Daily word count

Steve W · Jul 10, 2006

Hi,

I'm just curious about this, but I guess if we throw some ideas around, it might help people generally.

I'm a firm believer in setting a daily word count and sticking to it (or going beyond it if possible). I aim at 2000 words a day, five days a week, weekends optional. I use pen and paper, then type. In all, it takes me between 5 and 6 hours a day.

Now the question is, what count do other people hit? I read a post somewhere where a guy swore he managed 10,000 words a day. I find this really hard to believe unless he's an absolute genius or simply writing gibberish and deletes 90% of it, relying on 'editing' to whip it into shape. Of my 2000 a day, I'd say I keep over 80%. I don't outline, but I do plan, which helps.

So, what's your daily word count?

Do you always hit it?

How many hours does it take? (And is that Pen/paper/PC or straight to PC?)

Cheers,
Steve

CaroGirl · Jul 10, 2006

I don't have a daily word count. I'd only disappoint myself. I have a very busy life and, while I love writing and am motivated, can sometimes go several days without writing a word. This is particularly a pitfall in the summer when my children are with me all the time that I'm not at work, and my husband is often away from home travelling with his job.

If I were able to, though, I'd probably set a goal of at least 500 words a day. That sounds reasonable for me.

Carlene · Jul 10, 2006

I aim for 1000 words a day, most days, including weekends. I don't let myself get up (expect for bathroom visits) until I reach that goal. I have arthritis in my hands, so some days I simply cannot write. Yes, it kills me, but...

Carlene

FloVoyager · Jul 10, 2006

About 1000 words a day, at least five days a week. Sometimes I write more, sometimes less, but it evens out to that. I keep most of it, and it takes me four to six hours to produce that amount, writing directly into the PC. Then comes the editing.

jchines · Jul 10, 2006

I also shoot for 1000/day, five days/week. Don't always make it, but I try.

Today I managed 999. I may go back and break a contraction, just to push it to 1000...

Siddow · Jul 10, 2006

I could see hitting 10k a day. Not me, though. Not right now. My current typing speed is about 1200 words in 30 minutes. Full-on, it would take me a little over four hours to type it. In an eight-hour working day, that would leave me almost four hours for comtemplating, planning, deleting and re-writing.

Seems quite attainable when you look at it that way. And I'm not a fast typist.

However, right now I have several small children at home. The time that I do have to write is minimal, and I realized that I could increase that time by staying off the freakin' internet. (Doh!) So I bought a used laptop, and now I write on that. No Wi-Fi, no internet. I spend about an hour and a half in the morning working, and usually another hour or two in the evening. My main project right now is a revision, so I don't consider word count, just time and progress. But when I have a new novel going, I tend to shoot for 1500-2k a day. Short stories, I aim for completed drafts.

I do think it's a great idea to have a disciplined writing time. If you don't treat your hobbies like work, they remain hobbies. And when I don't write, I get really cranky.

Zolah · Jul 10, 2006

Steve W said:
Hi,

I'm just curious about this, but I guess if we throw some ideas around, it might help people generally.

I'm a firm believer in setting a daily word count and sticking to it (or going beyond it if possible). I aim at 2000 words a day, five days a week, weekends optional. I use pen and paper, then type. In all, it takes me between 5 and 6 hours a day.

Now the question is, what count do other people hit? I read a post somewhere where a guy swore he managed 10,000 words a day. I find this really hard to believe unless he's an absolute genius or simply writing gibberish and deletes 90% of it, relying on 'editing' to whip it into shape. Of my 2000 a day, I'd say I keep over 80%. I don't outline, but I do plan, which helps.

So, what's your daily word count?

Do you always hit it?

How many hours does it take? (And is that Pen/paper/PC or straight to PC?)

Cheers,
Steve

When I write in the evenings (after work) I try to get on my laptop by seven pm and probably work until 10:00 pm, to hit a target of about 1-2,000 words.

On my days off, I'm on the computer by nine am, work until four in the afternoon at least (though I give myself an hour off for lunch) and I aim for about 4-5,000 words. On a very good day I might hit 6,000, and when that happens I'll probably get back on the laptop in the evening, but I don't aim at a target for that - anything I come up with is a bonus. I think the most I've ever written in a day is 8,000 words, but I was up pretty late. And I self-edit as I write, so what ends up on the page doesn't need 90% deletion - it probably needs less than 10%. However, I do often write from notes scribbled at work (tea-breaks, lunch-break and whenever-someone-isn't-looking breaks) so to some extent I've prepared the ground beforehand. In a fifteen minute tea-break I've managed to write about three hand-written pages - I'm a quick scribbler, though I do tend to get severe cramps in my hand after a really furious bout.

