Richard Munson's Blog, page 2

Typing Log

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How many words do I typically type in a day?

How many days would it take me to write a 350 page novel?

My publisher wants me to write my next novel in two months. Is that realistic?

I’ve typed for weeks now. How more days will it take me to finish by 120,000 word novel?

I need my teeth cleaned. Which day of the week is usually my least productive so I can use that day to visit the dentist?

The downloadable typing log can help you answer these and other similar questions. This simple Excel spreadsheet allows you to enter the number of words in your manuscript file at the end of each day. That’s the only entry you need to make each day, but the spreadsheet calculates many useful statistics that you may find beneficial.

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Typing Log Spreadsheet
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Statistical Information

As you enter each day’s word count the file begins to calculate the following information:

The total number of words you typed that day (Log Table column)
An estimate of the number of printed pages you typed that day (Log Table column)
An estimate of the number of eBook document locations you typed that day (Log Table column)
The number of words you have typed since starting the log (Typed Words Sum)
The number of estimated pages  you have typed since starting the log (Typed Pages Sum)
The number of estimated locations you have typed since starting the log (Typed Locations Sum)
The number of days you’ve typed more than zero words (Days)
The average number of words you type per day (Average Words/Day)
The average number of pages you type per day (Average Pages/Day)
The estimated number of days remaining before you reach your Word Goal (Days Remaining)
The estimate percent of the manuscript completed to date (% Complete)

The above values are all found on the Data sheet. There are two more sheets you’ll want to check. The Instructions sheet has instructions for using the spreadsheet. They’re similar to the instructions below, but they’re worth a quick review to make sure you haven’t overlooked anything.

The remaining sheet is the Analysis sheet. This has information about the number of words you’ve typed each weekday. You might find you type about the same number each day, or you might find you type fewer words on Tuesday than any other day of the week. These values have no specific use other than to let you know when you are most or least productive as a writer.

Usage Instructions

To begin, you save the file with a unique name for the manuscript you are working on. That way you can use the template for several books over time. Next you enter the following constants into the spreadsheet:

Book Title – the title of your work
Book Subtitle – any subtitle for your work
Start Date – use the date selector to enter the start date of your manuscript. Ideally this would be the first day you start typing, but you can start recording information later in the writing process too.
Words Goal – The expected final word count for your manuscript (a reasonable estimate is fine, you can refine this number over time).
Words Per Page – This is useful for printed books and is the number of words you normally type per printed page. You’ll have a better idea about this number as you gain experience. Initially you can simply use the default number. Refine the number periodically as you gain experience.
Words Per Location – This is useful for eBooks and is the number of words within a typical eBook location. For Amazon Kindle, this is typically 23 words per location. Change the number if you have a more refined value.

The above constants need only be entered once, but you can modify the values as you gain more information about your work or your typing behavior.

Once you enter the date you will see the Date column in the Log Table update with the date for the following 90 days. The day of the week (DOW) for each date is also displayed. These DOW values let you later decide which are your most or least productive work days. You can add more days to the Log Table as needed by selecting the last row and dragging it down as needed.

Now move to the Log Table and enter the beginning word count. If you’re typing a new manuscript you’ll likely start with a Word Count of zero. If you’ve typed for a while, enter your current manuscript’s word count as your starting point. That’s all you type in the log initially.

With each successive day you return to the Log Table and enter your manuscript’s word count for that date. Do it for every day. If you did not type anything on a give day, simply repeat the Word Count from the previous day.

Beneficial Uses

You may find the spreadsheet beneficially in several ways.

It takes the guesswork out of how many words you normally type in a given day.
It will help you estimate how many days it will likely take to write a manuscript of a specific length. This can help you:

Determine when you are likely to complete a full first draft.
Determine how you are doing with respect to a deadline commitment.
Determine if a proposed delivery date is realistic. If you type 3,000 words per day on average, delivering a 150,000 word manuscript in 30 days is quite unrealistic.


It helps you estimate what percentage of your manuscript is complete so far. This information is useful when someone inquires about your progress.
It helps you estimate how many more days it will take to complete your first full draft. This may help you determine when you need to get other processes underway, such as arranging for a book cover, contacting a publisher, or selecting an artist.
It can help you identify how many words you need to reach a specific page count or number of eBook locations. You need a reasonable amount of data to do this, but after you’ve typed for a couple of weeks you can update constants (such as Words Per Page) to make a realistic estimate.
You can determine which are your least or most effective writing days of the week. It can help you plan writing sessions or identify your best “out of the office” day.
The spreadsheet can help encourage you to write every day. It is often disheartening to have a zero in the Words Typed column. The spreadsheet can help encourage you to write at least something every day.

Non-beneficial Uses

It is easy to use this spreadsheet in non-beneficial or unproductive ways. Here are some things you’ll want to consider.

