I think I became too accustomed to grad school writing mania, when I'd have a weekend to write a 30 page paper, so my idea of what's a long time is probably very, very skewed.

Chaptered stories tend to be easier, because the writing is a less dense, less meaningful sort. I'm hitting plot points, and the sheer length will carry it through. Short fic that takes more than a week drives me absolutely mad (hello there, exchange fic!), because it feels like I'm picking over every single word I chose and everything has to be perfect and it's never going to get there.
I feel ya on this one. I feel like I can write more freely when I know it's going to be chaptered, but one-shots need more careful attention.