How about a “Write 500 words a day” thread?

[snowqu33n]

I’ve previously benefited from MUNOWRIMO thread and I am working on another novel, but I want to stay consistent.
Any writers out there? Novelists, non-fiction writers, poets, or people who need to get their shit together to meet a deadline?
The goal is consistency, an achievable amount every day.
You can post your daily goal and how you are doing with it.
You can tell us the type of writing you’re working on, or just your daily word count.
Anybody interested?

@snowqu33n and @Bella43 thanks for the info on how you approach planning the plots. I always felt uneasy that I didn’t have a full end to end plot line but I’m really enjoying writing from point to point and it seems to work for me! The analogy of the treetops is perfect! Of course, no idea if what I am writing is interesting or readable by anyone else but I’m loving it and that’s all that matters right now for me.

I am also finding that writing with a pen and paper and then typing it up when I feel like I’m at the right point is really helpful; it means I’m sort of editing as I go along. I can’t wait until I’ve written enough to go back en edit it more fully :)

wishing you all a wonderful day whether it involves writing or not :)

Hi everyone 😊

@snowqu33n how exciting, I’m an illustrator but photographic and only one published book so far. Two if you include images sold for cover art, but only through friendship with the author. It has spurred me on to create my own book. I’m also doing a drawing course, by which I mean I’ve bought a bundle of ‘courses’ online which are just endless videos to watch. Haven’t actually started yet. Three are about writing and one is for sketching.

@Bella43 I must look up word clouds. It sounds a little like the spider plans I’d use for essay writing back in the day. I’ve tried plotting the novel similarly but got lost.

Hi @TheBirdintheCave I feel exactly the same way, I couldn’t stop writing when I was a child. Somehow it all just shrivelled up 😞

I’m so happy to have written a story that made me laugh out loud as I went this morning, when everything I say is usually so dark and dreary. I wonder why I don’t scribble out handwriting but so easily delete any text on the screen. I think I’m ready to start typing up these stories - I can’t see how they’re related yet but maybe they are tree canopies in the clouds.

@HappyHolidays22

I get very into plotting, I can’t read or watch anything without automatically breaking it down into acts and the chains of cause and effect that are so gripping. It made me realise how bad some of my favourite books and tv shows and plays would be if I’d written them. Hamlet would have killed Claudius in the first act and it would all be over. Walter White would have taken the money offered by his former colleague. And so on.

It’s hard to free ourselves from the concerns about how readable and interesting it will be to others and just keep writing. I’m glad not to be alone in this!

@HappyHolidays22 You have exactly the right attitude. Write what you love and it'll come through in your story. Only you can tell that story. It'll be fresh and interesting to readers because it'll be something we haven't read before.

@Guillebeaux You should be a screenwriter 😊 I'd love to write like Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty, Bodyguard...). I love watching TV because I learn so much about storytelling, especially something pacy or high drama.

And yes, it's really restrictive when you think too much about who will be reading your work and whether they'll like it. All readers are different, so they're all looking for different books. It's taken me a long time to realise this but there's a massive market out there. Our books have a readership out there somewhere. When you finish a novel and start thinking about comparison titles, that's your audience right there.

Have a lovely writing day everyone. I'm enjoying hearing about the illustrators on here too. I love art and wish I could draw so I could illustrate my children's picture book set in a very wintery woodland ❄ 🦊 🍃

I’m just going to join in here as I CANNOT tell you how much I’ve procrastinated. I wrote about 20k words of a novel, after being very slow to start it due to pantsing. So then I did an outline with DH after we had loads of cocktails and were creatively sparked (he’s brilliant at being in The Zone for when you want that sort of help) and got back to it but then it sagged hard.

I went back to the outline and realised I’d actually gone way off course, deleted 10k words and CANNOT make myself get back to it. I bought 5000 Words Per Hour by Chris Fox and in his opening chapter / prologue bit he tells a little bit of his own story and says “I had my Lester Burnham moment - check out American Beauty if you don’t get this reference”. And I DID get the reference and I STILL JUST WATCHED IT ALL instead of either reading the fucking book, or writing my own!

