Do you write every day?

[DanielScocco]

Do you write every day?

I don't mean emails, memos or the like, but actual articles, blog posts, fiction and what not.

I think that this is one of the most important factors to improve your writing skills, yet many people fail to follow it.

That is one of the advantages of being a blogger. You end up getting used to write a lot, and daily.

[Alex]

I would love to, but I don't have the time, especially as I try to dedicate time to different hobbies and interests, mostly reading (on the train/bus), sudoku and other puzzles (I love them! Also on the train/bus), painting and drawing, model building and the gym.

Sometimes I send myself an email with thoughts and one or two short paragraphs, though.

I think I need to start my own blog. I do write a lot in a number of fora, and sometimes I write a bit in Facebook, bu not yet on a personal blog.

[SheilaE]

I write phrases, dialog, and titles for essays, poems, and short stories in my HEAD off and on through the day. I can't always stop what I'm doing and write them down which would create a vault of starting points for me later!

Many years ago I remember keeping a notepad and pen beside my bed for those late night poem and story ideas that came in the wee hours of the night. I actually wrote a verse for a song just before dawn.

I do have a blog but it is at the Cochlear Corp. community website. I blog a couple of times per month there.

SheilaE

[susabelle]

I write virtually every day. It is rare that I don't write something every day. I write professionally for two blogs, and I post on each of those 1-2 times a week. I post on my daily personal blog every day. I blog on my writing blog a couple times a week. And I try to write at least something in my current NIP (Novel in Progress) every day, but usually only manage about four times a week.

Agree, writing every day is uber-important. It helps set up the habit you'll need to get things accomplished.

[Al B]

I don't write every day, but I can certainly attest to the fact that it will improve your writing if you do so!

When I used to write for a daily paper - which I spent over ten years doing - I got more than my fill of writing, and it was a good thing too as far as improving went. But when I left that job, it was a while before I got back into it writing freelance stuff, and I was amazed how quickly you can get rusty on it upon resuming writing. Now I write every few days or so, and when not doing so, I'm often thinking about it, or working stuff out for some writing, which is equally useful. So I find that I can be away from it for a few days and not suffer any deterioration in ability. But if you are looking to improve, there's nothing like a few tight deadlines to make you improve, even if they are self-imposed deadlines.

Al

[Rio]

Yes, I make a point of writing every day, even if it's only for fifteen minutes. I'm sure you become a much better writer by doing this. I also find I peak quite early when I write, after around 15-20 minutes, so short bursts are good for me.

[Silke]

I always write. Every day, even if it's just by scribbling ideas on a piece of paper, or saving snippets someplace before I forget them.

I tend to write in my head, constantly. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone, but I listen and let my characters romp around in my head -- and write down what I "see" and "hear".
I percolate a story for a while, and the one that screams the loudest gets written. That doesn't mean I know where it's going, and often those snippets don't make it any further than a piece of paper in a folder... but it's there if I want to refer to it.

[firdous]

Do you write every day?

I don't mean emails, memos or the like, but actual articles, blog posts, fiction and what not.

I think that this is one of the most important factors to improve your writing skills, yet many people fail to follow it.

That is one of the advantages of being a blogger. You end up getting used to write a lot, and daily.
yes i wanna write daily. but since i havent written from so many days im not as confident as i used to be what should i do and where shall i write

[Al B]

I think Silke makes an important point here; that you can be writing 'in your head' a lot of the time, even if you are not actually sat with a pen in your hand, or at a keyboard. In fact, doing that is an important stage for a great many things that are written.

It's true that some novelists just sit down and hammer away with only a vague idea of where things are going, but far more actually plan things out and ponder what they are going to write whilst away from the keyboard for a long time before they actually get going. After all, sitting and working out your fictional character's back story, motivations, strengths and weaknesses is important if you want believable characters, and you can't really do that objectively whilst actually writing a story at the same time.

The same goes for a plot and a storyline, there's far less chance that you'll hit the cliche 'chapter five stumbling block' if all the pieces are in place when you begin actually typing, as all you have to do is worry about the grammatical structure, instead of devoting half your consciousness to thinking up what the hell is going to happen next.

