I’m getting old. And one could argue that 34 years old isn’t that old, but physically I can feel it. Because of that I NEED and MUST be kinder to my body when I am writing at my desk.
Because I will sit for hours and not take breaks or stretch. When I am in the zone with writing, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS! Which isn’t good, because I am not taking care of my physical body.
So, I need to get into the habit of doing writing sprints and taking breaks when it is needed.
My kinda forum topic I am physically disabled along with ADHD so sitting down on my PC for long stretches is pretty bad for me, but it’s easy for me to fall into because actually getting up hurts, and the PC has ALL THE DISTRACTIONS. I’ve been writing exclusively in writing sprints for probably 15 years, possibly longer, actually. They’re a really good way to actually motivate yourself to write as well as put hard limits on how long you write for.
I like to do 10 minute sprints. That’s how long my motivation/attention lasts, and that’s how long I can type without stopping before my wrists start to give up. Even a 2 minute break between those sprints prevents pain for me.
A few things that might help you, if you want to have more structure to your writing time:
Sprints with others. You can do this on Discord if you have Discord, or you can make an account on OhWrite. It has a chat, sure, but I don’t use it. You can set the timer to whatever you like and see how many words others get. This is really good if you’re like me and motivated by competition. Do a sprint, get up, go back. I like to do ‘marathons’ with myself where I say I want to do an hour of writing, but split it up into 10 min chunks. 10 minutes writing, 5 minutes doing other work or making a drink, 10 minutes writing, rinse and repeat.
Word crawls. Not technically sprints but most crawls are done in increments, so they count. I set myself up a self-care crawl a few years ago, and you can make one for yourself, too! It is easy to make them, or you can use other peoples. Simply “write for 10 minutes, now do these 2 stretches and take a drink, now write 500 words, now walk down the hallway and back, now pick a song and write for the duration” is enough.
Sprints alone. I mentioned my methods above, and you can do crawls/sprints alone. Simply set a timer. I like to use Spirit City (a cheap game on Steam) and set the timer up to do 10 min writing, 5 min break, 10 min writing, 5 min break. Any old timer works fine.
Word count based goals, instead of timers. Scrivener is really motivating for me because it has a word count target feature. Once it goes green, I know I can stop for the day/session, and it helps me write more during sprints because in my head, I have a word count I want to get to. You don’t need to use Scrivener for this, just think of a number. If you get distracted, lock your PC down with Cold Turkey Micromanager… or go super hardcore mode and use Cold Turkey Writer.
Speaking of, one of my favorite parts of the NaNoWriMo forums was a solo sprints thread. Just people racing against one another except alone. For example, the thread would be “10 minute solo sprints”. The first comment would be how many words person A got in 10 minutes. The second would be how many person B got in 10 minutes, so on. It didn’t reply on everyone being available at the same time, which was nice. Maybe we need to set one of those threads up here
Most of my writing is done exclusively in sprints. I tend to set timers for say half an hour to an hour, and then get up once that’s over and I’m at a point where the scene is at a rounded point in my story. I tend to take a break after 30 mins for at least 5 mintues, go for a walk, and then come back to working.
I have no choice but to do sprints, because I am dealing with lower back pain and it’s hindering my ability to get comfortable sitting or laying down or standing.
By strange coincidence I’ve been working my way through Abbie Emmons’ playlists lately. Most of them are two hour writing sessions with five minute breaks after every 25 minutes of writing. Plenty of other writers on YouTube have similar playlists, I’m sure, but I haven’t done a deep dive yet. You might want to check them out! ( ˆ◡ˆ)۶ ٩(˘◡˘ )
you could figure out a way to diy one
when you are sitting writing is all the time spent physically writing or do you do other things like research, think about your story, try to figure it out, look for inspiration, etc etc?
there are apps/ extensions you can add to your computer/ web browser for free - that make so you are only stuck on one page like can’t go to other apps/ web pages/ or blocking it- so if those help you; you could use those.
like when you want to cliick out of your word document you have to click other things when you notice that get up
idk if that works for you.
or while you are writing put a stop watch as soon as you start doing something else, stop, or can’t mark it down.
then put a timer for that to determine sprints. and then after each sprint you get up and walk around until you feel urge to write again and repeat
Ah. That’s unfortunate, but taking frequent breaks can be helpful. Perhaps it might also be helpful to take walks when plotting? A lot of my best ideas come when going on walks, so I have a folder in my phone notes set for these that is synced to my laptop.
Try writing for fifteen or twenty minutes to start. Take a five or ten minutes break to stretch, use the bathroom, walk around, etc … Then repeat the process. You can go for longer writing time, but I don’t go longer than thirty minutes.
I am physically disabled along with ADHD so sitting down on my PC for long stretches is pretty bad for me, but it’s easy for me to fall into because actually getting up hurts, and the PC has ALL THE DISTRACTIONS. I’ve been writing exclusively in writing sprints for probably 15 years, possibly longer, actually. They’re a really good way to actually motivate yourself to write as well as put hard limits on how long you write for.