Word Count

I’ve received this query a couple of times in the last month so thought it would make a good topic. What is my word count? Do I strive for a daily figure?

A spinoff from that is to ask whether there’s a wrong or right way to do this thing called writing. Most courses and advice books will tell the writer to write ‘every day’. I believe this is erroneous. Truth is, most writers work more than anybody. Many have day jobs, family, friends, need to do the washing, get food in, and clean the house same as everybody, but they write as well as see to all that. Once you’re a writer, and once you’re serious about it, there really isn’t such a thing as ‘spare’ time.

I think writers need to make time. I’ve promised myself this year to be productive, but also to take some time off…a subject on which I could probably fill another blog as I actually live in the vain hope of doing that. The point I’m making is that writers get sick, they get beyond tired, and can get exhausted. They get fed up. Everyone gets time off — why not the writer?

Mostly because it’s difficult to stop our brains from ticking over on the subject. We can take a holiday and get ideas every day we’re away. Fine. Jot them down, just try not to begin the project. What I think these courses should be saying, and often mean, is that a writer should write regularly. For some writers, this means a daily word count.

What that word count should be varies. I’ve known writers for whom 500 words feels like a huge amount. Many settle for 1000, but for me 1000-1500 words feels as if I’ve barely got started. Stories usually come to me as if I’m reading, the only difference is that the ‘book’ I’m reading from is inside my head. I need to ‘fall into’ the story the same way I do when I’m reading. I can forget time, block out everything around me. I usually write from A – Z, page one to infinity.

At around 2000 words, I feel as I’ve put in a good day’s work. I’m currently aiming for 2000 words a day, five times a week. I’ve been told by many that’s a huge amount, but let me add that I’m a fast touch-typist. If the story is flowing (big IF), it’s surprising how fast you can put 2000 words down on the page. An average document in an office can be longer than that, and it wouldn’t take a professional typist long to transfer it. If I have the time and the story is streaming smoothly, I’ve been known to write more.

The most I’ve ever written in a day was approximately 10,000 words. I was on holiday, and I woke up one morning with a story fully formed in my head. I spent 8 hours typing, scurrying to grab drinks and a sandwich and taking bathroom breaks only when necessary. I do not recommend it. It was exhausting. However, I have managed about 4000-4500 words on a sunny afternoon without feeling anything other than accomplished. That kind of makes up for the days when I’m unable to write anything.

It happens to most every writer. There are days I can stare at a blank page on the screen, and I’ll be lucky to write a sentence. James Joyce apparently once said if he wrote a couple of sentences in a day, it was a good day. So I may say I’m aiming for 2000 words a day, five times in a week, but if I get a day where nothing comes to me I seldom try to catch up. Sometimes I catch up naturally — a day of high-productivity can follow a torturous one — but I never push for it, because it feels too much like forcing the story. That’s not the same thing as trying to force yourself through a block. Sometimes you have to tell yourself Bum-on-Seat, Fingers-on-Keyboard and lump it.