If you are using the spreadsheet to demonstrate how many words you can type in a day then you may miss the point. The goal is not to see how many words you can write in a day. Anybody can write “and and and and and and and and” to achieve a large word count. It doesn’t mean what you’ve written is useful. The spreadsheet is a useful planning tool. If you artificially inflate your actual writing statistics then the spreadsheet has little planning value.
Don’t use the spreadsheet to gauge how you write in comparison with someone else. You are unique and so your writing behavior is unique. If you write 1,200 words a day, but someone else can write 4,000 words each day, that’s completely irrelevant. All you want to establish is your production rate. You can then make realistic plans about your writing. There is also the issue of quality. If you write 1,200 quality words in a day, but someone else writes 4,000 words that need heavy editing, who is coming out ahead. Don’t sweat the word count – simply use it to aid you in your realistic planning.
Don’t rely on the spreadsheet too heavily. If you’ve typed for some time and the estimates show that your manuscript will be complete in 11 days, you might not want to commit that date to your publisher. Things happen. Files crash (shudder), writer’s block sets in, family emergencies occur, the weather can ruin your day. Use the spreadsheet only for your planning purposes. You might not want to use it as a way of making firm commitments to others.

Writing Tools and Accessories

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Any form of writing requires at least some minimal set of tools, facilities, and accessories. Even if you write only with a pencil and paper, you still need, well, a pencil and some paper. An eraser might be handy as well. Where do you keep your finished manuscript when you’re done scribbling it out?

In this article I wanted to cover some things to consider when you decide to take up writing. It’s not meant to be an exhaustive list. That would be impossible because every author utilizes a different style of writing and will therefore naturally select a different set of writing tools. Think of the list more as something to consider, rather than something that is essential. After all, you could get by with simply a pencil and paper (though you and your editor will probably not like that much over time).

The first thing to consider is what you are going to write with. Common choices are a laptop or desktop computer, though people increasingly find a tablet or phone an acceptable option. I use a laptop. I like the ability to connect multiple monitors, but extra monitors certainly aren’t essential. Few people would think of writing a book of any significant size without the aid of some form of computer and an adequate mix of authoring software. We’ll take these as a given. You’ll want them.

Before we go much further let’s talk about one of the most important tools you’ll need. You absolutely must have some form of backup device or service. You must have the ability to copy your works in progress to a backup medium. If your computer contracts a virus, your disk drive grinds to a halt, or you drop your computer and it shatters, you will probably regret not having a recent backup. Problems like this always seem to happen right after you’ve spent hours devising, writing, and massaging the perfect piece of plot material. Once you’ve finished writing it you forget about it and move on. You’re disk drive dies. You’ll never be able to recover your writing in its original pristine condition. It’s gone forever. Save yourself. Back up your writing with great regularity. Use a memory stick, the cloud, another hard disk, or a CD-ROM if you have to (not likely), but find some way to save your work.

Additional necessity if you plan to do a lot of writing is a note taking facility. This can be a notebook (or several placed around your house or office), a computer program or app on your phone, or an audio recorder. I use them all. If I’m writing and have a sudden idea pop in my head, I’ll use a scrap of paper, a sticky note, the back of a business card, a notebook, a spreadsheet, the book I’m writing, or even the back of my hand to jot it down. These ideas are priceless. If you don’t record them immediately the vast majority of them vanish and never return. Capture them immediately. You won’t remember most of them three minutes later.

If I’m not at my desk I’ll jot ideas down on a nearby notebook. If I’m away from “the office” I’ll either capture the idea by typing a note or recording a brief verbal description using one of several apps on my phone. You’ve been there. You’re at the store and witness someone doing something unique or remarkably stupid. You think that you’ll easily remember that for a future book sometime. But you get home, put away the groceries, and it never crosses your mind again – and of course, never graces the pages of one of your wonderful books. Of course, it may not be in your best interest to open your phone and start recording something like, “I’m standing right next to this idiot who just…” You have to use some discretion.

If you write early in the morning or late into the evening and you don’t live alone, get some earphones or earbuds. If you’re researching some topic for a book, others in the house will appreciate the silence as you watch a video.

Office supplies are also important. The supplies you need will be a matter of personal preference. I use a three ring binder for each book or at least for a series of books. I put divider tabs in the binder so I can organize draft material, the latest printed copy of the book (not always current), research notes, maps or drawings, or anything else I may need to reference while writing. It’s simple, but effective.

Pens, pencils, staples, hole punches (I use a powered three-hole punch for materials I keep in binders), and related office supplies depend primarily on how you prefer to write. You’ll wind up with a set of tools you use frequently, another indispensable set you use infrequently, and a bunch of stuff you thought would prove useful but that now simply take up space in your drawers and on your shelves. If you haven’t used something in a year – it’s probably not indispensable. Want to keep someone from snatching your manuscript out of the recycling bin? Better have a paper shredder.

