Frequent commentor and really nice person LBB pumped out an awe inspiring 5000 words the other day. She's tapped into the mother load. You go, girl! You leave us open mouthed and green with envy, and so happy for you.
Just so there's no pressure, most of us realize that such an effort won't be an everyday occurrence. But as long as the words flow, there nothing wrong with trying to drink from that firehose. What would be a larger crime would be to intentionally tamp it down to a garden-hose flow.
For those of you non-writers, 2000 words a day is considered a good pace. NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month (November), sets a goal of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days (no rewrites, that's in February). That comes out to 1667 words a day. Most people who try it don't make it.
My personal best came to about 3000 words in a day. I don't "write" (that is, for my stories and novels) evey day, so making a comparison would be absurd. Especially since I haven't typed much in since middle March. If I average about 500-700 words a day, I think I'm doing good. But those come in 1000-2000 word chunks.
For anybody thinking of starting writing (or wanting to get back to it), from all the books and advice I've received, writing everyday at the same time and in the same place is the best way to do this. I don't have that luxury, so I get what I can. I don't produce much in a year, either (normally 2-3 short stories, mulpitple fragments, and little progress on the novels). That needs to change. So far this year I have one short story, many fragments, and no progress (other than notes) on the novels. I think I can get two other short stories (7-Year Itch, and what I'm calling "Daddy's Little Girl" which I put up the first sentences yesterday) out this year. I really want to get at least half of "Post-Rapture Industries" out as well. Must type more.
Other frequent commentor, Todd Wheeler, is in the middle of a program to gain back time to write. I've tried that. I even choose the day job in an effort to help my writing (I had a choice, this one paid a little more, and leaves me with creative energy at the end of the day, instead of feeling like my brain is a freshly wrung washcloth as I drive home). I think there's a few more things I can cut before I get to leaving money on the table. Now, it remains to be seen if I have the willpower to do it.
3 comments:
Thanks for the kudos, Steve, but tons of writers crank out the wordage. I don't feel special. In fact, you should note I give myself weekends off (of course some days I want to write, and that's fine; I just don't make myself sit down and do it).
And then there's the editing, and the reading over and over and over the edited stuff. That's a lot of days of (for all practical purposes ) zero, right?
I should have added "word counts" to the short list of things I don't believe in. I just mentioned it on the blog as a way of noting I was back in the saddle, as it were.
No problem LBB. But still, 5000 words is an great whollop of wordage, so you still get kudos for that.
As for writing times, weekends are about my best time to get any writing done.
I think for those of us with "other things to do" (like day jobs, other writing work, kids, etc), steady daily work counts aren't all that practicle (if they are, have at it). So we get what we can when we can.
5000 words in a day when we can.
Still in awe.
Thanks, buddy. And it did pay off. Yay.
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