How many hours in a week do you allocate to writing?
Do you write more on week days or at weekends?
I allocate the whole weekend to writing, and about 2-3 hours each week day evening. When I am not editing, I write about thirty hours a week.
I have read blogs where agents have asked the same question. I can only surmise that the time an author spends writing is an important factor when an agent decides whether to represent an author. I believe a dedicated productive author has a better chance of hooking an agent, providing they are recognised as a talented writer.
Depends what you mean by writing... Some days I can't write. I just can't. The mental and imaginative faculties are not there, and not in gear. If I do write anything on those days, I delete it when I've finished. Other days I can't type fast enough, and woe betide anyone who tries to interrupt.
I often spend days (literally, days) working on plot, and never put pen to paper. I go into a sort of Sherlockian 'mind palace' and think of where characters are heading, what would happen if this happened, how X affects Y. If you consider that 'writing', then I do that every day.
Days where I can produce worthwhile, effective words on paper, are surprisingly few and far between. On those days, it's me, the laptop, a notebook and a pen, and 24 hours is quite often not enough. God forbid I ever get a deadline.
Whenever and for as long as I can. There is no set time or even limit. As much as I can and as often as I can.
That means I have weeks that I write every day, even up to eight or more hours a day, but I also have weeks where I don't write a single word. The reason is the fact that I can't be a full time writer. There are other things I need/must do in order to make a living.
I do however dream of such a possibility, to be a full time writer, but I can tell you from now that even then my schedule will not be in any kind of time table. Whenever for as long as I can and want will again by my belief. I sort of hate time tables and programs.
Note that doesn't mean I won't plan to meet deadlines, but I will never say writing time 9 to 5. :D
If you mean how long do I spend actually putting words onto paper or the computer screen, it can be anywhere between one and eight hours a day. It all depends on what I'm working on at the time. Deadlines imposed by other people are a great incentive!
When I was first able to devote all my time to writing I tried working set hours or producing a certain number of words per day - and It didn't work!
Now I find early mornings are best for 'new' writing - the first drafts of stories, novel chapters or articles that I've been thinking about for a while - and they come out best if I use pen and paper. I usually take a break mid-morning when I do the housework, shopping, gardening etc. and this is when I'm most likely to get those sudden flashes of inspiration that help to solve a writing problem I've been struggling with. After lunch I get down to what I call the work of writing - typing out my written notes, and editing, editing, editing. Late afternoon/ early evening is good for doing research, dealing with the business side of writing, checking new markets, reading and writing blogs. Unless I've got an urgent deadline, I don't do any writing after dinner but a TV programme will sometimes spark an idea, and if there's nothing interesting on the box my thoughts soon drift off to planning what I'm going to write the next day.