The upside is, I’ve got so much house admin done to justify not doing it but just bloody do it. The gutters are clear, the lawn got mown early, the weeding‘s been started, the windows have been cleaned, I’ve ironed bedding (I never do that!), and I have got to stop. Let my sheets be crumpled and my inspiration return.

So I’m going to aim for 2,500 words a week, however that pans out.

I’m enjoying reading everyone else’s more efficient journeys..

@Bella43 I’d love to write a screenplay! Jed Mercurio has a sort of course, a bbc maestro thing. Your children’s book sounds dreamy, will you find an artist to collaborate with on it?

hi @Novelless efficient is not me, my writing is really the art of doing nothing. It’s taking me years to figure out my process and to start writing consistently. Love to hear more about your novel and the pantsing v plotting. Not that I want you to end up living a dilapidated eyesore but it sounds like you can afford a break from the chores and do some work on it now? 😁

Today was amazing, two pieces of writing with one around 750 words the other 600 ish, like running at a pace of two hours per mile. I’m really happy. Made a rule that I mustn’t reread anything but to keep writing each day and worry about sticking it all together later. Got little notebooks for each character and one for the place and one for new ideas, think this is how I’ll have to do it. Write it all out longhand in bits of pieces even though the thought of typing it all up later is making my heart sink.

That’s wonderful @Guillebeaux it sounds like you’re on a roll!

Welcome @Novelless I really feel what you’re saying about doing things around the house and procrastinating. Can you think up some dialogue whilst doing those things and then write it down when you get some good lines for your characters?
I read somewhere that the writer of “Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day” thought up all her dialogue for her novels while doing the washing-up!

I got a lot of words out longhand yesterday (not sure exactly how many) but today was a washout due to work commitments.
Overall I’m pleased because I feel like the plot is getting underway and I’ve set things up for a big action scene later on.
I’m wondering if I’ve been trying too hard and it’s not lighthearted enough but I can always change it when I go back to edit it.

Well, hope everyone is blessed with great ideas today and gets a chance to put pen to paper!

Hello and welcome @Novelless I can't wait to hear more about your novel. What genre is it? 2,500 words a week sounds like a great target. I know what you mean about procrastinating. I wrote the first couple of chapters of my novel and had about a year off! To be fair, the pandemic happened and my writing went on the back burner. It's back now with a vengeance thankfully. I'm at my happiest when I'm writing or daydreaming about stories. I hope you've had a productive, writerly day.

@Guillebeaux I saw that Jed Mercurio course on BBC Maestro, I bet it's a good one. He must be a very intelligent man to have come up with half the stuff he wrote for Line of Duty. His shows are always so pacy and action-packed. I'd love to do the Lee Child course on BBC Maestro. I signed up for a free taster lesson and really enjoyed it. Masterclass is another good site for writing courses. Margaret Atwood's one looks brilliant. Thank you for your kind comment about my children's book. One day I'd love to find an illustrator for it. If I ever get an agent, I'm hoping that dream will come true.

Great news about your writing progress! I like the sound of your notebooks. I start a new notebook for every new novel. I use it for editing too. It's particularly useful for the first read-through. I make notes about what I like and don't like. I can come back to the parts I want to change.

@snowqu33n I'd never heard of Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day. It definitely looks like my kind of novel. It's interesting that she came up with the dialogue while washing up. I think of my best lines when walking the dog. It sounds like you had a great writing day yesterday. Yes, I'd keep going with the plot. You can always make changes once you've put it away for a while. It's great that you've laid down the seeds for the action scenes later. I love it when that happens.

i quickly did a micro sprint as instructed by this book, pretty much immediately after I posted and in a tearing hurry to go out. It was meant to be five minutes but of course the doorbell went half way through and I am an answerer of doorbells sadly. Anyway. 185 words or so - and I’ll do another tomorrow. The logic of having timed bursts of focus does appeal; clearing the decks and Just Doing It. The theory being it’s however many wph, and you record the number each 5 min sprint and it gets a little higher and your writing gets a little cleaner and your writing “muscle” gets stronger. Tracking the progress appeals to me anyway.

Belle - In theory, the book is contemporary women’s fiction. We’ll see. It’s just a really short document that gets opened and stared at mostly..

Snow - very good idea about dialogue. I find it by miles the hardest bit to do and it’s so crucial. I’ve got plenty of plates piled up for the morning so anything useful to idle the time away.

