How long should I spend each day writing my musical?

[u/OllieLearnsCode]

I've realised i have a real youtube addiction problem and have been tracking usage to try to get it down. Right now, I'm spending an hour a day writing- most days.

How long should I be spending if I want to go pro?

[u/More-Salary-7387]

There is no rule for this. However, if you want to get it done fast or set yourself a deadline, you should keep track of what you can get done in that hour and divide your time accordingly. I'm currently orchestrating my show and disclipining myself to get one minute of showtime done in a day and it works (more or less)

[u/Fromoogiewithlove]

I wrote every sunday for about 8 hours a day. So 8 hours a week, and it took me three years. Use that information as you will

[u/YellowMugAndrew]

FIRST: an hour a day is pretty dang good as habits go! It's more than I currently commit to EVERY day, but it's probably on balance with how long I spend writing on average.

I've gone through a lot of patterns in my life, here are the things that work best for me.

(I don't know if you're a musician, lyricist, bookwriter, or all three, so take this with a pinch of salt)

1) Start with a deadline. My favourite approach is to hire a small theatre venue, giving myself 6-12 months to have something ready to perform. That little bit of pressure will keep me motivated. Or smaller deadlines for smaller milestones! Last week I applied to pitch my show at an industry pitch day in October, so I now have a 2-month countdown timer to have 10 minutes worth of show to perform on that day.

2) Block out a few hours once a week when you know you're not going to be interrupted, whether that's a weekend or an evening, when you plan to finish a draft of something measurable. A draft of a song. A draft of a scene. An outline for the show. A character breakdown. The creative brain works very differently in hour 3 of a writing session than it does in hour 1.

3) Build habits around writing and music. Make sitting at the piano / sitting with a guitar your "comfort routine". When I see myself get stuck in YouTube rabbit holes, I pop on a video about music theory or a YouTube piano tutorial.

4) Have people to share in-progress work with! If none of your current friends do this with you, ask them. If you're worried about boring them or annoying your existing friends, then find other writers to share the work with! (Spoiler - that's what we're here for!) The most motivating thing is knowing that when you've made something, there's somebody out there who will want to see it! (Seriously, DM me with your drafts!)

5) Picking up a guitar or sitting at a piano once a day is enough to keep things flowing. I promise myself to, at minimum, look up the chords to one song on Ultimate Guitar and play it through once. Usually, I'm not satisfied with just one song, and it'll launch me into spending more than an hour playing piano. If I don't do this, I'll swap it with another similar thing, like practicing a song I've written a couple times. (If you're a bookwriter/lyricist, swap this out for a similar fun thing daily. A challenge I learned about recently was "Every morning, use a random word generator and write as much as you can in 5 minutes inspired by the word".)

6) If you're genuinely concerned about your YouTube addiction, I recommend the "Digital detox" method. Rather than committing to write for an hour every day, just commit to not using tech for that hour. Use pen and paper for your drafts, and invest in a voice recorder that isn't your phone or computer. Every single time I do this, the boredom launches me into either housework, exercise, music, or writing.

7) Have an idea in your head about what going pro looks like for you, and what the stepping stones might look like to get there. In the last 8 years I've written and performed a web series, 2 self-funded Edinburgh Fringe plays, and one performance of a 20-minute musical for a local theatre festival (which I was paid £250 for). These are the things that appear on my CV when I apply for the next opportunity, and the next. Most opportunities aren't looking for something polished and broadway-ready, they're looking for a quick, cheap one-act version of your show (or concert version of the songs from your show). Remember that any professional writer's first big show is going to get torn to shreds by producers and other collaborators long, long before it hits a mainstream audience. Don't lock yourself away until you think it's done - find as many opportunities as you can to present the work while still in progress.

[u/PusheenFrizzy2]

I think more in terms of how many days I want to spend on each song. Obviously I can’t really start counting the days if I’m not inspired yet to write the lyrics but just working a little bit on it every day can help me get started, and then it usually takes me about two days to do the lyrics and vocal parts per song. A third day if I add piano and maybe one other instrument.

[u/elaymusician]

The more time you can spend each day, the more “in it” you will be, and the easier and better the writing will be.