50+ words a day...no matter what!

[Lorri Moulton]

About 1k words so far today. 

[Post-Crisis D]

Current average is up to 598 words per day.

April 20th:    535
April 21st:    360
April 22nd: 1035

None today yet.

On another note, I calculated that, at my current rate, it will take me approximately 84 years to finish all my WIPs.

I did some recalculating.  At my current average (589 words per day) and if I make some my WIPs novellas, I can finish everything in 23.3 years.  If I make everything (with a couple exceptions) a minimum of 50k, it will take me 34.64 years to complete.

If I could manage to average 1000 words per day, I'd cut that in about half.  If I could write at Amanda Lee levels, I could finish everything in three years. 

Of course, that is all using arbitrary word count estimates based on popular conceptions of how long certain books *should* be.  But, I don't know about that.  Do arbitrary word counts make for better stories or do they just invite fluff for the sake of padding the word count to reach that goal?  In what way does the final word count really matter?  When you read a story, it either feels like a satisfying read or it doesn't.  Does a few more or less words make that big of a difference?  If you write a story and it comes up short according to some dogmatic word count chart, do you go back and add more filler to meet the word count?  Maybe you overlooked the character using the toilet.  Do you go back and describe the grunting and groaning as he struggled to squeeze it out, then describe how many wipes it took to clean himself?  On that note, is he a wiper or a washer?  Is that a key character trait that the reader really needs to know about?  Was there blood in his stool?  A bit of corn?  Should you, as the narrator of the story, dig deep and describe every detail of the character's bowel movement?  What shape was it?  Did the stools sink or rise to the top?  Does a 5,000 word chapter detailing the character's bathroom experience make a better story, especially if it gets you to that arbitrary word count your story needs to be to be considered a novel in its genre?  Does that make the character more relatable to the reader, allowing the reader to feel, hey, I use the bathroom too?

But I digress . . .  What was the point again?  Oh, yes, daily word counts.  On that topic, none for today so far, unless you count the 410 words of this post.

[Maggie Ann]

Much better than me, Dan. Me and my dragon have managed about four paragraphs of dictation, but having to dictate so slowly, keeps the wordage from flowing. I've deleted every single word so far.

I'll get there.

[Post-Crisis D]

Much better than me, Dan. Me and my dragon have managed about four paragraphs of dictation, but having to dictate so slowly, keeps the wordage from flowing. I've deleted every single word so far.

I can't do dictation at all.  I suppose it might be different if I didn't have a choice, but I just can't get used to talking to a computer, especially one that doesn't talk back.  It's bad enough talking to people; I'm supposed to talk to a machine?

I had voice command on my computer in the 90s.  It was cool for a day or two, but then it was like, yeah, I'm just gonna use the mouse.

I sometimes think if I had money--you know, like those writers in movies that always seem to be rich because their first book sold so well or whatever--I could have a personal assistant and dictate to them and they could type it all down.  But then I'd worry they'd be like judging you as you "wrote" and they'd be like, are you sure that's what you want to write? or, even if they didn't, I'd be wondering if they were and trying to interpret every little gesture to determine whether or not they thought what I was writing was any good and then I'd be so sidetracked by that or I'd end up second-guessing everything before I dictated it, that probably not very much would be written at all.

Stupid personal assistants.  Ugh.

You could try talking into a tape recorder and having someone (or maybe yourself) transcribe it later.  I did some transcription jobs back in the early 90s.  The client liked micro-cassettes, so it was good that I had purchased a micro-cassette player so I could listen to the tapes and transcribe them.  Was kind of time-consuming though, as I had to frequently back up the tape to either confirm or make out what was being said.  I don't know what I charged but it should have been more.  LOL.

