One of my favorite authors is Terry Pratchett, creator of the Discworld. I read somewhere that before he became a full time writer and was still working in a public relations job, that he would come home each night and write 500 words. That was how he completed his stories. 500 words, rain or shine, family or friends. Wherever it was that I read this (I can't remember it now) it also stated that if he reached the end of a novel and had not yet completed his 500 words, that he would turn the page and begin a new story.
Wow! I wish I had the drive to do that.
My natural length for a writing session is around 700-and some words. That's when I'm forcing myself to write. When I'm in the story, got my head in the game, I can easily crank out around 2,000 words in just under 3 hours. My very best day, however, was a marathon writing session during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) when I wrote for maybe six or even eight hours and produced 7,000 words. That was a great day. I want more of those.
I did that during writing spree in which some friends and I held our own, modified version of NaNo so we could work on our current projects rather than starting new ones. I set myself a goal of 40,000 words in one month. I was around 65% through what would be the completed story. Not only did I finish the book, but I also shattered my goal by writing 56,000 words. And did it in 19 days.
The reason? I was living my story. I knew my characters, my plot, the world I had created. Everything. I knew what had to happen and how it had to happen. I was begging my boss at the day job to let me go home early so I could write. I could not stop thinking about the story. One night, I remember, I was barred from writing by attending my cousin's birthday party instead. That was a very hard night because the thoughts and energy I needed was all there and ready to go and I couldn't write. The next day my word count suffered because my energy level for the writing was decreased. I still knew everything, but I no longer had the drive to get it out on paper like I had had before. Like a pocket watch, I hadn't kept my story wound up in my head.
The moral of this is that if you want to be a writer then you need to write every day. It doesn't matter how much, just write something. Set yourself a goal and reach it. If you do this the story will come easier and more naturally. Soon, you will be surpassing your goal by leaps and bounds and the quality of your work will be improved as well. Sporadic writing causes you to produce the story slowly and in a dull fashion. You have to remind yourself every time you return to the story of what is happening, what this minor character's personality is because you have to write them having a conversation with the main characters, and so much more.
I'm talking to myself here as much as to you. Writing every day is the only way the story will come out. So write every day.