Word Count Goal for 2012

I love word counts. Maybe because they look so neat and tidy on my spreadsheet, or maybe because they show visible progress on WIP. Maybe, also because they make it easier to set writing goals. 

Stories should not be driven by word count, of course. It is the story that matters, but for most of us regular folks, we need something to make us sit and write regularly and consistently enough to get that story out. For me, it's word  count goals. 

For 2012, I've decided to try an annual word count goal challenge. I'm hoping to write 250,000 words by 31st of December. 

The only condition is that this word count must be towards Book Projects. So blog posts, planning and outlining books, emails, letters, poetry - none of that counts. Just book projects. Reason for that is simple: I want to be a published author of books - so putting words towards that is what's going to achieve it. Not just words by themselves. 

I am not going to obsess over daily goals, or even monthly goals. I am going to focus on my books, and hopefully, that will get me there, because some writing periods are more intense than others. Still, 250K seems plausible. If you are interested, you can follow my progress through the word count progress bar at the right. 

What about you? How do you feel about word counts? Will you / do you have any word count goals for this year? 

Word Count Going Up - AFTER EDITING

You know how when you edit, you are supposed to cut words? Well, I trimmed A LOT. Yet, after this  version of editing, my word count has gone up from 94119 to 94574. Not a big change no - but it's much bigger change when you consider that the original draft was about 89000 words.

However, I know exactly why this has happened, so no panic necessary. My first drafts, and especially my speedy first draft (this was for NaNo) are always sparse. Description especially is usually quite lacking in these drafts, so that had to be amended. On top of that though I deleted several scenes, I also ended up adding a few, so overall, the numbers make sense. 

What about you? When you edit - which way does your word count travel? 

NaNoWriMo 2010 - WINNING WORD COUNT

Word count is now 50210 - so officially I have won NaNo :-) Of course I am happy about that. 


Overall, I am behind my goal. I should have really finished the whole draft by now, but you know things happened, and I haven't been in very obsessive mood, so on some days it's been hard to get into writing a lot. However, I found that forcing the word count isn't very productive, so I gave myself permission to relax a little. 


I am still hoping to complete the whole draft by end of November, so we shall see how it goes. 


How is your NaNo going? And if you are not doing NaNo, how are your projects going? 

NaNoWriMo Finish & Some Statistics

Today I finished the first draft of my NaNo novel. I am not perfectly happy, but then I never am towards the end, because by the time I get to the end I know all sorts of things that are wrong with it. However, I am glad that I finished my goal, and I do have a completed first draft. It's 81539 words, so about 6k less than I was expecting, but I know there is plenty of material to add so that's no big deal.

So some statistics: WK 1 = 27561 words WK 2 = 26933 words WK 3 = 16166 words WK 4 = 10865 words I am sure you spotted the downwards trend there. Highest Word Count Per Day 8376 on 1st of November Lowest Word Count Per Day 131 on 22nd of November I am going to leave the story to rest for a few weeks, but I am considering a major change. Currently it's written in multiple POV, with main character's POV for the most part, and couple of other characters POV on minor scale - I am thinking about changing it to first person POV, because I feel that would make a better story. But just to make sure that it's not a spur of the moment thing because I am spotting lots of issues, I will wait for a while and then read through the story and make the final decision. So that's all folks. That's NaNo over. Now I had better decide what I am going to work on, so I don't drift away from writing habit.

NaNo Slump - Misplaced Attention

No, I am not having a writer's block, or a problem with writing itself. I am simply having distraction issues. Usually I work on more than one project, because I can't focus on one thing at a time. I find myself wanting to do other things. So for first two weeks, focusing on my novel and that alone was fine. I didn't focus on most of my other hobbies. Just total concentration on the novel. It worked, and I did a high word count. But last week, I found myself getting more and more distracted. I still wrote, but it wasn't as much, and it was more of forcing myself to sit down and make the effort. So in the end I did over 10K less in last week than in previous two weeks. And even more shameful - in the entire weekend, between Friday, Saturday and Sunday I had a grand total word count of 1478. Yup, you read that right. 1478. Initially I had planned to finish my first draft by last weekend, but obviously that didn't happen. And then on Saturday, I couldn't resist the Sims 3 expansion pack, so there went the weekend, and not to mention that I am so totally obsessed as I usually am for a week or so until I have done everything. :P So writing is even harder. However, having come so far, I am determined not to fail in my goal of finishing the first draft, so I am planning to have this done by end of this week. It is possible if I stick to reasonable word counts every day. But it's certainly not as easy as it was in the first two weeks. How are you guys doing with NaNo? What is your experience as the month goes?

