Metrics and Word Count
Today's word count comes up to 3,500 words, and I would normally say that I'm finished this chapter (chapter 8, for anyone keeping tabs), except I'm not, really, because I have a yellow-highlighted reminder for me to add more information in a section.
What information is that? Well, I'll give you a hint. The reminder is: [more snogging]
Being a largely linear writer, I don't normally skip ahead, but sometimes I just have a scene so firmly in my head I can't stop to write the scene that comes in-between, so I end up with putting in placeholders so that I can go back to write the stuff that's missing. This time around, I'll have to go back later, MUCH later, because I want to get started on chapter 9. Tomorrow. First thing.
Anyway, I kind of feel I have to apologize, somehow, for my ridiculous daily word count. I kind of feel awful because I know it's not easy to get any kind of word count on any given day for a lot of people. You probably won't believe it now, but there used to be a time where I was lucky if I could get 200 words done a day. No, I'm not missing a zero there.
I've heard the mantra many times -- butt in seat, fingers on keyboard, and TYPE. There's a plethora of advice on the web on how to get word count -- any word count. Turn off all distractions. Disable your network. Put on a soundtrack to inspire you. Turn off the TV. Give the dogs a chew toy that will keep them busy for hours and hours. Duct tape your kids to the wall and promise them ice cream if they're quiet for a while. Send the spouse to the strip club with his/her buddies. Do whatever it takes to create both a time and a space free of clutter and distraction and where your only obligation is to write. If you can't type it in, find other ways to do it. Talk in a voice recorder while driving to and from work. Jot notes in a notebook.
To quote Will (and only because Gwaine's favourite swears don't apply in this instance), that's all rat's balls.
For a while, I followed the blog of a published writer who posted his daily word count for his upcoming novels. He's well known in author circles for his word count -- he's both prolific and he's fast. Authors envy him; authors hate him. For a while, I was awed and stunned and impressed and I wanted to be able to do that too, but like other (published and unpublished) authors who compared their output to this guy, I grew to get really annoyed with him. Not because of his eye-popping word count (he writes an average of 2,500 words per hour and writes for three hours a day. Do the math), but because of all of his proselytizing advice on how, you, too, can write 2,500 words per hour for three hours a day and have a complete book in less than two weeks.
His advice more or less comes down to what I wrote above. It's nothing new. He was giving advice that was common sense but delivering it as if he was the only one to come up with it in the first place. It got under my skin, and I stopped reading his blog. But I never forgot how he wrote 2,500 words per hour, or that he wrote for three hours per day.
Like I said, there used to be a time where I was lucky to write 200 words per day. I knew that other authors regularly wrote more, so I knew it was possible to break that barrier. So every day I would try to write 100 words more than I wrote the previous day. I kept track of the word count so that I couldn't cheat. On top of that, I eventually told myself, self, you're going to have to do better than writing this crap, so I couldn't cheat by, you know, writing whatever popped into my head. I had to make it relevant, I had to make it good, and I had to make it flow.
Not easy. It got better with practice, though.
The only thing I had going for me at the time (that I still have going for me) was that I am a competitive person. Not against other people. I could care less if you beat me to the finish line in a footrace, or if you get higher marks than me in any subject in school, or if you perfect a technique that I created. But if I challenge myself to do something, I invariably do it. If I say I will write 1,000 words a day for 90 days, I will have a book written by the end of the month. If I say I will run at 9 mph (a full sprint) on the treadmill for 2 minutes without falling off, I'll do it (even if it takes me a little while to get the endurance to do it -- never mind making sure my legs don't give up under me). If I say I will clean up the house...
*cough* Never mind the last one.
I started off with the 1,000 word per day challenge. Then a friend of mine said he was going to write 60,000 words in eight weeks. I said, awesome, that's a good challenge, I'll do that too. I ended up writing 80,000 words in eight weeks and completed an urban fantasy novel.
The 1,000 words became 1,500 words per day. Then 2,000 words. Now nearly 3,000 words every day. I see my word count and I think, for God's sake, I'm turning in to that author who annoys me. Except I refuse to tell you the all the things on how to get words on a page, because you already know them, everyone talks about them, and it's common sense.
Here's what's also common sense but isn't commonly known:
It takes six weeks of doing something consistently and repeatedly for it to become a habit. I've been writing nearly every day for the last... um. Five or six or seven years? I forget. Before that, I put writing on hold to finish my MSc, for my career, to deal with a course overload during my university undergrad. But during high school? I wrote every day exactly like this, by hand or using a computer, and invariably produced 2,000 words per day.
Anyone can do it. It takes practice. It also takes time... So here is my average daily schedule and how I fit in all the writing.
4:45 AM. Wake up, get dressed, pack stuff together, leave the house, go to the gym, drive to work.
6:45 AM. Write until I actually have to start working.
7:30 AM. Total word count before I start working: approximately 500
10:00 AM. Break time. Total word count during the break: approximately 400-500
12:00 PM. Lunch time. Total word count during lunch: approximately 1,000
3:30 PM. Go home, write until you have to make dinner. Word count: approximately 250 (sometimes I just veg out instead)
5:00-6:00 PM. Depending on whose turn it is, I might walk the dogs, or I might write.
6:00 PM. Write until I absolutely have to put my shit together for the next day/shower/sleep. Word count: whatever I manage.
I usually have two goals in mind: a firm word count, or "until I finish this damn scene". If I don't feel like writing, I don't write. If it's not working, I sleep on it and the distance from writing really does help. It looks like I write super fast -- but I don't. I'll never hit 2,500 words per hour like that author -- that's just insane! My fingers would fly off! I just write every spare moment that I have. It probably helps that I have a highly logical job, and the creative part of my brain is desperate to get out whenever it can.
The truth is, some writers write fast, other writers write slow. It doesn't matter so long as you get to the end. Set your own challenges, your own benchmarks. Start with 100 words a day. I did.