Is It Beneficial to Force Art?

What's Better: Write Every Day or Write When Inspiration Strikes?

No doubt Ray Bradbury is a overachiever with an exceptional fashion sense. Perhaps, though, Bradbury is on to something.

It's rather easy to write story after rejected story and simply place them aside, never to be seen again, with millions of words vanished.

I assume Bradbury is telling the truth about his writing discipline, and certainly there's no overdraw, but his story is one of a well-honed work ethic. To accomplish as much as he did later in his writing career, Bradbury wrote every day. 

But last week I brought this video to attention:

Chuck Palahniuk publishes a novel about every two years and maintains a steady blog and article production. However, he does not write every day.

It's all and well to practice your craft every day - and you should - but forcing a story out that doesn't truly exist yet in your imagination is a waste of time. Or at least, that's what Palahniuk is saying. Don't boondoggle.

My opinion is that you should write something at least five days out of the week, but you shouldn't go publishing every thought you jot down. Instead, wait for the stories that fully develop in your mind with a little conscious work to polish them off.

I guess I'm riding the white lines down the highway, but I would love to hear what people think about this either here on the site or through twitter and facebook. Do you think writers should try to produce something every day, or wait until the inspiration hits?

Maybe you're down the middle of the highway too? 

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