What is your daily word count/quota?

What is your daily quota?

  • Word Limit

    Votes: 21 67.7%
  • Time Limit

    Votes: 1 3.2%
  • Page Limit

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Varies

    Votes: 9 29.0%

  • Total voters
    31
Status
Not open for further replies.

GoSpeed

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 22, 2016
Messages
138
Reaction score
25
Location
Martinsburg, WV USA
Website
www.rjacques.net
I aim for at least 500 words on the days I write. Once I reach that point I typically keep writing and often reach 1,200 or more words when the mood is right.
 

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman
Super Moderator
Absolute Sage
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
22,454
Reaction score
4,956
Location
In chaos
I aim to write 500-1000 words a day but often don't make that target or, if the writing is really going well, sometimes I'll exceed it.

I have, in the past, twice written more than 60,000 words in five days and as a direct result of that I have repetitive strain injury which now prevents me from typing in any great volume. Please, everyone, make sure you're taking care of yourself and not damaging your hands by typing too much, too fast, too soon. Check your posture. Take rests. Often.
 

thethinker42

Abnormal Romance Author
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 30, 2006
Messages
20,733
Reaction score
2,669
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Website
www.gallagherwitt.com
5,000 words a day. I do take days off, and I have admin and editing days, but if it's a writing day (5-6 days a week), it's 5,000 words. (Also I do this full-time, have no kids, and have a pretty quiet social life)
 

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer
Super Member
Registered
Temp Ban
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,478
Reaction score
268
Location
Los Angeles
Website
LaerCarroll.com
If your goal was curiosity, I'd guess it's satisfied. Every writer is unique, and our answers will vary widely.

If you're wondering what count to set for yourself, no one else's answers are likely to help. You are unique. Only you can set a good goal.

Personally, I consider word count a terrible measure of progress. Writing is more than just piling up words. It's also doing needed research, utterly necessary for almost all categories of writing. That takes up to about 25% of most of my writing days. Thinking time, overview of the whole, puzzling about small details and small but crucial plot points, or character creation, take up maybe another 25%.

A few months ago I set aside a novel for a month but kept coming back to it at different angles at odd moments of most days. Most productive time I spent on that book, and I turned out not one word.
 

Harlequin

Eat books, not brains!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
4,584
Reaction score
1,412
Location
The land from whence the shadows fall
Website
www.sunyidean.com
I probably produce 1000 words a day when in the draft stage but as Laer says, it doesn't convey much. I might write a thousand words and not add to my word count if I'm deleting or editing as i go.

Perhaps as a better measure -- I started current novel on Jan 1 and finished (incl revision) first week of July. Final word count is 96k.

Technically, you could count how many words per day that equates to, but it wouldn't account for the seven from-scratch rewrites I did of Act 2, and the five or so rewrites of Act 5. Anyway, the point is I got there in the end. With a shedload of editing, rewriting, revising, restructuring.

It is inefficient but works for me and I like to "road test" options by scribbling them down.
 

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,723
Reaction score
9,705
Location
USA
I'm trying to figure out when to put aside work. I vary in intensity and am trying to find out what is an ideal writing goal per day. For this reason, fellow AWers, I ask for your input. Do you have a set time? Number of pages? Chapters completed?

Please share your insight. :)

Mornings are best for my old brain, and rough draft I shoot for 1000 on the days I write and they are crap.

I remember one bizarre day last summer that I plunked out 7000 bad words. Sometimes the scenes really do play out and come out the fingertips. More often I have no idea what happens next, although thinking in terms of 'plot points' seems to help this time around.

Book one I started with an arc'd out plot. Book two I am trying "discovery writing" and it's not working for me. I need to make me a plot arc. I've discovered I'm definitely a plotter.

I'm in camp nanowrimo and writing 1000 words reliably every other day. 2018 goal was to have a first draft done for book two. I'm on track.
 
Last edited:

RolandWrites

SFF Author, Neurodiverse
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 6, 2018
Messages
94
Reaction score
8
Like other commenters, I have deadlines now, so I find that just knowing I have deadlines makes me write more than I might have done before. When I didn't, though, I tried to write by word count. 1000 words in a day felt like a good number (read as not too big or too small) and something I could easily do on a lunch break at work if I set my mind to it. If I had free time to write after that and nothing else that needed my attention, I could keep going.
 

Vhb_Rocketman

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
58
Reaction score
4
Location
Canada
I generally try to avoid daily goals as I find I fail them too often due to daily activities. I prefer to do weekly goals as it allows more flexibility in my schedule.

As to what these goals are:

During the first write phase (clean sheet of paper), i try to aim for one chapter a week or about 2500 to 3000 words. Where the weekend ended up being the bulk of my writing.

During the subsequent revision phases I try to aim for 3 chapters a week. Where the breakup is one during the week and one on saturday then sunday. But keep in mind I don't do that many major rewrites.

Personally I like using chapters instead of hard word counts as there's a bigger feeling of success and closure when I finish the chapter. It also allows me to start fresh the next day/week. And if I finish early I reward myself with a day off.
 

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer
Super Member
Registered
Temp Ban
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,478
Reaction score
268
Location
Los Angeles
Website
LaerCarroll.com
...
Personally I like using chapters instead of hard word counts as there's a bigger feeling of success and closure when I finish the chapter. It also allows me to start fresh the next day/week. And if I finish early I reward myself with a day off.

That seems a good practice. Now that you mention it I realize I've fallen into doing the same thing. EXCEPT...

Scenes not chapters are the basic large dramatic unit. Chapters are just containers for scenes. Some people like to put one scene per chapter, so that the two are the one and the same. I've done that and it's an effective practice.

But since then I find most often I put several related scenes into a chapter, some longer, some shorter, even just summaries of scenes which are important to the narrative but not so much they need to be fully fleshed out ("shown"). So my chapters become something like "The first half of summer spent with her dad" and "The second half spent with her mom." Or "Escape from the castle" and "Dealing with their pursuers."

Occasionally I find a scene is quite long, so I can't finish it in one writing session. Then I try to end that day on some zig-zag point in the scene, as when an important character enters or exits the scene, or the plot takes a radical direction. That gives me the same feel of closure you mention.

Different writers work differently, of course. So what works for me may not for others.
 
Last edited:

Woollybear

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
9,723
Reaction score
9,705
Location
USA
Writing scene chunks is useful but so far I am learning that what I write as a scene chunk is really just a 200-500 word idea that will need a lot of work later.
 

BonafideDreamer

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 8, 2017
Messages
72
Reaction score
3
I wish I had one. When I try to make myself write, I end up writing a lot of filler just so I can feel productive. Now I just let the ideas come to me even if it means writing less per day. I wrote about 100 words today and 100 words yesterday.
 

rhiannon_writes

✿✿✿
Registered
Joined
Jul 19, 2018
Messages
37
Reaction score
7
Right now, 8,000 words a day.

Normally it's far, far less than that, but since it's summer and I don't have an overwhelming amount of responsibilities :Shrug: During the school year, my goal is usually just to write. No quota, no word count, because sometimes that's not feasible. As long as I can get something down, whether it's a couple of sentences or a complete chapter, I call it good.
 

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer
Super Member
Registered
Temp Ban
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Messages
2,478
Reaction score
268
Location
Los Angeles
Website
LaerCarroll.com
...During the school year, my goal is usually just to write. No quota, no word count, because sometimes that's not feasible. As long as I can get something down, whether it's a couple of sentences or a complete chapter, I call it good.

I think that's a good practice, one I need to do more often. Keep the momentum going even if the actual output is low some days/weeks.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.