Word Counts

Last night I hit 8,000 words for my new manuscript. It felt good to get there, but I really would like to be at 10,000 by now.

So far today, I've only added another 700 or so.

For my readers, I think you're gonna really like this new one. I'll be telling you a little bit more about it later.

For writers… do you set daily word count goals? Weekly? How do you make sure you're on target?



It's all better with friends.

Words, Words and More Words

I feel as if I've discovered The Secret.


Many of my writer friends regularly write 2,000 words a day. Some as many as 8,000 words. I know of one man who can belt out 10,000, and one particularly prolific woman who I've heard can slam out 20,000 when she gets a full head of steam.


These are multi-published authors, not someone racing down one rabbit hole after another. These are people who know words, which ones work and which ones don't. (They probably never, ever use "was" in a sentence.)


For the longest time I decided the difference between their output and mine belonged solely to the concept of deadlines. Commitments. A responsibility to produce. They had real deadlines. Mine were only pretend.


But last week I tried something. And it worked. I hit my word count for the day. A fluke?


So, I tried it again the next day. Bingo.


On the third day I really gave it a test, and upped the word count I wanted by the end of the day. Ta-dah!


Do you want to know what I did?


Before I tell you, you need to understand I am not writing (yet) 20,000 or 8,000 or even 2,000 words a day, every day. But I have been successful at hitting between 800 and 1,000, which for me is like opening a whole new world of wonders.


I did not get my rough draft completed by the end of October, but heck . . . I didn't know this secret until a few days ago. Now that I'm pumping, it should come sooner rather than later.


Are you ready? It's ridiculously simple. On my To Do List, I write down how many words I want my manuscript to contain by the end of the day. Once I hit that number, I can play. I can veg with my husband in front of the television, or read, or paint my toenails, or go for a long walk. I can "close up shop."


I'm not naive enough to believe this will work every day, but I can tell you, I have a lot better chance at upping my word count doing this than just wishing it so.


So now I'm off to get those words in. 


Do you have something that's been difficult for you to accomplish with your writing? Have you figured out the secret that works for you?






CR: The Charlestown Connection by Tom MacDonald. I'm pretty sure this is his debut novel, and dang . . . it's pretty good.


It's all better with friends.

Speed Bumps in The Zone

Saturday was a 'Wahoo!' writing day for me. Over 2,000 words. (2, 047 to be exact.) Followed by Sunday with a thrilling er, well not-so-thrilling, 366 words. Followed by today with . . . well, it's not over. Right?

What happened? I quit Saturday night because my eyes were getting tired. My new reading eye (LASIK was about nine days old on Saturday) yelled "Uncle!" and I gave in and closed down.

But that's such a lying stretch of foolishness. I've had good writing days in the past with lousy writing days following shortly thereafter. And I can only blame a pooped eye on one of them.

Part of it is fear. The 'zone' puts me on such a high, I'm afraid a) I'll get there and never come down, or b) I'll never find it again.

Time for a Reality Check.

James Scott Bell has a wonderful remedy for any kind of writing reluctance. He does the Nifty 350, or the Furious 500. It's bichoking (Butt in Chair, Hands on Keys) with a short-term target. When he first sits down to write, he goes for his Nifty 350 (or 250 or 450) and then has something very positive already done to kind of jump start his next bichok moment. Which comes easier because, well, look at what he's already accomplished for the day.

Giving yourself a good reason to pat yourself on the back is always effective. Just make sure it's a pat you believe in.

The zone comes and goes. Some days it's elusive, other days it threatens to devour me (how cool are those days?), but I can always tuck myself in for a Nifty 350.

You?

JF: Die For You by Lisa Unger who I discovered thanks to Jenny Milchman.

It's all better with friends.

War of Words

So, how many words should a writer write, if a writer could write words? (Sorry, slipped into my nursery rhyme mode for a moment.)

One prolific author is said to churn out 10,000 words a day. At roughly 100,000 words per book, it's no surprise that she has several available at any given time. She's written best-seller after best-seller. I used to love her books. Now they all seem kind of the same. Does she ever differ from her established formula? Probably, but not that I've noticed.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. She's found a large and loyal audience. One that she doesn't want to disappoint. And man, oh man, is she payin' the bills!

Another novelist has said that, when pressed with a deadline, he can sit down at the beginning of a writing session and before he's done for the day, produce 20,000 words. Now that's a lot of pressure!

It seems like most full-time writers fall somewhere in the 2,000-4,000 words a day category. That's some pretty serious work, as far as I'm concerned—and a place to which I aspire.

Right now, I'm stoked when I hit 1,000. My most recent high is 1,262. My average is about 600. Not nearly enough, but that's the truth of it.

So. Should I give up writing because I will probably never generate 10,000 words a day? How about the writer who struggles to find time to write 300? Should they quit? Not hardly.

