The General Writing Advice Thread!

[Set2Stun]

Not quite "writing for yourself," but I never write with a particular audience in mind. I try to write stuff that people just like me would love to read. There must be plenty of readers like me, and I hope they find my work and enjoy it.

I remember plugging Heinlein's 5 Rules at the old place. They are:

Rule One: You must write.
Rule Two: You must finish what you start.
Rule Three: You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
Rule Four: You must put it on the market.
Rule Five: You must keep it on the market until it has sold.

I follow them all, but I try to keep Rule Five within reason. Most of my stories have sold after 10-12 rejections. I recently sold one that had been rejected more than 20 times, and that's probably about my limit. There are only so many paying markets where a particular story can fit, after all.

But the rest I follow fairly closely. Finish your projects when you're familiar with them. Stopping something and picking it up months or even years later, it's going to be like another writer has continued the story.

Three is important. Plenty of writers get bogged down and rewrite, edit, rewrite, edit, overthink, repeat, for literally years. Don't do that. Let it go and move on to the next book.

 

[defaux]

1. Make it exist.
2. Make it make sense.
3. Make it good.

I am trying to break the habit of trying to do all 3 of these at once. My self-imposed quality metrics would not permit me to write a sentence that didn't make sense, or didn't sound pleasant, or was too repetitive et al.
I'm only just now developing my ability to throw a concept down into a few hundred words--I don't mean outlining, I mean like a sketch-draft, to find the perspective and voice--and allow it to not be neat and tidy, to have repeated words or phrases, and then to come back later and fix the language. This is very not instinctive for me, but I think it will make me a more efficient writer.

I understand the pros, but it's not feasible for me any more. The annoyance at a missed day (because writing every day is a challenge in itself) would stop me writing the following days

You're absolutely correct -- the last thing you want is self imposed rules that prevent you from writing. Perhaps the advice is better phrased as "Write every day that you can" or "Write as often as you can." The point is to encourage engaging with the craft, to practice, to build the habit and skills required to grow and complete greater works.

Of course it has to fit within your lifestyle--I also have a full time job and a family and many other things that require my attentions. My goal is to try to write something every day, but that doesn't always happen. The other part of this is to allow yourself to not be perfect, to not let a missed session or a bad session, or a mistake set you back and break the good habits you are forming.

often I wouldn't know what to write when it came to it anyway

This is a totally separate problem, and one I'm sure we have all faced. Sitting for an entire writing session and penning no words.
My solution to face this (and it's not perfect either) is to try to evolve those ideas in my head, before I get into the seat, so that when I sit down I have a reasonable concept to try to get onto the page.
I mull over concepts, plots, characters... even specific language sometimes, while doing laundry or cooking dinner. I probably dedicate more brain power to this than is strictly necessary--or healthy--but sometimes I can't help it either, particularly when in the midst of something engaging.

you shouldn't involve the intellect at all when writing

This is another skill that is harder than it sounds. My instinct is to edit the language AS the words are flowing from my brain. Of course that interrupts the flow of thought terribly, and slows the drafting process to a crawl. It's something I'm definitely working on, but it is quite challenging to set aside ones natural instincts, to pen a sentence that I know is rubbish and tell myself "No, come back later and fix it, finish the draft now."
What can I say, overthinking is kind of my jam. It's sound advice though.

 

[Night Herald]

This is another skill that is harder than it sounds. My instinct is to edit the language AS the words are flowing from my brain. Of course that interrupts the flow of thought terribly, and slows the drafting process to a crawl. It's something I'm definitely working on, but it is quite challenging to set aside ones natural instincts, to pen a sentence that I know is rubbish and tell myself "No, come back later and fix it, finish the draft now."
What can I say, overthinking is kind of my jam. It's sound advice though.

It's darn hard, isn't it? What you describe sounds pretty much exactly like how I used to do things back in the day. I'm also naturally an overthinker, and would tend to obsessively polish sentences until they were just so. Of course they didn't actually end up any better for that treatment, usually. It was a hard habit to break, and I still sometimes fall into that trap.