when do you write?

I'm just getting back into a routine of writing. I find I write whenever I have time. Slow to wake up, I would prefer to write in the morning. But then again, evenings are good because there are no distractions.

What works for you? Whatever it is, keep doing it! It's the best way to stick with a particular project or to go back to writing after a time away, writing regularly!

I think it works by guilt. Writers, well me, anyway--feel guilty if we don't write regularly. I am writing every day now as I used to! I feel badly if a day goes by that I don't, even if I am unable to write, time-wise, I know I can write for a short period at least. No excuses. We're great at making excuses.

I've achieved the senior level of 'expert excuse maker.'

I don't wait for inspiration, I was advised by another writer many years ago to think of writing a work in progress as my job! I operated that way for years and wrote seven novels. I'm doing it again!

You will be inspired once you get a basic storyline and characters down. Characters, I always say give me my story/novel. They begin to live indepentently once that storyline is able to be visualised.
I know what I want to say, and I especially know how it's going to end. That is supremely important to me. I see the end in my head almost as a film.

I believe we put ourselves in everything we write, bits of ourselves. Our fears, hopes, aspirations. In my current wip, I am doing that in depth because the storyline is based on my own experiences.

I am certain that, that is what is meant by 'write what you know.'

In reading Stephen King novels, I have felt I knew what part of King's life he was writing about. His children, his fears for their safety, his own views of what follows death--plus his life experiences through the years. I always felt closer to him, as if I had gotten to know him.

That I feel is a gift from the author to all of us. It's giving us realism and what is better than truth in writing?

Back soon, with some more thoughts on writing!