[lea_owens]

I know I can write 3,000 words in an evening without too much stress... and yet I dither and don't. I've made a concerted effort to reach at least 2,000 words a day since April 8 when I started this new stand-alone action/adventure, but haven't made that average. Just below where I'm writing, under the notes for that chapter (which I copy over from my chapter outline so that I can stay on target with plot and don't let characters re-invent the plot as they go along), I put the word count for that day when I finish. I'll put it below. It makes an average of about 1650 words a day since I started.

If I could write more and dilly-dally less, I could make the target of 120,000 words by mid-June. It's difficult to avoid the negative self-talk, the negativity from people around, the anxiety, and everything else that sucks the energy out of writing... but I'm trying. So many books to write, so little focus. I can't get my head around dictation - and yet I have the sentences formed in my head as a voice whose words I type down. So, I plug away typing in Word because that's where I'm comfortable.

(edited to add - these are the CUMULATIVE totals -  - not what I achieve each day.)
April 8, 0
April 9, 1952
April 11, 3925
April 12 5022
April 13 7175
April 14, 9113
April 15, 10,885
April 16, 12,461
April 17, 14,822
April 18, 16,486
April 20  18,009
April 21, 20,632
April 22, 22,783
April 23, 24,667

[Post-Crisis D]

April 8, 0
April 9, 1952
April 11, 3925
April 12 5022
April 13 7175
April 14, 9113
April 15, 10,885
April 16, 12,461
April 17, 14,822
April 18, 16,486
April 20  18,009
April 21, 20,632
April 22, 22,783
April 23, 24,667

Well, that was scary.  At first, I read the line that you can write 3,000 words in an evening and then I jumped to the list, where I thought those were your daily word counts.  I was impressed at 10,000; I think that surpasses Amanda Lee.  Then you hit 12k and 18k and 24k and geesh.  If I could write 24k words a day, I'd have all my WIPs finished in 6 months.  LOL.

I was a bit relieved when I figured out it was the cumulative total.

[lea_owens]

April 8, 0
April 9, 1952
April 11, 3925
April 12 5022
April 13 7175
April 14, 9113
April 15, 10,885
April 16, 12,461
April 17, 14,822
April 18, 16,486
April 20  18,009
April 21, 20,632
April 22, 22,783
April 23, 24,667

Well, that was scary.  At first, I read the line that you can write 3,000 words in an evening and then I jumped to the list, where I thought those were your daily word counts.  I was impressed at 10,000; I think that surpasses Amanda Lee.  Then you hit 12k and 18k and 24k and geesh.  If I could write 24k words a day, I'd have all my WIPs finished in 6 months.  LOL.

I was a bit relieved when I figured out it was the cumulative total.

lol I should have used the word 'cumulative'. In fact, I shall edit (if possible). That last day, with 24,000+ words would have been a doozy. :D

[Maggie Ann]

Dan, if I could transcribe, I could type it directly into the laptop without a recorder go-between. Even typing a few paragraphs aggravates the shoulder.

I wouldn't transcribe without a dictaphone in any case. Foot controls for speed, replay, FF, REW, etc. I could bang out dozens of pages, but then that was my job.

Lea, I'm with you. When I type I can hear the words in my head which should mean I can dictate a sentence as easily as I write. I only wish that were the case.

But I'll keep plugging away at it. The Comfort Fit shoulder harness with ice pack helped and tomorrow I go see the ortho for the results of the MRI. Unless I have a really bad tear, I'll be insisting on trying PT first.

I also had two brownies tonight and I'm sure they had magical curative powers.

[Post-Crisis D]

Dan, if I could transcribe, I could type it directly into the laptop without a recorder go-between. Even typing a few paragraphs aggravates the shoulder.

Sorry, I meant you could transcribe it later, when you're all healed up.

Our voicemail system at the office automatically transcribes messages and sends them in an eMail.  They are usually very, very wrong, but it might make for some entertaining writing.   

[Maggie Ann]

Dan, if I could transcribe, I could type it directly into the laptop without a recorder go-between. Even typing a few paragraphs aggravates the shoulder.

Sorry, I meant you could transcribe it later, when you're all healed up.