Guille - interesting about notebooks. I lean towards buying them and filling them with ideas then tell myself I’m just thinking of anything to avoid doing the damn writing itself so I don’t.

will plan to do more tomorrow anyway!

@snowqu33n it’s hard to estimate word counts with handwriting isn’t it, especially if like me you’re using a range of different notebooks. I’m trying everything from Nice Leatherbound to Amazon Basics, some lined, some grid, some blank. I’ve found there is something extra freeing about the cheap and cheerful options. Do you type each session up later?

I really did get on a roll and started a new document for The Novel which now has a positive word count (1800+). Reread this morning and it’s not actually the novel, it’s a short story filling out the background of my main character - it’s the body of an iceberg I’m only interested in showing the tip of in the novel. But maybe this is how I get it done. Everything else in life takes longer than I expect, why would writing a book be any different?

@Bella43 isn't it such a good feeling to know that daydreaming and thinking up stories is our secret superpower? I’ve always been like that and felt embarrassed about it, now I cherish the process and make as much space and time for it as possible. If you self publish your children’s book you will have full creative control and can choose which artists and typesetters you want to work with and bring your work to life exactly how you imagined it to look and feel. It can be expensive and might feel indulgent but it can result in a more beautiful and meaningful book. It depends how attached you are to the idea of commercial success and whether that’s linked in your mind with traditional publishing I guess. If I could afford it I would definitely do that!

@Novelless the writing sprint sounds like a fun exercise! I know what you mean about the notebooks becoming their own form of procrastination, I spend much more time writing in them about writing my book than I have ever spent writing (then deleting then rewriting then deleting again) the actual book. It’s all a bit meta. Maybe it’s an essential part of the process? I might try some timed five minute sprints today, describe an object or a smell or a person’s gait or something.

Happy writing everyone 🪶

Anyone else have mixed feelings about word counts? I really believe that what gets measured gets improved over time and, crucially, repetition, on the other hand I have so many failed nanowrimos behind me that they’ve sort cumulatively destroyed my confidence.

@Novelless I don't know if you realise this, but you're really funny. I mean that as the biggest compliment. Have you ever considered writing romcoms? I love your comment 'I am an answerer of doorbells, sadly.' That really made me laugh and created quite an image. Maybe you could write something diary-style. I definitely see you reeling off a humorous piece. It comes across so effortlessly. Contemporary women's fiction sounds right up my street 😊

@Guillebeaux I've always been a daydreamer. At school I spent a lot of time staring out of the window. Those old oak trees blowing in the wind had all my attention in class. I'd be dreaming up lines of poetry and dying to get out on the mountains so I could be among nature. I used to be embarrassed about it as well. I also worried about how I absorbed and interpreted the world around me but then I watched Finding Neverland and Tolkien and realised that I have a writer's mind so I wasn't alone in how I see and animate things. I would love to self-publish my children's book but the financial side of things is a barrier. I'm not brilliant with tech either so I'd have to pay out for everything - typesetting, cover art etc. I also want my book to be in libraries which is why I keep shying away from the self-publishing route. I love my local library. My favourite memory of primary school is the weekly walk we had to the library and the librarian reading to us. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I have this dream of seeing my book(s) there on the shelves one day. Otherwise, I'd definitely self-publish.

I've managed to edit a few more pages today. Slow and steady wins the race and all that 😊I jotted down a few ideas for a short story yesterday on my lunch break and worked on a poem that I've been trying to finish for years. Yes, you read that right! The thing can't be tamed but I'm not going to stop trying ✍📚

@Guillebeaux I've never tried nanowrimo for fear of failure so well done for trying in the first place! Is there any writing you can salvage from it? When I was writing my novel, I didn't set myself a word count target but what I did do, when I got back to it after a break, was work on it daily if possible. That way, the story was fresh in my mind and I was slowly chipping away at it rather than putting it to one side and forgetting the plot as well as losing the voice. I came back to it with the intention of turning it into a novella because I didn't think I had enough material for anything else but luckily it kept going. I hope yours does too.

Self published books get into lending libraries too! Not sure how it works but a friend got paid via ALCS whenever someone borrowed or photocopied parts of (how do they know?) her self published book in a library. She did spend thousands and thousands on the project, and had worked in the industry for years. Might have been an extraordinary case.