Similarly,when it comes to writing factual pieces and articles, a good deal of time is spent researching before even a word goes on the page. All that is part of the process of writing too. I do know from when I used to do that daily for a job, that the hardest part was to get the first line. Once you had that, if you'd done enough research, the article would pretty much write itself, and you could hammer it out almost on autopilot very quickly indeed, which is critical when you have daily deadlines.

Often I would spend the weekend away from work whilst doing whatever it was I was doing, with ideas and notions for what I was going to write the following week bubbling away on the back burner. And that's still very much part of the way things I do nowadays, given that most of what I write these days is fictional.

Al

[Winter]

I try and write everyday even if it is only for fifteen or twenty minutes. When I first started writing again after a long bout of writer's block it took such a long time to get anything down on the page but I am now amazed at how much I can complete in a short amount of time.

[Ladyrt23]

I was born to be a blogger. Before blogging was an option, I wrote constantly in my journal as a kid. I post my private blogs on myspace and xanga. Writing is my therapy. It helps me to relieve the pressure of countless thoughts in my head. I've always considered myself to be the "pariah". I'd think beyond reach so it's hard to actually get advice from people that have no answer to your question. So yes, being a blogger is a step closer in helping you write a novel.

[MikeinPhilly]

Can you recommend a good "refresher" book (preferably a concise one) that explains terminology like "transitive," "intransitive," "participle," and other formal terms, and provides illustrations? I am in the situation of being a legal writer who applies correct rules of English (I think) but without having a complete academic understanding of them, and who either never truly learned or has long since forgotten the formal terminology and its correlated meanings. Thank you.

[Maeve]

Can you recommend a good "refresher" book (preferably a concise one) that explains terminology like "transitive," "intransitive," "participle," and other formal terms, and provides illustrations? I am in the situation of being a legal writer who applies correct rules of English (I think) but without having a complete academic understanding of them, and who either never truly learned or has long since forgotten the formal terminology and its correlated meanings. Thank you.

Funny you should ask! Today's post about the grammatical concept of active and passive voice includes examples of transitive and intransitive verbs. A more complete explanation can be found in the Grammar 101 Introduction to Verbs. (http://www.dailywritingtips.com/english-grammar-101-introduction-to-the-english-verb/)

Have you browsed the DailyWritingTips archives? Check out the Grammar 101 category. (http://www.dailywritingtips.com/category/grammar-101/)

These sources are not exhaustive, but they'll get you started.

If you don't already have a copy, you might want to get hold of Strunk and White's Elements of Style. An older edition of it is available on line.

Another online source you will find helpful, is the Purdue OWL writing lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/). It may be more than you want.

Just give us a holler any time you have a specific question of grammar or usage.

And if I may include a plug for myself, I've written a “Bottom-line” composition guide for people who want to write reasonably correct English by mastering a minimum of formal grammar, but I haven't done anything so far about trying to publish it. Maybe I should just do it as an ebook. What do you think?

[MikeinPhilly]

Thank you, and yes, publish that guide!

[MeghnaK]

I try to write almost daily. Sometimes it becomes impossible due to some reasons. Still I try to maintain a rhythm and try to write at least for about 5 minutes, so as not to forgo the habit. I am of the view that every writer has to spend some time daily for any form of writing in a cool ambiance and preferably the first thing in the early morning hours at a quiet place.

[Falsafa]

Yeah, I write every day as well. Well, I try to, at least. I have to write at work, but that's a different thing.

[Ali]

I write virtually every day -- first thing in the morning before work, on weekdays. At the moment it tends to be blog posts (for my own blog, www.theofficediet.com as well as for www.diet-blog.com and, of course, www.dailywritingtips.com :-)) I tend to do research for blog posts in the evenings and at weekends.

As others have said, "writing" time often needs to include planning, editing, revision and so on: I wrote mostly fiction in 2007 and probably spent at least 2/3rds of my writing time on this sort of activity, not on writing completely new material.

I would strongly, strongly recommend getting into the daily (or almost-daily) writing habit, even if it's only fifteen minutes with a notebook and pen on the bus to work, or a quick entry in a personal journal last thing at night. I know from experience how easily a few missed days can become missed weeks and months...

Ali