Life And Other Things

It's been nearly a week since I last blogged! That would have to be the second biggest break in my routine since I started this.

About a month ago, I came down with a flu virus--well, about six weeks ago, it invaded my home and family which is where it really all started. Anyway, about a month ago, I came down with it and still have the last vestiges of it but I can now function pretty much normally. Unfortunately, it's been one case of illness after another with my wife being the recipient of the worst of it.

The net result has been very little work over the last week in any form. I haven't been to my day job apart from a couple of hours Monday morning, and I haven't written anything. I haven't been on the computer or picked up a book.

I apologise to anyone I haven't answered emails from, I'm getting to them. I apologise to my lecturers for letting my good start to the semester lapse, I'm getting back on track with that as well.

I'm working with a couple of members of AHWA in a little project and the question of just what do you write came up. Not what genre or even what length, but how much do you produce in a month.

I'd be lucky to write 1 short story a month but when averaged out over the year, it's probably closer to two every three months resulting in eight max for the year. Now this is to a standard that's pretty good - marketable even. I may write twice that many shorts but not all of them see the light of day. I also have lots of other things going on.

I write for my assignments - usually the equivalent of two shorts a month.

I write my book - usually the same as a short or two a month.

Life. Remember that thing you do when you're not banging away at the keyboard.

I was always of the opinion that I still didn't do enough, but it seems I'm just impatient. I need to slow down and take more quality time with my writing. Compared with others, I do a lot already. I'd like to know how much you write. I know of people who've had heaps published this year, and if it was all written since January, they'd be hitting almost one short a month--every month--and managing to sell them too! Bloody awesome display, but is that normal or just a burst of inspiration?

So how much do you write and what is it? Shorts, chapters, assignments, poetry...

Are you of the school where a writer must sit down and write a set amount each day? Do you include how much you blog or journal in that word count? Should you?

Writing is hard work, but many writers don't know what to expect from it. Do they, or should they, produce a story a week, a month, three times a year??

What is a normal output? Normal is different for everyone, but id enough people comment with their own results, maybe we can find a trend.

So what do you do?