Are you a binge writer?
It’s still April! (Thank goodness because I swear I’m losing time. 0.0) But what I’m really trying to say is that it’s still Camp NaNoWriMo and there are tons of writers out there who are reaching their goals, still plowing away, and… then there’s me. -.-
If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed I didn’t post a Camp NaNo update post last week… Well, that’s because I didn’t write anything last week. That’s right. I’m owning up to my severe lack of achievement this April because that is the first step to recovery… or… something like that. 
The thing is… I know why I didn’t write anything last week. Well, there’s really a variety of reasons: started a new job, prepped some updates to a monthly blog event I co-host (Calendar Girls), family members wrangled me into the sunlight because it’s finally warm outside (I’m not kidding about this one. I’m pretty sure I hissed at the sun at least once last week. >.> ) But the real reason why I struggled so bad with getting any words down last week is because…
I’m a binge writer.
What’s a binge writer? It’s someone who may throw a couple (ten+) thousand words at a page in a matter of days, but doesn’t end up writing anything for days, weeks, or months after that. It’s someone who has super high word counts in short amounts of time that often make other writers jealous (12K in a day), but who struggles to keep writing day after day.
That is me.
I am a binge writer.
Frankly, I love it. If I have large chunks of time, all the muse in the world, and no distractions, I can literally sit and just bash out words for hours. I can write a good chunk of a book in a day and finish an entire novel in around a week. I can pump out a new draft for a novel in less than a month. I also secretly kind of like flaunting my excessive word counts, but that’s probably because I’m a Slytherin. ;p
Unfortunately, being a binge writer has its downfalls.
If I don’t have large amounts of time…
If I don’t have the right amount of muse…
If there is even the SLIGHTEST amount of noise
I’m S.O.L.
Totally screwed.
Destined for complete and utter failure.
In other words, sneaking in a couple hundred words in the morning/evening every day, does not work for me.
A couple hundred words is not a scene. If I can’t finish a scene, I can’t write. If I know I have to get up and go somewhere/do something in a few hours, I can’t write. And it sucks!
While I love my large word counts and my insane records, I fear that my writing style (aka how my brain is organized), may actually put me behind other writers who have trained themselves to write every day. I fear that by giving myself a few weeks/months off, I am putting off my dreams and my stories. And I worry it will keep me from achieving publication and sharing my stories with readers.
But I just don’t know.
I only know how I write. I can only see my daily word count in comparison to others and see that it doesn’t match or keep up if I’m not in the right state of mind. I hate feeling like I have a on/off switch that I have yet to find the access panel to. So, I’m curious…
Are you a binge writer or a day-to-day writer?
Did you train yourself to be one or the other? How?
What do you think the advantages/disadvantages are of each style?
Leave your thoughts below!
And check out my discussion from last week:
“Cover Reboots“
Melanie Noell Bernard 
Well I don’t think I am a binge writer. I am trying to think what sort of a writer I am 😛 I have been good in my essays in school but, it has been very much later that I took to writing/journaling as a form of therapy while going through depression. Its through that I started writing in my blog. A question from someone or some other factor makes my mind working and begin to fill up, then I get that need/urge to put it all out. This is where I write. Whatever has got collected until, “It drains off” and my mind is empty and free 🙂
To answer your questions: No I didn’t train myself other than writing in school, but writing does come down from the family. I used to write/journal daily in the past not now. I don’t know to tell the advantages or the disadvantages of any style 🙂
Personally what I think is like any other thing in life, if writing is one’s passion then one writes. Each one has his or her style of writing and its best done how it suits each person. I believe in freedom, to do the things you like to do, and to have that freedom to do what one likes ~ brings the best results. Best of Luck with your writing. Its very interesting to read what you write and to be able to answer back to most of them. One is able to lean from everyone ❤
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I’m definitely more prone to binge writing than not, but I binge verb a lot anyway (reading is another common one). I figure that it averages out eventually, and doing what works for you is more important than trying to fit yourself into a mold that’s wrong for you.
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I’m happy to find another binge writer out there, and I have heard a couple people say it probably all balances out in the end. I wonder if anyone has ever really looked into it. :p But thank you for the positivity! I will keep this in mind as I continue on through Camp NaNo and BEYOND! Hahaha! Best of luck to you, as well, and thank you for stopping by to comment! 😀
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I think the same thing about reading — I’ve seen so many people say that reading multiple books at a time is faster, but logistically speaking, I don’t think that’s necessarily true… I mean it’ll still take the same time to read the books individually. I would guess that writing is similar, whether you do it in spurts or all at once.
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Hmm. That’s probably true because we have higher word counts on the days we do actually write. 😜
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Just wanted to let you know, I nominated you for the Blogger Recognition Award (https://writet.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/blogger-recognition-award/)
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Thank you! 😀
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I think it’s important to accept yourself for who you are, and not compare and contrast yourself. Whatever works for you works.
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Hahaha! That’s a little hard to do when you can see how other people in your NaNo Cabin are doing compared to you. ;p
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