How Long Does It Take You To Write?

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I'm at the point now where I can write a running gamer in my sleep, and I'm sure some of them read that way... But, if you have to file 16 inches of running without quotes at the second a game is over, all the desk cares about is if it's clean and if it's to length...

My write-thru takes me 30 minutes to finish, give or take... You do this long enough you better be fast...
 
one of my fave stories:

when i worked at the ny daily news, i once asked legendary sports cartoonist bill gallo how long it took him to do one of his drawings:

"about 45 minutes," he said, "and 35 years."

loved it. 8) 8) 8)
 
I find the running story concept interesting, just because I don't seem to be able to do it.
It totally throws me off when I go to write my gamer.
I typically write game stories in about 10-15 minutes (on deadline) and in about 15-20 minutes otherwise. I just have always been really fast at writing.
No answer is right or wrong, though. It doesn't matter how you do it, so long as it gets done and is clean.
Columns are what I tend to spend the most time actually writing just because I don't want to come off as an idiot and I have to check myself and make sure I'm not being too harsh.
 
I wrote seven stories from the state swimming meet in two hours last fall. I was a mumbling idiot by the time I finished, and I completely screwed one of the stories because I was putting prelims results into my story. I'll never try that again.
 
From first key stroke to last can mean a lot of things. Covering a game, anyone who doesn't write a little bit of running during the game isn't very bright. So the last key stroke can be 2 hours later.

But from the time I get from the locker room to the press room and sit down at my computer, I'd probably guess somewhere between 15-20 minutes.

Features are rarely written on deadline, but once the reporting is done, no more than an hour, give or take. Sometimes just a half-hour. I've found that in feature writing -- not counting the reporting and research -- more time is not better.

As for columns, again, a regular column doesn't take long because you picked the subject and you picked it because you have something to say. If you're doing a column off a game, then you're talking writing on deadline. Of course, you showed up well before the game and talked to the coach/manager/GM and the players. And it's probably not due till the end of the game, so you could probably take 3 hours total if you don't put the finishing touches in until the final result is in. And the column is not a game story, so it's mostly a state-of-the-team thing that doesn't rely totally on the game.
 
i'm always shocked how fast i write

definitely a point of diminishing returns for me

write it, read it, send it
 

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