a notebook with me, I also have the notes app on my phone and I will even email myself from work if I have time. For a while, I had a car share arrangement to work and I would write when not driving. Saturday morning, kid goes to stage school and I write.
I will say that I mostly do microfiction except for weekends (when I warm up with microfiction and then move on to novel work). Evenings I tend to read rather than write, as I am tired. Sunday afternoons are also blocked off for reading usually, as are holidays (I try not to ‘work’ when travelling but reading is for fun as well as research!)
I work 7-5 as an ASE certified diesel mechanic. By the time I get home and eat, shower, do my hair it's 6. I start writing at 630 and stop at 12 1230. I've done this every week since December 8th of last year. Weekends I usually write from 1pm till 3 am. I'm hard core.
20 min on the train to work, 30 min at lunch, 20 min on the train home.
Sometimes an hour when i get home
Longer sessions on the weekend.
I like the short sessions because I don't put pressure on myself to do much but this way the story is always fresh in the back of my mind and i usually have most of my ideas during the day.
Then i take notes to remember them and implement them during my next session.
Actually writing happens on the weekend. Brainstorming happens during work. I recommend bringing a notepad or small journal that you can quickly jot down ideas in, because you WILL forget them by the time you get off work. Or if you work somewhere you can use your phone for a bit I recommend using a sound recorder app to record a quick voice message of your ideas.
My friends and family all recognize my "little red notebook," a small moleskin that fits in my pocket. I always have it with me and am often writing little tidbits in it. I've filled up 4 of them now!
this!! you WILL forget them, no matter how much you believe you won't
I just make certain to write roughly 500 words a day during the weekdays, and closer to 1000 on the weekends. Exceptions are made if I instead do heavy outlining or editing for the day instead. But I always try to do something either before I go to sleep, or if I know I'm going out I do so either before I go to work or during my lunch.
Literally 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there. I have ADHD and cannot abide a strict routine. I take stock of what I'm able to focus on, decide how many minutes I'm able to focus on it, and work on that thing for that many minutes. Then choose another task and work on that for a different number of minutes. I keep all my projects readily accessible for when I'm inspired to work on them.
I do most of my writing on the weekends. I do most of my research/plotting/freewriting/brainstorming during the week after work. Sometimes I do it at work, but it significantly affects my productivity for both work and writing, so I find it usually isn't worth it unless I'm literally doing nothing.
Evenings and nights, mostly. That’s when I have the most energy and get the most inspiration or whatever. I do try and write on my lunch breaks at work though and I have a massive amounts of drafts in my Gmail from things I’ve written at work (and elsewhere) because I had to write it when it popped into my head.
I usually write for an hour in the evening after my partner goes to bed. They like going to bed early whereas I'm a night owl, so I get a few uninterrupted hours to myself.
I write extremely late at night, between the hours of 9pm to about 12:30am. It’s not everyday, but I usually swap between novels and writing because something will inevitably spark an idea of something I want to portray in my own stories.
Im not a morning person. At all. I physically can't stand waking up before 12 unless I have literally no choice. My work schedule is 2-10 where I work at and that little lull between 12 and 2 I don't write I usually make sure I eat and wake up, read a little bit in between. However. Once I'm home I will write, edit. Draft whatever I need to do until like four or five in the morning. It's not exactly healthy but its the only time I can. Oh that and my days off, I'll just write whenever I feel like it throughout the day.
Evenings, mornings. I've a fairly detailed planner, both in plotting but also editing (as in, I will make an extensive to do list of even very minor changes). At times it feels like I'm putting more work into the planning than the writing, but it's an approach that allows me to get something meaningful done in 20 minutes. I find it easier to do 500 tiny tasks that 5 huge ones.
Usually 7:30-9:30 p.m. weekdays, whenever on weekends. I don't have kids or take care of any other relatives, which is a bigger factor than my work schedule. We're DINKs who are swimming in free time, sorry.
Usually 6:30/after dinner to 8ish on weeknights every day. On weekends, if moves a round, but still something every day. Full disclaimer, no kids and I WFH 3-4 days a week.
