An average book is about 300 pages, with about 300 words to the page, so about 90,000 words. How do you go about writing 90,000 words?
Nine or ten years ago I had my most productive writing year ever, I wrote nearly 200,000 words. I had a simple premise that helped me do so. I planned on writing an average of 500 words per day.
Depending on your writing stylers and journey that may sound like a breeze, or it may sound like the snow clad summit of a mountain. In reality it is somewhere in between.
Some days words tumble from the mind and the pen or keyboard struggles to keep up, so that passing 500 words is done within 30 minutes. Other days are tougher, and for different reasons. Spend the day at the hospital with a loved one due to an emergency, and writing gets tough. Or a day driving, or moving furniture, or filing tax returns, all will use up the energy which you would hope to pour into writing.
But that’s where the idea of averaging comes in. It’s not ‘write 500 words per day’ rather ‘average 500 words per day’. So, those times when the ideas are tumbling out are the time to make bank. You have 2 hours writing time and knock out 500 in 25 minutes? Great! Don’t goof off, keep going, and finish the session with 1800 words.
That’s another trick, by the way. Not writing extra when things are easy, rather setting aside time to write. I’d love to write, I just don’t have time’ is the excuse of many. Yet, they will be able to tell you about all manner of television programs they are up-to-date with. In relation to spiritual activities the apostle Paul advised the Ephesian congregation to be ‘…making the best use of your time…’ Such an exhortation reaches out to all corners of our life. If we want to achieve something, we have to make the best use of our time.
Most days I know I can schedule an hour to write. And I know that within that time I can write at least 500 words on most occasions. But there are some days when those 500 words feel like they are being hand chiseled into granite and the only tool available is a cheese string. Having that set writing time can be beneficial as it provides a natural break to the struggle. You may know within minutes of starting for the day that writing is going to be tough, but persevering for the hour means you are more likely to return and start again the next day - or later on if inspiration strikes.
And let’s talk about inspiration. What if you don’t have a novel to write? What if you want to write, but are unsure on what to write about?
Writing prompts can be of great assistance and keeping an eye on The Ink Well and Scholar and Scribe for their regular ones may be useful.
If you're still stuck then maybe you can write a non-fiction piece (such as this) or a blog post about your travels, pets, cooking, or the like. If you are writing a novel and are stuck you could write about the characters backstory, or the location they are in, or an aspect of the world you are writing about which you feel needs more known about it.
Not every word you write will be something to be published, not every word you write will lead to a coherent story. But the act of averaging those 500 words per day will help keep things flowing. And it always helps to get a jump start. It’s a little before 9am, January 1, 2023 and I’m at 600 words for the day. This isn’t even my planned writing time, just the result of waking earlier than expected.
The earlier you can get some words down, the easier it is to maintain momentum.
Another thing that helps is having a buddy who is also writing. So, I’ll be using #500 in posts about writing, or for writing that is new this year. I’m also keeping a google word document so I can track my progress. If you would like to be added to the sheet let me know and I’ll arrange to share it with you.
Some will know The Proclaimers song I’m Gonna Be (500 miles). Well, it’s the theme for this writing year: ‘and I will write 500 words, and I will write 500 more’.
Are you joining me?