Our voicemail system at the office automatically transcribes messages and sends them in an eMail.  They are usually very, very wrong, but it might make for some entertaining writing.   

Okay, that's a thought.

I used to take lists of my co-workers names and run them through spell check. That was definitely entertaining. Now spell check is much more sophisticated and I wouldn't get such weird (and sometimes very apt) names.

[Maggie Ann]

No tear  and I successfully dictated 50 good words today. 

Doc found the source of the inflammation and injected cortisone directly into that spot. I'll still use the ice and I'll be checking on exercises as soon as I'm well enough to strengthen those shoulder muscles. I see marathon writing in my future.      

[Post-Crisis D]

April 23rd:  675
April 24th:  875

None yet for today.  I have no chance of beating January or February's daily averages but I do have a shot at beating March's daily average word count.

Getting close to the 170k mark on this one.  Target is 180k, probably.  Who knows.  The characters wound up encountering the big big bad before taking on the big bad, so not sure how things are going to pan out.  If I stuck with my original plan, I'd probably end up taking another 100k to wrap it up.  Oy.

In other news, on my space opera, the one whose word count I'm not counting here, I seem to have written myself into a corner.  Finally reached the space cat chapter and one of the two-ish main characters called something into question which sort of throws a wrench into how the chapter was supposed to go down.

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,140 words today, which puts me just past the 170k mark.  Some of the characters have now been captured by the big big bad.

[Maggie Ann]

Not much, but 211 words is better than yesterday. It's going to be a short battle scene.

[Maggie Ann]

Only 68 words yesterday but they were really bad words. They've been tossed.

Right now, I'm struggling with the battle scene and had to do a lot of research to make it as authentic as possible. Actually, I ended up devising my own strategies and they make sense to me. So, I'm 188 words further along today.

[Post-Crisis D]

Up and down for me . . .

April 26th:   360
April 27th:   460
April 28th: 1065

Put one of the characters through the ringer today in an example of bad naked.  One of the bad guys is kind of sadistic.

[Maggie Ann]

Okay, the battle is won after 308 words, mostly dictated. I typed the last couple of sentences since they were dialogue.

[lea_owens]

I'm up to 34,886 in 20 days (when I started this new book), and I've written every day except one (I think), so that's an average of  1,744 a day.
Gotta lift my game.
Gotta write more.
Gotta stop chasing cyber butterflies every ten minutes.

My aim is to lift the average to 2,000 words a day... then 3,000. But I'm always aiming high and falling short - then shrugging a, 'whatever.'

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,535 words today.  Looks like my daily word count average will be better than March, but not as good as either January or February.  Maybe May will be better.

I've now hit the 175k mark which means I'm actually about 1,500 words short of 175k.

Not sure it will end at 180k as previously predicted.  I keep coming up with ideas for the big confrontation scene.  I mean, I've had the scene in mind since probably around when I started the book, but I keep coming up with stuff to build on it.  I think it will be a fun scene, if I can ever get to it.  LOL.

On the flip side, the character that was supposed to die 2/3rds of the way through the book hasn't.  Yet.  The character will still die, just not 2/3rds of the way through because I'm not writing another 100k in this book.

[Maggie Ann]

Good count, Dan.

Okay, the battle is won and it's time to tend the seriously injured unloved husband. Took 294 words to get there. This is so frustrating. I could always sit down and knock out 2K words at a time, but now I either stumble through dictation or can only type a bit before the arm starts acting up. Piffle. 

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 2,660 words today.  The big, big bad is dealt with, presumably, and the characters are on their way to face the big bad.  The MC has finally made his change from whiny wanderer to warrior in his hero's journey.

I wound up writing 21,950 words for the month with a 713.67 words per day average which isn't as good as January or February but it did best March's word count of 18,005 words with a 580.81 daily word average.  Hopefully May will go better and I can wrap this one up.