What we have to do is find our rhythm. Find the place where we can get into a steady zone and accept that pace. Doesn't mean we can't work to get better. To produce more. But comparing ourselves to writers who crank out huge numbers of words (even words that sell) won't make our words any better.

I'm just sayin'.

The best writing has no lace on its sleeves. ~WALT WHITMAN

CR: Dead On by Robert W. Walker (available in July)

It's all better with friends.

Where Did the Words Go?

I have a theory.

Writers who are new to the game—who haven't yet been thrown back on their haunches with the sheer enormity of the learning curve before them—can lay down an enormous amount of words in a single setting.

They're free, and if their feet don't touch the ground, so what? They are creating the greatest work of verbal imagery since . . . well, since forever. They are basking under a rare and unimaginable (to all of those non-artistic folk, anyway) light. They are the newest, as yet undiscovered, treasures of the publishing world.

I know this, how? Because that new writer's name was Peg.

Let's go back . . .

At some point, my eyes begin to get adjusted to this strange new light. This writerly light that had placed me atop pedestals (for a few days at least) is now shifting, at least to me. It's betraying my birthright with something called Craft. The daunting spectacle of POV and backstory, MRUs and GMCs, hooks and sagging middles, scene structure and that pesky thing called grammar, all begin to rain their tentacles down on my fresh, green, Spirit. And my Spirit becomes paralyzed. Belief has been sucked out and replaced with mind-numbing, creativity-breaking, Need for Education. Aaargh.

Somewhere along in here, word count drops about 90%. And if it moves at all, it goes down.

Sound familiar, anyone?

But then, after some fitful starts and stops, something begins to happen. The butterfly begins to emerge from the cocoon of Writing 101. There's a pattern to her wings, a purpose to her day. She knows ever so much more than she did as a caterpillar. She can step out—or fly out—with the confidence that now the words of her warped mind (she's a Suspense Butterfly) will meet their intended target without fail.

And word count increases.

CR: Dead On by Robert W. Walker. This book puts a fully-realized character in your lap from the beginning. So far, so good. It will hit the stands mid-July.

It's all better with friends.

Nano No-No

I have to say I don't know what I'll get accomplished today. November is a nutty month in my family. Aside from Thanksgiving, this month holds my sister's birthday (the 25th) my brother-in-law's birthday (the 28th) and my husband's birthday (today, the 19th). To increase the excitement (?), it's my husband's 70th birthday. Not only is it no small potatoes, but it doesn't even seem real. And you just know, there are some special things planned that won't be mentioned here in case he pops in to see what I've been up to. Sheeshkabobalino.

Yesterday was also only quasi-good. We live in Colorado. Normally this time of year, we are looking at high temperatures in the 50's. Yesterday? 80's. I didn't get crazy and spend hours outside, but I did take advantage and read on our deck for a while. I would've been a fool not to.

Dang . . . and here's another time waster. Some of you know I'm a major dog-lover, and this is a live web-cam of some Shiba-Inu puppies that are to die for. I'd never heard of the breed until my cousin sent me this link. A neighbor tells me they're incredibly smart.

But I digress.

I'd set my minimum acceptable word creation at 500. Guess what I did yesterday? 503. Hint, hint. After these next few days (giving myself a break here), I'm going to have to bump it to at least 700.

Anyone for a Nano in March?




Still reading Field of Blood. If you go back a couple of posts (and the comments), you will see that the author, Eric Wilson, actually knows I'm reading his book. Gotta give the guy credit for staying on top of things, that's all I can say.

It's all better with friends.

Word Wealth

This struck me yesterday while I sat and bichoked my way to 718 words. (I need thousands, but 718 is what I got.)

Writers mine words like those words were gold. Sometimes I hit a rich vein, sometimes it's hardscrabble, and sometimes it's fool's gold. But every day, I don my helmet and tie on a toolbelt. Some days, at the end, I look like I've moved mountains—with a smudged face and wild hair—and maybe only have 200 new words in my backpack to show for my work. Other days, I walk out of my writing space and look like I haven't broken a sweat, and that day I may have mined 718 words or 1,718 words, or more. Like buttah.

My talent for this business lies in my ability to mine everyday. To up my required load. Or is that lode?

Nanowrimo has at least gotten me to the point where I'm less than satisfied with anything under 500. That doesn't mean I don't have 200 word days, I do. I'm just not satisfied.

In On Writing, Stephen King tells us that he doesn't stop until he hits 2000 words. What he doesn't exactly spell out, but what I think is probably the case, he has plenty of days when his word count is double or triple or even quadruple his target. 2000 becomes a benchmark. A flag gets raised and a silent hallelujah is sung.

The coolest thing? Just because King and Koontz and Connelly are mining a gazillion words every day, we're in no danger of running out. (Oh shoot . . . there's that fear thing again.)

Well, I'm off to the mines.




Still reading: Field of Blood (which is a paranormal thriller and pretty darned interesting.)

It's all better with friends.