You may have heard of NaNoWriMo - where contestants do their darndest to write 50,000 words worth of a novel within just thirty days, at an average of 1666.66 words per day.
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It’s no small task, it’s damned hard work and I’m actually flabbergasted that I managed it. I fear that the quality suffered, doing that much rushing. Actually, I think the goal is a bit too large. Why not two months? That’s an average of 833.33 words per day, which seems a lot more do-able. Quality would probably improve too.
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But why stop there? While we’re tweaking the formula, lets make it a full on 150,000 word novel written in 300 days. Yeah, that’s almost a year, but at least you could look at that year and say, “I wrote a book!” even if you accomplished nothing else. That’s only 500 words a day, which almost anyone can find time for – Hell, this post itself totals 175 words!
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The name of the contest needs some work though, to emphasize the changes – How bout MegaWriSlow?
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It’s no small task, it’s damned hard work and I’m actually flabbergasted that I managed it. I fear that the quality suffered, doing that much rushing. Actually, I think the goal is a bit too large. Why not two months? That’s an average of 833.33 words per day, which seems a lot more do-able. Quality would probably improve too.
.
But why stop there? While we’re tweaking the formula, lets make it a full on 150,000 word novel written in 300 days. Yeah, that’s almost a year, but at least you could look at that year and say, “I wrote a book!” even if you accomplished nothing else. That’s only 500 words a day, which almost anyone can find time for – Hell, this post itself totals 175 words!
.
The name of the contest needs some work though, to emphasize the changes – How bout MegaWriSlow?
When I'm in a 'writing frenzy', I manage roughly 2500 words per day.
ReplyDeleteThat suits my writing style, because I like to get the actual 'book' written in one stretch, and don't go back and re-write or alter anything until it's done.
Then I leave it completely alone for a few weeks, then go back to chapter one, and re-write...a lot.
Then once I'm done, I read it through, and re write again...and keep doing that until I'm happy with it.
See, i don't like re-writing. I write something and then add to it. There is a reason I wrote it a certain way to begin with and if I re-write- I'll end up re-writing the whole darn thing and the quality goes down.
ReplyDeleteI say do it right the first time.
I don't know that I've ever been in the throes of a 'writing frenzy', those must be cool.
ReplyDeleteAt the most, I can write for about an hour, after which I get distracted, my ass starts hurting and it's time to take a walk or something.
Rewriting - none for me, thanks. My pace is pretty slow, which means I say what I meant to say the first time.
A week or two later, going back over to edit - I'll find punctuation or redundant word use and repair them, but rewriting takes a lot more discipline than I have.
I can write 1000 no prob. Although sustaining that for 30 days would probably send me to find a canvas jacket with extra long sleeves...
ReplyDeleteI get bored after roughly 35 words and start thinking about cake.
ReplyDelete