I was thinking about this a little more because I don't have a word count goal I'm trying to hit. If I'm working on my novel, it might be more like a chapter I'm trying to finish. But I don't know how many words that will be. I rarely write short stories in one sitting, but sometimes I do. They tend to be my shorter stories (closer to 3k than 5k). Still, hours were poured into those stories. I lost track of time when I went wrote those stories. Sure, they were still only first drafts, but they were probably a lot better than if I had been aiming for any certain word count quota. And most of the time I don't finish a chapter, short story, easy, etc. I think routine is a goos thing for a writer to develop. And there's no harm in trying out different methods since in doing so you'll likely find one that works for you. I find sitting at my kitchen table every morning and just banging away at that keyboard works pretty well for me. I don't write every day. I've got my reasons that are probably excuses. But I do work hard when I work. It doesn't matter to me if it takes me four hours to get out a good 1k words. I rather that than twice as much isn't quite right. I don't know. I just demand creativity at certain times and try my best. I do write almost every day, but sometimes I need breaks.
I think it's a pretty good number if you have a day job. That's potentially 3-4 novels a year, though I keep writing novels that end up much longer than I intended, so I don't produce that many.
I always try to write at least one page. Which is about 400-600 words depending on how much dialogue is included. On days that I just feel completely disconnecting from writing, I go over what I had previously written. It works for me.
I gave up numerical writing goals for this year, because writing to numbers resulted in a lot of absolute shit that had to be deleted. As a result, the quality of my writing is a lot better, and my scenes and chapters are far more interesting. Now my goals are much simpler: "Edit this scene" "Get this character to the next chapter" "Set up the downfall of this character" or what have you. ETA: The length of these goals varies greatly, and I tend to tailor them depending on how much time I have for a particular writing session. But I do sit down with a goal. ETA: I should also add, I'm writing "less" and don't always write every day, whereas I was before. But my usable creative output is more than ever.
Just to work on my book everyday. I don't set word goals but I usually don't stop until I've got about 1,000 at least but I find myself usually doing quite a bit of revision each session and getting a good part of a chapter finished if not outright completed. Chapters being atleast 3k. Writing is immensely satisfying for me so it's not too much of a struggle to get the ball rolling.