I always thought I was pretty slow when it came to productivity in general. Well, you live and learn.

stephblake24 · Jul 10, 2006

I try to write 10-20 pages per day, but I am a fast typist. Typically, I work every day for 4-5 hours at least. Today, so far I am at 2058, but that doesn't count all my emails.

Ben King · Jul 10, 2006

The software I use, CopyWrite, has an awesome feature that shows me a percentage of how far I've got left until I hit my goal (for me, 50k words).

I aim to do a percentage a day. That means that on a 12 hour day I will finish the book in 10 days. It works in theory. Somehow it will obviously not turn out to be true, but it's nice to have that positive sort of thought.

rachelcaine · Jul 10, 2006

Embarrassed to say it, but ...

... on a bad day, I put up about 2500 words. On a good day, up to 10,000 is easily possible. I once did 20,000 in a day, but that was a really, really long day, and I don't recommend it 'cause, well, you kill yourself.

I will say that I never used to be able to write those kinds of numbers, but a couple of things work in my favor: (1) I've been writing to deadlines for a long time now, and (2) since I have a day job and other commitments, I've learned how to focus intensely for the period that I do have to write, which is typically about 3 hours a day on weekdays, and eight a day on weekends.

Also, taking all that speed-typing training when I was young? PRICELESS. Wouldn't trade it for the world.

-- Rachel
http://www.rachelcaine.com

Zolah · Jul 10, 2006

rachelcaine said:
... on a bad day, I put up about 2500 words. On a good day, up to 10,000 is easily possible. I once did 20,000 in a day, but that was a really, really long day, and I don't recommend it 'cause, well, you kill yourself.

-- Rachel

My God, don't be embarrassed! That sort of productivity is my dream. I want to be just like you when I grow up.

DamaNegra · Jul 10, 2006

I do about 300 words in 5 minutes. I write an average of 2,700 a day, because I'm lazy

I could pull off 10,000 daily words but I'd rather be productive and still enjoy my vacations

RG570 · Jul 10, 2006

I do 2000 a day. Though, once I'm getting to the end of the story, I'll just push through the final few thousand in one day because I can't stand having this nearly finished draft sitting in my computer.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 10, 2006

words

2,500 words per day. It's certainly possible to write 10,000 words per day, but I can't see why I'd want to, unless deadline pressures forced it. I do think there's a point where long term burnout becomes a factor, and I think there's a poinrt where quality becomes a factor, though this point certainly differs from writer to writer.

I also think it's important to put in about as much time reading as writing. Sometimes more.

The most I've ever written in a single day was 12,000 words, and this on a manual typewriter.

But I'm a believer in the long haul, in quality up front, and most definitely a believer is thinking that reading time is at least as important as writng time.

icerose · Jul 10, 2006

Anything written in a day equals a good writing day. With three kids all under the age of 5 one under one years old, it makes it impossible to do a daily commit. Especially as the youngest is teething. I try to do five pages each sit down, but it isn't always possible, I am constantly interrupted and pulled away and so on and so forth.

So the writing goal is really an individual thing. The most I have ever written in one day is 50 pages. It was the end of Town Curfew and I plowed right through it. (My kids were gone visiting Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend!)

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 10, 2006

I do what I can. I set a word count goal nor do I force myself to write when I don't feel like it, or if I feel tired, or what have you. It's like exercise. If you force yourself to have to do it then it just becomes drudgery.

Besides, as icerose said, with a family that occupies most of my waking hours and a 43 hour a week job, any writing accomplished is good writing day.

R. Scott Kennan · Jul 10, 2006

I think that beyond having a certain minimum word count, the amount of writing you do on a given day isn't as important as the quality of the work. That said, I'd like to get back up to my old goal of 2,000 words a day. I'm having some serious trouble with that at the time being.

When I was really writing, and I mean really writing, I once did a 36 hour marathon wherein I wrote 16,000 words. I'm pretty proud of that, and that work ended up being some of my best to date.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 10, 2006

Red Shonja said:
I aim for 1000 words a day (I know that's not very impressive) and the reason I keep the goal low (for now) is that I find I can achieve it easily, and when I end up writing more, I feel pretty darned chuffed about it.

