I want to know how to write more each day. I tend to average 2-3k daily and have so much I want to put on paper. I would love 5k average. The dream is 10k. But I want a balanced life. So, any tips?
To be honest, 3k is my daily goal on the high end. Sure more would be better, but I was able to knock out a 40k Part I to a novel a few weeks ago, and I did a 78k in a month a while back too. I feel like I need a recharge after a certain amount, where I can brainstorm ideas and come back fresh. At this pace, I don't see myself slowing to a crawl nor feel like no progress is being made.
i'm of the mindset of write how much you can, when you can (even if its like 500 words), but I totally understand what you are getting at. I believe it all comes down to conditioning and, maybe interest level? I know that, when I get in a rhythm (and am uninterrupted), i can write up to 20k in a day. But it has been hard to find that rhythm these days, and even harder to be uninterrupted. my tip is just to keep writing. Schedule some time (maybe 1-2 hour sprints?) and just write. Set a goal wordcount in mind. not 5k. start smaller. you know you can write 2-3k, so set your goal to 3.5k. try to hit that mark or get close to it as possible in your writing sprints. once you have successfully hit that mark repeatedly, increase the goal until you get to where you want to be. In terms of work/life balance? thats even harder. I know of authors who will wake up super early (before their spouse and kids) and write uninterrupted. I dont have kids, but I tend to write when my husband is at work so that when he's home, i'm spending time with him. or, I will spend time with him and then write later in the evening after he's gone to bed. I also write on my lunch breaks at work or if its a slow day on desk, I'll write. I dont really have a social life so, i dont go out much.
I'm in awe of those that write 2k+ words a day. I struggle with each word, each sentence, each paragraph, each transition and on. It takes me three years to write a 60k word novel. Of course, there is a lot of research in historical fiction and one that wears me out is the timeline. I haven't improved in ten years of seriously writing so maybe that's who I am.
Yes. This, I find, is key. It's less about the volume per day, and more about time management. You could take a vacation day and write 5k, or you could squeak out 1-2 by getting up early or using your lunch break to chip away. The slow drip can really add up, plus there's plenty of time in between to let it settle.
I generally target 3k a day, meaning i can write a 90k novel in a month. Sometimes i do more , quite often I hit 5k, on one occasion i hit 15k, but that was a day off with the family away and i did nothing but write from 9am to 3am the next day. It doesn't work for me but some writers use dictation and speech to text to speed things up a lot. Joanna Penn says she can do 20k in a day like that and have a nice walk while dictating...personally i can't i have to type or the words don't flow, but it might be worth a try
Like a couple others have said here, breaking up the writing has been huge for me. My favourite is 1000 words in the morning, 1000 words at lunch on my days off, and ideally another 1000 before bed. Plotting and planning the details really helped speed up my writing. I have a physically demanding job that doesn't require many brain cells, so though I can't write at work, I can let my mind wander and plot my scenes down to the sentence so when I get home it's all there and ready to be typed. At the end of the day, the biggest thing is just getting through the initial few hundred and not getting discouraged if I can't find my rhythm right away. Even if it feels like pulling teeth at first, by 500 words I usually get over the slump and can bang out a few thousand. In a nutshell: write every day, several times a day.
I know this feeling. It's kinda weird and empty. Because you have all this writing that got dumped and now, your brain is... well, empty. I usually hit this feeling after I have written to where I have plotted in my head. I do try and do this. But I am one who has trouble switching tasks. But yes, when I worked full-time, I wrote a whole Narnia Fanfic on my phone with a bluetooth keyboard. (It ended up being like 30K words? I am more protective of my original works and prefer writing them at home. And yes! Interest level does play a part. I seem to have jumped from story 1 to 2 and now am on 3. Kinda like I'm a buffet and will come back to story 1 once I feel like it. But I know sticking to a story works and also doesn't work? Any tips on that? Okay, I will try this. Because I am trying to adjust my computer/phone use to something healthier. Like 1 hour on phone a day max. Computer for work/writing. Not surfing. I was thinking that if I made myself write in the morning, it would be better than surfing. The problem is, I get sucked into writing and feel like doing nothing else. Also, writing only at night is a habit I need to break. Because if I do, I stay up to 1 AM. Which, isn't good for me. I think I need to break this 'all or nothing' mentality. Haha, same. I don't either. But maybe that's okay? Yeah, I get this. I write historical stuff too, but I usually write first and research later, depending on the setting. I know stuff about Ancient Rome best and some of WWII. So, I write first ask questions later. But yeah, it does slow things down. Oh, I am not great at time management. But I am trying! I get too rigid when I plan my day and then, feel like I failed when I am not 'perfect'. I really struggle with perfectionism. But yes, I agree. It is a time issue as well. Thanks for the suggestion. Reading over your post, I was like, "Moose and I write in a similar way!" As for dictation, I live with other people and dear gods, I would be so embarrassed to write my dark historical fantasy books aloud. (This would make a fun TV Episode.) Also, my brain needs to see the words on the page. Hahaha, yeah. No thank you. But glad it worked for him. Oh, I like this idea! Because it breaks up the writing into sections, so I don't need to feel like I have to do ALL of it at once. Yeah, I found 500 is the place where I end up writing more. So, yeah. I think I will try doing this more often. I will try this! And I will also try a variety of suggestions everyone else gave, too. I just have SO many books and fanfics I want to write that I get scared I won't finish any of them before I'm 105 years old. I want to write all the stories in my head before I die. (Yeah, I'm not that old and in good health) but the worry lingers.
No advice on this, lol! I bounce around between 3 WIPs. It works for me. If i lose interest in 1 story, i bounce to another one and write on that until i lose interest in that one or regain interest in the other
Good to know it's not just me! Haha. Because I am going in a loop here with my stories, It's like being on a carousel and it feels a bit tiring.
