How many pages can you write a day?

There was one day I added an "a" to a sentence, and that was my entire output. And sometimes, cutting stuff out leaves me with a negative word count for the day.

On the other side, my record for this WIP is 4,500 words (maybe 12-15 pages? I don't count that way). I've been averaging nearly 1,000/day this month, which is more productive than the last couple of months. I started this at the end of February, and am at nearly 68K.

But writers vary. Some are faster, some are slower--it's all good. Just get there!

bigreader65 said:

Sorry, what is WIP? Work in progress?
One page for me is approx 400 words. If I could get to your output of 1000 per day I'd be doing a lot better.

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Yes, work in progress. Sorry for the confusion.

I don't measure by page numbers, only in words. Some days I'm lucky if I can get 100 words written. The most I've written in one day was a little over 10,000. I won't discuss my mental condition the next day, though...

I can write 100 pages a day as long as I do it in 72 point font.

Otherwise I write 900-1,400 words an hour, so it depends on how long I can focus for.

My record for a single day was 8.5k, but that was during NaNoWriMo and I tend to put up big numbers during that (most of which gets hacked away come revision time). 1.5k is more typical for me; a good day is 3k.

I average 500 words per hour at home. Some days I only get a word or two. Others I can type 2,500 in an hour. My daily goal is 1,000.

I'm pretty sure majority of writers measure their writing in words not pages. If you want to break that down though, at 12 pt, double space, one of the standard fonts, it's about 250 words per page.

I don't have any 'page' goals (per day); I just try to put my butt in the chair every day for X amount of time. Sometimes it's 30 minutes and sometimes it's 3 hours!

A usual day for me is 1,000- 2,000 words. A great day for me is 3,000- 6,000 words.

It varies - but on my most current WIP, I was averaging 12-15k words a day. I'm not always that productive, but in this case, the story practically wrote itself.

On average, I do about 5k words a day. Some days are good, some - not so much.

2,500 --3,000 words is a good day for me. But after a L O N G time of no words at all I cherish all the words that come freely now. And most of them have been pretty darn good.

*bows to the Word Gods for returning the magic*

1500-2500 words. I write about 500-700 words an hour.

I write around 500 words and hour, so it depends on how long I'm writing. I try to get in at least 500-750 words a day when working on a longer project.

Minimum that I write is 5k a day because it keeps the editor at bay. *time/children permitting*

My personal record is 12k, but my hands hurt like a bitch the next day so it was actually kind of counter productive.

A good day for me is 1,000-1,500 words. In terms of quantity, a bad day is when I cut more than I add. Of course, in terms of quality that may be a good day.

Ann_Mayburn said:

Minimum that I write is 5k a day because it keeps the editor at bay. *time/children permitting*

My personal record is 12k, but my hands hurt like a bitch the next day so it was actually kind of counter productive.

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Same here, almost down to the letter. (no children and no pain in my hands)

For me, it varies... One day I can get only 300 words added, and other times, I've hit the 7K mark. It all depends how much alone/writing time I have during the day and how deeply the story has hooked me.

Keep in mind I write only part time and mostly during the school year here....

Hi Bigreader65,
If some of these big numbers are freaking you out, don't worry! We're all different and at different points in our writing journey and/or career. When I'm struggling to get words on the page, I stop thinking about it and just write anything that comes to mind. Even if I think it's complete crap, even if it's going in a way I didn't intend (which is usually a great direction and always fun!)
You wrote that you get one 'good page' a day. If you're working on a first or even second draft, stop worrying about writing a good page and just write a really crappy page. If I'm really stuck, I'll just sit down and write the cheesiest thing I can think of. It lets me be silly and usually it gets me right back to where I need to go. I spent way too many years trying to write good pages and it just froze me up. I only say this because if that's what's happening with your writing, I've been there!! If you're not happy with your output, try new things. Try a new location to write, try writing something silly, try writing something you've never done before.
The easiest way for me to let the story take me away is to write on a voice recorder (on my phone) while I go for a long walk. You'd be amazed at how easy it is to pump out 3000 words in half an hour!
Interesting topic though! My personal best was 11K during Nano. Felt great. Never did it again. LOL. When I'm working on a first or second draft, I shoot for 1000 words a day, minimum. I'm happy when I get 3000. For revisions, I try to do a minimum of 5 pages a day, but like to do a chapter a day.
Good luck with your writing!!
Kristi

I've only written one romance, but I wrote it at the same speed I write everything else. I'm not sure about "pages", but day in and day out I write 2,500 final draft words in five hours. For me, this is a fairly leisurely rate that I can keep up all year without suffering burnout.

My writing is severely curtailed by a day job, but I still try to get 2000 to 3000 words on my 'days off'. When I have multiple days, eight hours a day to write, I can manage up to 8K a day easily. My best day was around 12K, but it wiped me out.

Some days I am lucky to grab thirty free minutes and get out a couple hundred words. It has taught me to be plotting when I'm not writing, and make the most of my keyboard time.

New writing, between 1500 and 5000 words a day, depending on how I'm working and how long I have to work. Cleanup rounds, I can add or subtract, depending on what needs done. Best day, I did 10K. Worst, I deleted 15K.

Things I've done that have helped increase productivity include pre-plotting scenes, letting go of nit-picky things in the initial writing phase and using dictation software instead of typing. Things that slow me down include not getting enough sleep, Twitter and watching too much TV.

Here's a newbie number to bring down the average. Right now, I'm shooting for 2000 words per full 8hr day. Some days I get 500, some days I get over 5000, but I usually can hit 2k without feeling wiped out. I'm trying to up my goal a bit, but I tend to spend half the time revising what I wrote the day before so it rarely pans out.

If we're talking "submittable" words, however, the number's a LOT lower. I'd say 900 per day (it takes me 20+ working days to have a "ready to submit" 20k novella, factoring in beta reads and revisions). I was even slower than that the few times I've tried to exceed 35k (one 50k manuscript took twice as long as two 20k ones). Suffice it to say my writing goal at the moment is to write faster (and better...and longer...the list goes on )

There was this one morning when I woke up as if possessed and 11k words poured out. But then I read over it the next day and trunked the entire thing.

MsLaylaCakes said:

Here's a newbie number to bring down the average. Right now, I'm shooting for 2000 words per full 8hr day. Some days I get 500, some days I get over 5000, but I usually can hit 2k without feeling wiped out. I'm trying to up my goal a bit, but I tend to spend half the time revising what I wrote the day before so it rarely pans out.

If we're talking "submittable" words, however, the number's a LOT lower. I'd say 900 per day (it takes me 20+ working days to have a "ready to submit" 20k novella, factoring in beta reads and revisions). I was even slower than that the few times I've tried to exceed 35k (one 50k manuscript took twice as long as two 20k ones). Suffice it to say my writing goal at the moment is to write faster (and better...and longer...the list goes on )

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Although I write about 1500-2500 words a day when writing a first draft...I am not usually writing a first draft. I usually have 4 drafts and am a pretty slow editor. So if you averaged in all the editing, it would probably come out to 500 words/day. And I do not have a(nother) job, so I've got lots of time, though I never spend 8 hours a day on writing. I, too, would like to write faster and longer. I struggle to write anything over 30k.

Things start getting a little dodgy for me after the 7K mark...