I’ve decided to start something new. Every week, I am going to post my progress from the previous week on my WIPs. It’s a way for me to keep myself accountable. Maybe I’ll continue to press forward with my writing each week if I know on Sunday I’ll have to tell the whole internet about it. 🙂
words written: 12,453, all on The Hostage Heart
time spent writing: 262 minutes (4 hours and 22 minutes)
time spent pre-writing: 4 hours on my infertility novel
days spent writing: 6
That works out to about 2,851 words an hour, or 47 wmp. (I’m pretty sure I did my math correctly there, but no promises.)
Not too bad. This is my best week to date, in fact. I’ve been charting my progress for 5 full weeks now, and I find it tremendously helpful. I’ve been managing 10.5k-12.5k a week. For someone who hasn’t written in 5 years and has two babies, I think that’s pretty good. One thing I’ve learned is to be proud of the progress I’ve made, no matter how small. If I’m not, I just give up.
I’ve been doing lots of sprints over at iWriteNetwork lately. I absolutely love it. I’ve always been somewhat of a social recluse, and it’s great to be able to “talk” to others who share my love of writing and feel part of the writing community. However, when sprinting and reporting back my word count, I always get comments along the lines of, “Wow, that’s fast!” I had no idea I was writing “fast” until people started making comments to that effect. Let us hope that “fast” does not equate “awful.”
So here’s how I write “fast.” First of all, on a REALLY good day I type 135 wpm when copying things (usually it’s more around 90 wpm on an average day though). When writing, I am much slower. I write between 35-45 wpm. Here’s how I do it:
1) I use Write or Die. I generally try to write 2k in 40 minutes on gentle mode. Sometimes I don’t quite make it–it usually makes more like 45 minutes to get my word count it–but it’s something to aim for, and it pushes me. I LOVE the desktop version because it has progress bars at the top letting me know how I’m doing. For goal-oriented, type A personalities like myself, this is invaluable. Well worth the $10.
2) When I am writing, I am writing. I don’t get online. I don’t answer my phone. I don’t do anything but check on the twins if they start fussing in their sleep. If I have no idea what to write, I write anyway because the red flashing screen stresses me out. And guess what? After a line or two of writing crap, I know where to go and am back on track. I find the longer I write, the faster I go and the better things flow.
3) I try to plan ahead an idea of what I will be writing so I know where the story is supposed to go. I don’t do a detailed plan, but I do have a general idea of things.
And that’s pretty much all I do. I’m still figuring things out, but so far this is working great for me.
I just read this article here a few days ago too. It’s all about increasing your word count. Rachel Aaron says things way better than me, and she is actually published and successful so her words hold more weight than mine. Go check it out! Try a few of her tips and see if it boosts your word count. I’m slowly pushing myself and trying to boost mine.
So how did everyone else do with their writing goals this past week?