The scene I thought would go on longer didn't seem to play out on paper as long as it did in my head.  I also realized after finishing the chapter that I had omitted a small detail I had meant to include.  Not sure whether to go back and add it tomorrow, fit it in somewhere else or leave it out entirely.  I am leaning towards one of the first two options.  I am now around 176k in actual word count.

[Lorri Moulton]

I am back to work on my series.  I had to take a short break to rework some ideas, but I think we have them all fixed.  Not easy to trim a series from six months to six weeks (storyline time) but I think we've done it!

My co-author has decided she prefers writing children's stories...and she just finished an amazing one...so I'm going to wrap this up and move on to my next book. 

[Post-Crisis D]

I've gotten May off to a good start with 1,045 words today, which gives me a daily average of 1,045 words per day for the month so far.  LOL.

Starting the big battle scene.  Would have written more, but a big storm (IRL) is supposed to be coming and I don't like to have the computer on when there's lightning.  Why take chances, eh?

[Maggie Ann]

Giving up the battle for now. But not the war. Never the war. 

I have to dictate so slowly, nothing makes sense and I have to toss what I've allegedly written. Or I try to type and after a short while, my arm starts to hurt so bad I have to stop. I can't get enough momentum for the words to flow and everything I write is crap.

I think I'll concentrate on training my dragon by reading into it. Maybe after a week or so, it will accept my voice.

Keep up the good work everyone. Hopefully, I'll be back before long.

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,795 words today which puts me within 1k of 180k of actual word count.

The characters are battling their way towards the big bad.  Maybe tomorrow or over the weekend they'll reach him.

Hopefully, they packed a lunch. 

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 2,200 words today as the characters battle their way to reach the big bad.

Doing fairly well so far this month with a three-day total of 5,040 words.  As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my personal best is 6,752 words over three days and this may be the closest I've come to that in quite a well.  Heck, if I could write 3,000 words tomorrow (LOL), I could set a new personal best.

[EC Sheedy]

I wrote today--but not counting.  All I'll say is it was enough to qualify for this thread. And enough to know I've hit a wall.  Pondering whether to pound through said wall or have a glass of wine. Too early for wine, so . . .

This is not an "I love writing" kind of day.

[notthatamanda]

Go Dan go!

[Lorri Moulton]

Giving up the battle for now. But not the war. Never the war. 

I have to dictate so slowly, nothing makes sense and I have to toss what I've allegedly written. Or I try to type and after a short while, my arm starts to hurt so bad I have to stop. I can't get enough momentum for the words to flow and everything I write is crap.

I think I'll concentrate on training my dragon by reading into it. Maybe after a week or so, it will accept my voice.

Keep up the good work everyone. Hopefully, I'll be back before long.

Maybe you'll make it smarter.  It couldn't hurt. 

[Lorri Moulton]

I wrote today--but not counting.  All I'll say is it was enough to qualify for this thread. And enough to know I've hit a wall.  Pondering whether to pound through said wall or have a glass of wine. Too early for wine, so . . .

This is not an "I love writing" kind of day.

Crash through the wall...then the wine? 

[EC Sheedy]

I wrote today--but not counting.  All I'll say is it was enough to qualify for this thread. And enough to know I've hit a wall.  Pondering whether to pound through said wall or have a glass of wine. Too early for wine, so . . .

This is not an "I love writing" kind of day.

Crash through the wall...then the wine? 

Good advice. Tomorrow is another day. I will crash through my wall, accept the headache, and move forward. 

“Try looking at your mind as a wayward puppy that you are trying to paper train. You don't drop-kick a puppy into the neighbor's yard every time it piddles on the floor. You just keep bringing it back to the newspaper.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

[solo]

I did some recalculating.  At my current average (589 words per day) and if I make some my WIPs novellas, I can finish everything in 23.3 years.  If I make everything (with a couple exceptions) a minimum of 50k, it will take me 34.64 years to complete.


Love this. Thanks, Dan.

My mind now is mush. Need a break.