Now, I could aim for 5000, produce crap and feel disheartened enough to skip days, but I wouldn't end up a happy camper, and my total word count would possibly end up lower.

I type it straight into the computer.

I wish I had have learned to type. I've taken 2 typing classes since high school and have failed both of them. The best I can do is 30 words per minute while looking at the keyboard and fixing mistakes as I go.... I've never got over the fact that I think the keyboard was made wrong...

There are some pretty darned good freeware typing programs out there. Or maybe you should try a [SIZE=-1]Dvorak keyboard, or even an alphabetic keyboard.[/SIZE]

Shadow_Ferret · Jul 10, 2006

Red Shonja said:
I've never got over the fact that I think the keyboard was made wrong...

It was, on purpose. The current QWERTY keyboard was designed to SLOW typists down, not to speed things up.

icerose · Jul 10, 2006

Shadow_Ferret said:
It was, on purpose. The current QWERTY keyboard was designed to SLOW typists down, not to speed things up.

If you think current ones are bad, you should try out the original ones.

HeyBooBoo · Jul 10, 2006

I set my goals by pages and weeks. I aim for 40 pages a week, and that works for me. That way, if something is going on during the week, I won't beat myself up for not writing, I just make it up on the weekends. I once did 60 pages in a week (this was back when I was using Times New Roman), but the story was really flowing and I couldn't have turned it off, even if I wanted to.

I write for 4-6 hours a day, and should probably be able to do more, but I usually have to stop to think things out and do research. I do make an outline, but it's so bare it doesn't even deserve that title. It's less a skeleton of my story, and more a few ribs and a shoulder. What I think is going to happen always changes, and I always have to make room for those one-note characters that insist on having more depth and playing a larger role in the story.

Snitchcat · Jul 11, 2006

I don't set word count goals, or indeed, any type of quantifiable goals. I tried it once and it's not possible with my schedule -- working 12-16 hours a day. Any writing I get done on any given day is a good boost and an achievement.

Weekends are also frequently interrupted. Which leaves around 10 hours a week to fit in writing, housework, other daily stuff, rest / exercise and socialising. I realise I could cut the rest/exercise and socialising, but cutting the former isn't such a wise thing to do, and the latter is already on minimum. (There's also no one to help me with the housework, etc. Oh, well. ) Heh.

However, like Rachel I can focus completely and intensely on writing. This is regardless of wherever I am, and the noise level, etc., thus making up for no goals, and lack of time. Strangely, in spite of -- or to spite -- such a schedule (which is comparatively by no means that horrendous), I can get a decent 500 to 1000 words a day. Maybe more if I ignore housework, lol.

seun · Jul 11, 2006

I aim for 2000 but usually fall short by 500-600. :tongue

Steve W · Jul 11, 2006

Hi,

This is quite amazing.

There are some massive amounts here - 10,000, 12,000, 16,000, even 20,000. I wouldn't have thought it possible to write 20,000 in a day. If I didn't write with pen and paper, then type, (and leaving 8 hours for sleep!) I figure I could scribble maybe 10,000 in one day... but I couldn't do another 10,000 the next day! And no way could I ever hit 20,000. I did 20,000 in a week once and thought I'd done something spectacular! I wouldn't have thought it humanly possible to hit that in a day - well, maybe using speech recognition software.

Those people who do hit such large numbers, how much of your first draft sees it through to the final one? And for how long can you keep up such rates, or is it simply indefinitely?

Cheers,
Steve

gp101 · Jul 11, 2006

Shadow_Ferret said:
It was, on purpose. The current QWERTY keyboard was designed to SLOW typists down, not to speed things up.

Now this piqued my interest. Don't you dare leave me hanging, Shadow. Your evil cliff-hanger has worked. Please 'splain me why this is so. Maybe everyone else knows why, but I missed the memo. I miss a lot of memos.

Daily word count

Steve W

CaroGirl

Living the dream

Carlene

New kid, be gentle!

FloVoyager

Will write for chocolate

jchines

Got the hang of it, here

Siddow

I'm super! Thanks for asking

Zolah

Over the hills and far away

stephblake24

Ben King

rachelcaine

Zolah

Over the hills and far away

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!

RG570

Jamesaritchie

icerose

Lost in School Work

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

R. Scott Kennan

Jamesaritchie

Shadow_Ferret

Court Jester

icerose

Lost in School Work

HeyBooBoo

Snitchcat

Dragon-kitty.

seun

Horror Man

Steve W

gp101