I find a whiteboard useful for jotting down ideas or fleshing out a concept. Once I’ve filled up the whiteboard I copy what I’ve produced into some other format – either adding it to a book in progress or recording it in some form I can utilize later. For example, I used a whiteboard to work out poopy suit colors for The Enigma Chronicles books. Once I was satisfied with the colors it was easy to transcribe them into the first book in the series, The Down Time. I use multiple dry erase colors – not because they’re good at listing poopy suit colors, but because they help differentiate between different concepts or perspectives about a single idea.

You will almost certainly want one or more thermal mugs. They keep beverages hot or cold for long periods so you are less likely to get up to freshen up your drink. If you’re successfully writing a long series of dialog the last thing you want to do is get up to get something to drink. The minute you stand, all of your dialog ideas go “poof.”

Consider your lighting. If you like things bright while you write then consider augmenting your work area with some additional lights. I personally prefer to write in the dark or without any artificial light. But I do have an excellent desk lamp with a magnifying glass embedded in the top. It comes in handy when I’m trying to read a note, have an irritating splinter complains every time I type certain letters, or when I’m trying to locate something I’ve misplaced. Think about your ideal lighting conditions and then take whatever steps you need to make that available. Writing in uncomfortable lighting gets tiring.

Find and use a good dictionary and thesaurus. These can be books or online tools, but you’ll need them both. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used a word only to discover that it didn’t mean quite what I thought it did. Oops. If the word looks suspect to you on the page, you’d better look it up in your dictionary. And if it’s been a while since you’ve looked the word up, you’d better confirm you’re using the word properly.

A thesaurus has immeasurable value. Not because it will allow you to use an especially fancy word, but just the opposite. It allows you to just type the first thing that comes to mind while you’re composing, and to then come back and find a more suitable word later. This tool is also fabulous when you have a sentence that utilizes the same word three times (or a paragraph that repeats a word often). You’ll need to either edit the text to eliminate some repeats, or find a different selection for some of the instances. The thesaurus is an essential tool.

Spelling checkers and grammar tools (such as those built into Microsoft Word and other authoring tools or available at various online sites) are also indispensable. They’ll point out your spelling errors, but more importantly help you write clearer and more concise text. You’ll see their value when you type a sentence and the grammar tool suggests you can write the same thing in one third the space.

Another very beneficial tool is an author organization system. This software allows you to define characters, create scenes, define and describe various locations and specific relationships between these story elements. An example is the free software yWriter. It allows you to flesh out your novel and keep things well-organized. Some authors use these systems to meticulously plan their books. I use them primarily as an outline system, but I do rely on the ability to clearly define my characters so that I can later refer to them when I forget whether they are slim or heavy, blonde or brunette, etc. The yWriter software is not the only software in this category and you may find other systems more to your liking.

Your writing surface is also important. Whether you use the kitchen table, your counter top, a desk, or your lap, you’ll need to find something that is comfortable, does not cause you pain or discomfort after long periods of use, and that facilitates your ability to write quickly and for long periods. I use a convertible stand-up desk. I can pull so I can write while standing, or lower it to write while sitting. If I’m trying to list a lot ideas or options I usually have the desk in a raised position. This allows me to step up to they board and type something. I can walk a few steps away as I think of other options and quickly return to the keyboard when the next idea strikes. I don’t need to bother sitting and standing, which often causes ideas to vanish in the transition.

If I’m writing prose I normally (but not always) lower the desk so I’ll be comfortable for a time. I’ll raise the desk if I feel I’ve been sitting too long and parts of my body begin to complain. Having this type of desk simply gives me options and sometimes allows me to write for longer periods of time without becoming fatigued.

Speaking of fatigue – your body gets tired of doing the same thing all the time. Get some good walking shoes, running shoes, a treadmill, a bicycle, or a skateboard and get out of “the office” once in a while. It clears the cobwebs, opens the pores, gives you an opportunity for a major idea infusion, and helps keep you healthy so you can prolong your writing career.

Nothing I do is ideal. You’ll find that your writing tools and accessories evolve over time. Be willing to recognize when something isn’t working and either discard it or replace it with something better at the first opportunity. Writing takes a lot of time and effort. It is not a passive exercise. If you write fiction, you need to be creative. That requires you to have the ability to capture creative ideas and put them into a readable format that your audience will enjoy. Any tool that helps you do that is a good tool. Any tool that hinders your ability to do that is not really a tool.

 

 

 

The Enigma Chronicles

A new book series predicting human behavior after alien arrival.

The Enigma Chronicles begins with the arrival of a very unusual alien. The human behaviors that result are both predictable and unexpected. The first book in the series, The Enigma Chronicles – The Down Time, relates the story of what happens following initial arrival. How does the world react? How do individuals react? How is the alien treated? These are all questions we would need to address should such an event ever occur. The series addresses these and a myriad of other questions via several books that describe not only what might happen initially, but also what might occur over several years, decades, and centuries. You will derive hours of pleasurable contemplation as you explore what is quite likely to happen should an alien land in our proverbial back yard. Learn More…