Writing 1000 words a day
I don’t know what has been happening with me lately but I have become something of a writing machine. It could be related to my pseudo-mid-life crisis that I’m not really going through. Whatever it is I have been powering through 1000 words a day on average. WARNING – what follows will only be of interest to those who are thinking of writing while holding down work or battling severe lethargy. Or like most of us – a bit of both.
I have mentioned here before that I am writing an epic fantasy novel and my technique for plotting is not so much planned but more of a vague idea with a kind of rough ending. My characters were mostly formed beforehand and so I just had them semi randomly getting into trouble while moving in the rough direction of the end. The thing is, as the characters and plot have grown and solidified while writing, the words are flowing more. Writing in this way will require a ludicrous amount of editing but it is a lot of fun.
I am only including fiction writing in the 1000 words but that it does encompass things like my notes and separate plans for character arcs and so on. I write in the awesome Scrivener, so it is easier to keep track that way. My day job is mostly Word and WordPress so it is easy to keep everything apart.
As I said, this post will only be of interest, and even then only passing, to writers. Some tips that may prove helpful:
Set targets
One technique I found handy was to set daily, weekly and monthly targets. These all tie in together. I used to set 500 words as the target. It was then fine to miss the odd day as long as I then reached 3500 for the week. If that was slightly under then 15,000 a month was the ultimate target.
Keep track
I have a spreadsheet where I write down how many words I write a day and where that was done. That way I can identify where I am most productive. I also note other things like how many beers I may have or how many hours I spend on my PS4 just to see how much they affect my productivity. (Not much, I am happy to say.)
Up the target in small increments
This was what suddenly turned me to writing 1000 words a day. I used to write 500 and had hit that target consistently for about 3 months. Then it was my birthday and I decided to up the amount to 750. For some reason, the extra effort required – it’s easy to quickly knock out 500 words but seems a lot harder to do 750- made me settle in wherever I was a bit more deeply.
I gave up scheduled TV
I don’t know if this has helped or not but I have stopped watching cable and terrestrial TV. I found myself watching something easy and acronym-based like NCIS or CSI or whatever and would be distracted by the second half of an episode I have seen before. Plus the ads. It was an incredible time-sink. Sometimes I would get annoyed when it is a two parter until I realised it was on Netflix and I couldn’t be bothered to watch it, so it was purely a distraction. Scheduled TV is like listening to the radio as opposed to listening to albums. Except it demands even more of your attention. I still watch TV but it is streamed and to watch something specific. That also allows for the odd binge.
When you hit your target, chill
I know that is slightly contradictory, given that I have been aiming for 750 and hitting a 1000 words but it is best not to interrupt a flow. However, once you hit that moment where you pause and stop and notice how much you have written, if you have hit your target I think it is fine to the do a hobby or something. You don’t want to burn out. Even Stephen King calls it a day after 2000 words.
Just keep writing stuff
It doesn’t matter if it is good. Just get the words down and edit later. This goes for journalism too. (At least for me.)
I could write more but then you would be wasting your time. Apologies to the vast majority of humanity for whom this is dull. I am done for day, so will be watching Good Omens in full on binge mode. Good luck!
