Writing for Time, Writing for Completion

By: Kameron McBride

I have this problem a lot, sitting at my computer screen with my allotted writing time used up. I'm sitting in front of a screen with a nearly completed section or maybe even chapter of whatever I'm writing and I'm faced with this dilemma:

Finish what I'm writing? Or mark it off until my next writing session?

I usually put aside an hour or two to write a day, I would like to do more but it's pretty rare given my time spent doing everything else. Typically, I get enough done to at least get into a pretty good rhythm and get an idea of where I want to go, the problem being that I hit maximum story ideas right as I'm getting done with my session.

I don't want to totally exhaust all of these ideas in my head and have absolutely nothing left in the tank but I also don't want to leave the ideas in my head to the mercy of my forgetful head. 

I've read before that you should always have some ideas left when you finish off a writing session, so that you aren't starting anew every time. However, I do think it's important to get your story in pretty good shape before this point.

So the way I typically will try to handle this situation is to scribble an outline of my ideas going forward while also stopping at a point where I feel satisfied with my writing. This is typically why I consider myself mostly a pantzer, I don't write totally coherent outlines, but I generally try to plan ahead.

With this strategy, I feel that I am satisfied with what I'm working on while also having a pretty good strategy moving forward. 

So how do you handle you writing sessions? When do you decide to cut off a session? And how do you handle ideas you still have in your head at the end?