                                                                WIP 1                                     WIP 2                              WIP 3                 WIP 4
                                                            Amazon Deadline!              Amazon Deadline!                     Running on Patreon and
                                                                                                                                                        serialized website
                                                                                                                                         (probably will polish and publish later)

March 3 to April 28                                 51,476 finished!                       23,942                            5,567                  13,144
                                                          (subject to review;
                                                      probably will reach 55K)
April 29                                                        -                                        1,313                            1,200                      -
May 1                                                           -                                        1,441                              -                          -
May 2                                                           -                                          -                                1,265                      -
May 3                                                           -                                        1,562                              -                           -


Thanks for reading.

[Maggie Ann]

Still training my dragon. Reading from a book directly into Word through Dragon at normal speed and volume. Fairly accurate. Now I have to learn to think and talk at the same time.

 

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,115 words today.  The characters had to fight through a bunch of enemies and are now looking at the door which will open into the room where they will find the big bad.  Not all will survive.

But that will be for tomorrow.  Also, I should probably decide on who will deliver the final blow as any of those who survive will be capable of it.  (And who dies I've known since early on as this is a scene I've had planned in my head for maybe since I started writing this book.)

And then the book won't be over because they will still have to clean up the mess as some of the big bad's underlings are still back in the town the characters had to leave to get to the big bad.  So, after that, taking down the little bads.  LOL.

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,385 words today.  Still no big battle.  Instead, both sides were making their final preparations.  Also took care of a minor plot hole.  Well, not so much a plot hole as a question of logic.  That is, I knew why certain things were the way they were, but there was no in-story explanation and the reader would have had to have first read In Search of the Legendary Phineas Ray (or, possibly, Bad Fiction as the explanation might have also been in there) but I figured it best that it be stated explicitly in the current book.  It was an offhand reference anyway that actually presented a real world explanation, but even people that read Phineas Ray don't seem to have picked up on it.  And that sort of thing is actually a concern to me as sometimes I feel I may be making certain things too obvious, yet people still miss it.

Anyway, perhaps tomorrow they will all be ready to rumble!

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,925 words today.  The big bad's soldiers have been defeated, but the big bad is still alive.  However, now one of the good guys is dead and the surviving good guys plus the big bad have all been captured by the big big bad.  Also, it occurs to me maybe I shouldn't be talking about spoilers like this. 

[Harry J Langley]

First real productive day yesterday on first draft of book three in my series, 1783 yesterday

[Maggie Ann]

I wrote 1,925 words today.  The big bad's soldiers have been defeated, but the big bad is still alive.  However, now one of the good guys is dead and the surviving good guys plus the big bad have all been captured by the big big bad.  Also, it occurs to me maybe I shouldn't be talking about spoilers like this. 

I love Cliff Notes. Sorry about your dead good guy. I'm sure he meant a lot to you.

[EC Sheedy]

First real productive day yesterday on first draft of book three in my series, 1783 yesterday

Give yourself a star! Nothing feels better than a productive day.

I didn't get near your count but I'll take the 267 I scribbled yesterday. Also discovered I have too many characters. That can really mess things up, unless you're writing another Game of Thrones. Which I am definitely not!
 

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,925 words today.  The big bad's soldiers have been defeated, but the big bad is still alive.  However, now one of the good guys is dead and the surviving good guys plus the big bad have all been captured by the big big bad.  Also, it occurs to me maybe I shouldn't be talking about spoilers like this. 

I love Cliff Notes. Sorry about your dead good guy. I'm sure he meant a lot to you.

Said character has been fated to die in this battle since very early on when I started writing the book.  At the time, it was meant to be more humorous but the book has since taken a more serious tone, so maybe it's a bit more tragic now.  Not sure.  I'll have to go over the scene again when I'm finished to make sure the death comes off well.

No animals die though, unless you count the mutants that are part squirrel.

