Word Count – A Moving Target.

Earlier this week, Chuck Wendig wrote to me and told me to write a minimum of 350 words a day in order to finish my novel. Well, he wrote to thousands of people, via a blog post, but you get the idea. Currently I have a work-in-progress crime novel and a ‘completed’ novel undergoing a total re-write, both of which require words. Lots of them.

I’m well aware that basically all I need to do is start writing and eventually the projects will get finished, but I keep finding lame excuses to not do so. Wendig’s post demands that you, as a writer, write at least 350 words, every day, to get that novel written. So for now at least I am motivated to do just that.

Since yesterday I have added approximately 1,500 words to my crime novel, which is 1,150 over the minimum 350. Or 4.2 days worth of writing at 350 words per day. In theory I have earned myself a holiday, but as I’m sure a lot of writers will be aware, once you stop writing, it’s harder to continue. Better to keep writing while you’re in the groove. If I wrote at that rate over a two month period, at 1,500 words per day, I’d have a finished first-draft of a novel. Even at 350 words per day, I would have written an 80k word novel in about seven months. Which sounds impressive. I just need to keep going, keep adding those words.

I currently attend a monthly writing group, where I take excerpts of the crime novel to read out and get critiqued etc. This helps to keep me working on the project because I feel like I have to have something to show each month. If I can keep to between 350 and 1,000 words a day I’ll have plenty to talk about.

How do other people keep themselves writing? Right now I’m relying on a mix of smug self-satisfaction about my recent word-count, and a sense of shame for when I don’t write anything at all. That’s normal, right? Guys?

Chuck Wendig puts it more concisely here;

Chuck Wendig tells you to write, mofo!