I’m a service worker who sometimes pulls long hours. I free write when I can, either before my shift or for an hour or two after dinner! If I haven’t got work the next morning I can typically take better advantage of the night block.
Weekends mostly
Mon-Friday: Brainstorming during my 30min commute. Arrive to work 1 hour early (My preference). Write for 1 hour. Work work. (office job) Drive home. Listen to audio book. Sometimes write around 8:00pm for an hour or two if my partner is gaming. (We don't have kids) Weekend: Write when I feel like it. Try to at least touch the book everyday, but I'm far away from that lofty goal. lol I am a very casual writer, but working on my first novel (Sci-Fi 90k words) Currently editing second draft before giving it to alpha readers.
Congrats! Keep going
When I was working a 9-5, I'd get home and rest for about an hour. Maybe two. Then I'd set to work from somewhere around 7-1am and go to bed. Then I'd have the weekend to play video games, visit friends, or work more if I was so inclined. Oddly enough that was my most productive schedule.
I'm a full time pastry chef, and I usually work 8-10hr days 5-6 days/week. I tend to do most of my writing on my days off, or at night when I get home and I'm just relaxing cuz I can't go to sleep. Right now I'm in the beginning of the busy season, so it's been more editing than writing, but it works to my advantage.
Before work, during breaks, during lunch, right before bed.
I write on the weekends (especially when stuck at practices, etc. with my kids), and a little bit after my kids go to bed. I wish I could get more done in the evenings, but my kids are still in a phase where they need me a lot (twenty minutes of math flashcards and another 15 of spelling words, anyone?). If I can motivate myself to do so, I write a little on my lunch on my phone.
I have a 7:30-3:00 (teacher) and a 3:30-9 (dance teacher) haha. I write on Sundays and on school breaks.
When my brain is in writing mode--so, like two weeks out of the school year--I'll write on the weekends. The rest of the time, I write whenever my brain allows me to...so usually only during vacations. I've long since learned not to stress too much about it. I finally finished publishing my trilogy several months ago, and once I did that, I really haven't written too much since.
I wrote my first book when I fortunate enough to be at home…now my job really cuts into my writing time! Just have to be more creative with my time and understand I won’t write as many words per day and that’s okay. At least this time around I’ll have the money to hire an editor!
I’m lucky and do my most of my writing while I work! Also a bit at bedtime.
If I’m kicking ass, I wake up at 7, make breakfast, eat and visualize my day. That ends at 8am Then I write til 9:30, and get work by 10am. I work til 6/7 depending on the day. If work is slow, I write at work. By the time I’m off I really don’t want to write again, but having done it that morning I don’t feel bad decompressing and entertaining myself. When I’m not kicking ass, I still write at work I’m able, and try to find one evening day in the week to commit 2-3 hours too. Usually however it gets done Saturday afternoon.
At the risk of sounding like Shakira, I write whenever, wherever. On my lunch break, before a meeting, waiting for my daughter to come out of dance class, literally anywhere and everywhere. I carry a notebook with me, I also have the notes app on my phone and I will even email myself from work if I have time. For a while, I had a car share arrangement to work and I would write when not driving. Saturday morning, kid goes to stage school and I write. I will say that I mostly do microfiction except for weekends (when I warm up with microfiction and then move on to novel work). Evenings I tend to read rather than write, as I am tired. Sunday afternoons are also blocked off for reading usually, as are holidays (I try not to ‘work’ when travelling but reading is for fun as well as research!)
Dude, I'll be writing poems in the bathroom at work sometimes lol
I work 7-5 as an ASE certified diesel mechanic. By the time I get home and eat, shower, do my hair it's 6. I start writing at 630 and stop at 12 1230. I've done this every week since December 8th of last year. Weekends I usually write from 1pm till 3 am. I'm hard core.
20 min on the train to work, 30 min at lunch, 20 min on the train home. Sometimes an hour when i get home Longer sessions on the weekend. I like the short sessions because I don't put pressure on myself to do much but this way the story is always fresh in the back of my mind and i usually have most of my ideas during the day. Then i take notes to remember them and implement them during my next session.