[Maggie Ann]

I wrote 1,925 words today.  The big bad's soldiers have been defeated, but the big bad is still alive.  However, now one of the good guys is dead and the surviving good guys plus the big bad have all been captured by the big big bad.  Also, it occurs to me maybe I shouldn't be talking about spoilers like this. 

I love Cliff Notes. Sorry about your dead good guy. I'm sure he meant a lot to you.

Said character has been fated to die in this battle since very early on when I started writing the book.  At the time, it was meant to be more humorous but the book has since taken a more serious tone, so maybe it's a bit more tragic now.  Not sure.  I'll have to go over the scene again when I'm finished to make sure the death comes off well.

No animals die though, unless you count the mutants that are part squirrel.

One of the worst death scenes was Sirius Black. Bad enough that a beloved character got Kadavra'd, but it was almost like a throw away line. Maybe it was two lines. I had to go back and read it a few times before it sunk it. As fast as I read, I might have even missed it.

The squirrel thing depends. Was it the squirrels who became part human (or whatever they mutated into), or the humans who became part squirrel. If it was the former, then it definitely counts as a dead squirrel, although they are considered rodents in England and probably a lot of other places.

[Post-Crisis D]

One of the worst death scenes was Sirius Black. Bad enough that a beloved character got Kadavra'd, but it was almost like a throw away line. Maybe it was two lines. I had to go back and read it a few times before it sunk it. As fast as I read, I might have even missed it.

Well, in mine, there's no real death scene.  The other characters spot the body in the aftermath of an event.

The squirrel thing depends. Was it the squirrels who became part human (or whatever they mutated into), or the humans who became part squirrel. If it was the former, then it definitely counts as a dead squirrel, although they are considered rodents in England and probably a lot of other places.

More along the lines of a mad scientist's creation.  So more of a DNA mix than subjecting squirrels to gamma rays.  ;)

[Harry J Langley]

1091 yesterday, 2038 today.  Feel like I'm starting to get somewhere!

[Post-Crisis D]

Guess I've missed updating for a few days.

May 7th: 1,095 words
May 8th: 1,215 words
May 9th: 4,250 words

This novel may never end.  LOL.  The big bad is on the run.  The big big bad has been dealt with.  But . . . quite unexpectedly, a big big big bad has arrived on the scene.  So now the characters have to figure out how to both take care of the big bad and also figure out how to defeat this new big big big bad.  And do so without the help of the character that was lost in the big battle.  Also, they are out of weapons.

[Maggie Ann]

Guess I've missed updating for a few days.

May 7th: 1,095 words
May 8th: 1,215 words
May 9th: 4,250 words

This novel may never end.  LOL.  The big bad is on the run.  The big big bad has been dealt with.  But . . . quite unexpectedly, a big big big bad has arrived on the scene.  So now the characters have to figure out how to both take care of the big bad and also figure out how to defeat this new big big big bad.  And do so without the help of the character that was lost in the big battle.  Also, they are out of weapons.

Start a fight between the big bad and the big big big bad.

[Post-Crisis D]

I wrote 1,825 words today.

Which means my three day total is 7,290 words.

Which means, to the best of my knowledge, I have set a new personal best.

My previous best, set back in high school many, many moons ago, was 6,752 words over the course of three days.

That was a full story, though, and this is only part of a book, but it's still more words.

So I've beaten the word count by 538 words.

And there's still the possibility that tomorrow's word count might beat Thursday's which would mean I would set another new personal best.

Yay!

[Lorri Moulton]

Almost 3k words today!  And my two book series is going to be three...but trilogies are good, right? 

[Maggie Ann]

Almost 3k words today!  And my two book series is going to be three...but trilogies are good, right? 

 

[Lorri Moulton]

I'm back to work on my series and have about another 3k finished over the past few days.  Hope all is going well for everyone!

[diisha392]

246 words today that I think I'll actually keep. This story has involved a lot of starting, running into a wall, deleting, and repeat, but I feel like I'm finally making some forward progress.