Coorlim’s Guide to NaNoWriMo 5: Wordcount
Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month
Coorlim’s Guide to NaNoWriMo is a multi-part series on writing, creativity, and the work-life balance throughout the month of November. This part we cover wordcount.
50,000 words. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? That’s about 200 manuscript pages, and you’ve only got a single month to do it.
Welcome to my world
The key to meeting your productivity goal is consistency. Habit. Now, I’m a full time writer, so I don’t need to write around a day job or school or anything like that, just the standard day-to-day things like groceries, laundry, trying to have a social life. I can usually manage six hours a day devoted to writing.
You may have less, and that’s okay. Work with what you have. Here’s how you can make the most out of it.
Attitude
Decide, right now, how important writing is to you. Then cut everything else out of your life.
No, I’m not kidding. Maybe exaggerating a little. But you need to prioritize. It’s like I tell prospective potential authors: if you want writing to pay you like a job, you have to treat it like a job. Full time. 40+ hours a week, including edits and platform.
But, lucky for you, NaNoWriMo doesn’t require you to treat it like a full time job.
The Math
50,000 words in 30 days is around 1700 words a day, if you write every day. And you should. Why? Because making it a habit will make it easier. It’s harder to get started again if you stop. So instead of binging on weekends, try to get at least a little writing done every day, just to keep the flow going.
Yeah, life happens, things come up, but remember what I said before. Cut out whatever it is going on that’s less important to you than writing, and see what you have left. Then work around it.
How fast do you write? Time yourself. See how long it takes you to write 1700 words. For me, it’s 1-2 hours, so I would have to allocate that much time a day to writing instead of watching television or messing around online or doing whatever it is people with lives do.
And yes, you can catch up on your day off from work or school or whatever, but you should avoid making a habit of it. It’s way too easy to let that get away from you, and the longer your streak is, the easier it is to keep it going.
Next time: Consistency
Questions? You are invited to either leave a comment below, or ask directly through the comment form.
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