One more day before getting to 50K & Word Count Motivation

Ok just a little post to blow my own trumpet - tomorrow I shall reach 50K. Today I did lowest ever word count in my NaNoWriMo project - 2105. But because I went out for a meal after work, I knew I wouldn't spend much time writing afterwards. So I had to move my goal to finish 50K from today to tomorrow. Current word count is 47170 So I need to do just 2830 to win the official NaNo But of course that's not where this will end, so I have got quite a way to go before finishing the challenge I want to win - between 85K to 90K Speaking of word count, I am kind of obsessed with them. Not just to post them, but also for myself, with my excel spreadsheet, because it really does help me in writing that little bit more. In fact, when I switch Finn on, and click the shortcut to my NaNo Folder, the first file I usually open is my WordCount spreadsheet, and then I leave it open. Then I open the points I am supposed to work on, and sometimes either the previous one or the next couple of ones to make sure where the story is coming from or going to. If I am having a particularly easy scene, then I just type and don't worry about the word count till I am done. But if I am kind of pushing myself (which is more often the case, especially when I am knackered), then I keep updating my WordCount spreadsheet after few paragraphs, so I can see the number going up, and that helps me write a little bit more. Same logic applies to updating wordcount progress bars on my blog or on AW signature or on NANO website. I look at the bar going up, and I can see how far I have come. What about you? Do wordcount motivate you, or do you hate the sight of spreadsheets or handwritten calculation or whatever?

Third Day of NaNoWriMo and How is it going?

Today was definitely the hardest. This morning I managed to write 600 words in the bus on my way to work, that was great. Gave me a very good feeling of productivity. Then, no time for writing during the day. And in the evening, at first I got distracted and then I was really tired. DVD itself didn't take long, so I had time to go for my word count, but just found it really really hard to focus. That's where the spreadsheet comes in handy. I had decided that I wanted to get to 15000 today. So I kept adding my word count to my overall total at every few hundred words. What this did was that everytime, it showed me a lower number that I needed to write to get to 15000. So I kept pushing myself, saying just a bit more. In the end, it came to 38 words more, and then 9 words more. This is the word count for my first three days: 1/11 = 8376 2/11 = 4361 3/11 = 2267 When I look at it, it looks like a downward trent, but of course I know that it isn't true. It's simply dependent on my circumstances. So I am definitely happy with my GRAND TOTAL OF 15004 words. between 65K to 70K left to write to finish the full first draft. Tomorrow's target: 2200

NaNo - 10000 words in an Instant

Okay, that was a tricky title. :P I was planning to do 90K words for NaNo this year, because that's how long I was guessing my first draft to be. However, while working on outline, I am getting the vibe that 90K might be too long, so my new goal is 80K because that is more reasonable for the story. By the time I am done with that draft, things might change yet again, but I am aiming for 80K for now. And you know what, after worrying about how I am going to write 90K, 80K seems like - well, not easy - but definitely more possible. How do you decide how long your book is going to be? Is it just a random guess based on genre initially, or is there method to the madness?

NaNo - Dividing up the Big Numbers

Writing 50,000 words in a month - especially coherent 50,000 words - is challenging. Consider on top of that most of us aren't full time writers, it's even bigger challenge. Personally for me, the only writing time is evenings and weekends. Consider that on some evenings, after work, you just haven't got the energy or the will. All that adds up. But there are ways to handle it. While my first and foremost goal for November is doing 50K words, I also have a personal goal of 90K for my NaNo. I imagine my full first draft should be somewhere around 90K, so instead of just aiming for 50K, I am aiming for a full first draft. That's even more challenging, because I honestly don't know if I can do it or not. But I am going to try, and so in preparation, I have prepared a spreadsheet. Ok let me assure you that for those of you who are not spreadsheet slaves (me), you can use even simpler methods. Sorry, I couldn't post the spreadsheet here because the image kept coming very bad. First, I have a column listing dates 1st to 30th. I have columns for 4 different targets. Daily Target - 3000 words Weekly Target - 18000 words NaNo Target - 50000 words Personal Target - 90000 words All these different targets aren't necessary, but I prefer them. Even though I set daily targets, I know that they are the hardest to meet. All my days aren't the same, so my essential focus is on the weekly target. That gives me some flexibility with the days. My week consists of 6 days, so 5 weeks total. The reason for this division is to have a small target each week, as oppose to worrying about 90K at all times. The reason why I have NaNo Target column is so I know that if I keep getting closer to it, but not near to 90K, that's okay. NaNo Target is the "must achieve" target. But at the same time, having a seperate column for Personal Target gives me an incentive to keep pushing for. I also have column for daily word count - and as soon as I put the number in, I will get automatic results for how many words I have done that week, how much of the 50K balance remains, and how much of the 90K balance remains. Of course when you are writing, you don't want to keep wasting time on inputting numbers in a spreadsheet, so if you do create something like that, set up forumals in advance. I have got all of that ready, so all I need to do is put the daily word count in. I find that focusing on small word count at a time is less intimidating and gives you bit more motivation. If you think you've got to write 50K, you might think it seems impossible, and so you may as well give up now. But if you say to yourself, I have got to do 2000 words. Suddenly, it doesn't seem all that big. Like I mentioned before, you don't need a spreadsheet. You can simply use a pen and a paper, and simply write down your daily word count, and add it all up at the end. Or you can just post your word count in a counter, and only keep your progress that way. There are no rules. What you have to think about is how you can make the NaNo seem just that little bit more easier for you to manage.