Depends on the difficulty of the section I'm working on. I've had days where 1,500 felt like 10,000. I've also had days where 4,000 feels like 500. To me, it's how challenging the passages are. My last 5,000 words has been straight up hill, encountering logic and flow issues at every turn. Over the hump now. But I'd say on average, I'm between 2,000-4,000 when I have a whole weekend day to write. On weeknights it's 500-1,000.
I did 5k one day. I thought the internet was broken cos the router was playing silly beggars and our phone wasn't working, so instead of getting distracted I just wrote. For most of the day. It was brilliant. However, on average (on days when I do write, which is only every day in November thanks to NaNoWriMo) I probably do between 500 and 3k words, depending on whether the story is flowing and whether or not I get caught up in researching obscure and incidental events that have no real import on the greater whole.
Hi, Very varied for me too. On average 2 to 3 thousand words, more on the weekends, but a lot of the time I'm rewriting what I wrote previously. (And then there's editing!) Cheers.
5k when I'm actually writing. At the moment, I'm trying to do between 5-8 hours of editing/rewriting a day, which normally equates to about one chapter being edited a day (most of my chapters are between 2-3k).
On a good day 3500 words. On a very bad day 500 words or less. I could say my average is from 1300 to 2000 a day.
It varies depending on where I am in a story, what genre I'm writing, the type of scene I'm working on, how much time I have, etc. On days where I'm struggling or don't have much time 1~2k. I've been taking part in NaNoWriMo since 2006 so I try to make it a habit to write 1.6k every day. On good days 3~5k. When I'm really into it 6~10k (sometimes as much as 15/16k if I've nothing better to do all day/I've a deadline) Yesterday I wrote 4k.
It varies, but I think the average would be about 4K a day (though yesterday I somehow managed to only write a single word).
The short answer is an average of about 1,200 to 1,500 words per day, with a minimum goal of 5,000 words per week. This puts me on track to finish a first draft of my novel in four to five months. To explain in more detail, the greatest challenge for me in attempting to become a full-time writer is self-discipline. In order to address this, I've set clearly defined objectives for myself. My goal is to devote an average of four to five hours a day to my writing, with a weekly minimum of thirty hours. Based on my other commitments, thirty hours a week is a realistic, achievable goal and fits my definition of being a full-time writer. I start writing early in the day, usually by 6am, and try to finish by mid-day. Except for breakfast and coffee breaks, I try to avoid any interruptions or distractions during my morning work hours. On average, only about half of this time is spent actually writing my novel. Also included is the time I spend reading and posting on this forum, email correspondence with several other writers, research and, most importantly, keeping up my writer's journal. Here's the actual journal entry I made on the day I began my current project, a contemporary action/adventure novel set in Central America: Plan of action: 1. Decide what kind of novel to write (probably contemporary thriller). 2. Create main character – name, background, current activities, basic character, etc. 3. Outline the plot. 4. Write a blurb for the book. 5. Write the beginning and the end of the novel. 6. Start fleshing out the details of the story and other characters. 7. Begin writing narrative and dialog. 8. Work on it a minimum of 20 hours per week (3 to 4 hours per day). 9. Set a goal of two to three pages per day/15 to 20 pages per week. 10. Complete a first draft in three to four months. 11. Allow another three to four months for re-writing and completion of final draft. 12. Avoid thinking about publishing and marketing until the book is done or nearly done. 13. Keep up the writer's journal. 14. Avoid re-writing and editing as much as possible until I'm done with the first draft, unless there's a major change of direction or other good reason. So far, it's working out for me. I'm sticking to my schedule and am on track to finish my first draft within this time frame.
A lousy day is only about 200 words. A good, hard-working day is 1500-2000 words. Most normal days are about 800-1200 words.
My goal is 1k a day. Sometimes I only write a paragraph. Sometimes I breeze through pages and pages. It varies so much. I like days when I go out and a random thing happens -- I notice the way a woman at the coffee shop glares at her friend as she speaks, any little thing -- and I get caught up in imagining emotions and scenarios and I write forever. Other days nothing like this happens and I do not write.
15k in a day? Holy [creative use of expletive] I rarely have enough material prepared and paced in outline format to lay that much down. That's nuts.
What's Your Word Count Per Day? How much do you write per day, and do you set goals for yourself? I'm just curious, because I usually write more slowly, (although sometimes a lot more with some muse.) I often get distracted, too, which is a very bad thing. So, how much do you write?
Varies quite a bit. I don't keep track of words per day, so I'm not sure exactly what it comes out to. I know I've had days where it is tough putting 500 words together in an hour. I've had other days where I've been in a zone and produced 2500 words that I was happy with in an hour.
I decide how many words I'm gonna write that day in the morning, then I write it on a post-it note (along with an angry smiley) and stick it on my computer. It glares at me until I get it finished. I'm not totally anal about it though. If I set a high goal like 5K and I get to 4000-something and that's a good place to stop, then I'll stop. I think on average I write between 3-6K a day. A bit wide, but I'm not sure. On days that I'm really busy (like I will be soon as college get started), then I only write a few hundred words a day.
I lost my data pen today (temporarily lost, hopefully) which contained a couple of paragraphs that hadn't been backed up yet, so, -5,000 words? >_>
Although I'm not in the writing process as of now. (Still working out the plot) When I was writing for a short time, I could get close to 1k in a day. But that was actually for only about an hour, in a day. If I spent most of my day writing the I could possibly get 5k-7k words done.
I try to write everyday but don't always manage it. However, I think about my characters/story for hours everyday so I like to think it justifies it - it doesn't, but I'm happy that I'm staying in touch with my characters constantly rather than just when I'm working on the story. So, it varies. Sometimes I write nothing and other days I write 15k+ in a day. It depends on the day, my motivation and my deadlines. I like to consider 3~4k an average when I'm making an effort to write. My goal for this year is to write 365,000 words so that averages out at 1k a day.
As of now, I've only been able to manage about 200 words or so... But, that's me struggling with an opening, the devilish things. If I really get a good start I can get about 2000 words or so (about a chapter) and be satisfied with the writing.
I write 1k an hour (on average) so normally I get about 5k done a day. More, if I'm at a really good part.
Never counted nor cared. The number of words is immaterial to me. If I wrote the three best words of my project, it was a successful session. I remember being on graphic design boards where many members would talk about working up a piece in 20 mins. They also didn't get client work either. I guess this is where I get my thought process. It's useless when it's being measured not by the quality but 'numerically'. For the design thing, I've never advertised for work and still get client work just calling me on referral (hey, I just got an indie movie poster deal 2 days ago..). It's a side thing anyway... Not to side track; my sole focus on anything I take on is the quality of output only. I see great designers and writers and know that they have reached a level that I am certainly not at but I aim for that level and it makes me up my game. I can't do that if I am focus on the volume and not the quality.