Working on a poem for years is quite something, is it like Aniara, a novel length poem? I like how you’re writing lots of things at once - short stories and verse and a novel. I’m finding out that’s how I work too.

Chipping away daily is good, I was thinking earlier about how even five minutes a day would add up to a good chunk of text if it didn’t get deleted. 😳 There must be a few successful books out there that were written on the authors’ commutes to and from their day jobs.

@Guillebeaux The poem is short but it's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. I keep moving all the sentences around to see what fits where. One day I'll write a brand new sentence and bring it all together🤞 I have the same problem with short stories. Some I'll write in a day and others I'll do battle with. I don't give up though. I save them in a word document and come back to them. Others I'll write longhand and work on them in my lunch break so yes, I can imagine lots of authors have written novels in snatched moments or the daily commute.

Oh, I'll have to look into the whole self-publishing/library thing. I think my other worry is that I'm not so good at self promotion and marketing. I'm a quiet person at heart and hope the publisher will help me out there. I know I'd still have to push for sales too but not as much as if I went down the self-publishing route.

One day I'll write a brand new sentence and bring it all together

ah yes, like Kerouac (I think it was him?) ‘one day I’ll find the words and they’ll be simple’

Hi, can I join you, please?

I have a few nonfiction articles published in magazines but fiction is where I'd much rather be.

I'm a bit of a panster but I always know my ending. I know roughly where the story will start and roughly the main plot points but no concrete plan. Have tried planning but can never stick to it.

I can go weeks without writing a single word and then have a few days where I pump out several thousand. Today was a good day. Manged 2500 words. The most I've written for weeks. My total now is 2500! I'm starting a new novel having abandoned my last one when I hit about 30k words. It just wasn't working for me. I'm feeling more optimistic about this one.

I'm coming to the end of my second year in a creative writing degree. We've just done a module called The Novel which included submitting the first 2000 words of a novel and creating a submission pack including a blurb, synopsis, cover letter and author biography. It's been inspiring and motivated me to get back on the writing. I also feel confident about submitting when the time comes thanks to the module.

Now I'm back on the wagon I'm aiming for 1500 a day, completing by the end of May. Though I think this is rather optimistic going by my previous track record!

And…I’m back! I’ve done my word goal in my notebook again today but will try to move it back into the Word doc later this week.
I had some busy days recently due to work and I didn’t have the energy in the evening to be creative. Tomorrow we’re taking a quick trip to the mountains to do some snow sports before the slush melts, so that will take priority.

It’s going well but I keep thinking of places I can improve what I’ve already written and it’s difficult to keep moving forward if I go back and pick at previous pages.

Welcome @anerki10 that’s really exciting that you’re doing a course and learning the skills. It’s great that you’ll get to learn about the business and get people to look at your work regularly, too.
I have started getting a mentor to look at my work but I need to write a bit more before I submit the next installment. I’m thinking of investing in a professional line editor at some point but I’m undecided. I want to use it as a learning exercise more than anything, but it’s very difficult to choose the right editor. The mentor so far has made suggestions about story arc and voice.

@Bella43 and @Guillebeaux I can definitely relate to the daydreaming as a superpower! It’s got me through some very dismal days.
I remember re-reading many favorite books multiple times as a child - so reassuring to go back and experience the same characters and scenes. I read absolutely every night and sometimes stayed up late after parents switched off all the lights and sat on the windowsill to read by the light of the streetlights - no wonder my eyesight is so bad!

@Bella43 I believe that if you self-publish you can get the book into libraries if you have a proper ISBN (not an Amazon stock number) and you publish your book at a company that supplies to bookshops and libraries. There’s at least one that works on a print on demand basis that isn’t not too expensive.
I don’t want to go into it too much or make recommendations because I am no expert. If you search online you’ll find the information.
You would need to get libraries to stock it by people requesting it, mind you.
My DM has a non-fiction self-published book at several libraries. She refuses to publish an electronic version 😃

@Guillebeaux That's a lovely quote. Yes, one day it really will all be simple. Funnily enough, I had a lovely writing day yesterday. I worked intensely on a short story and finished it. I find I work better that way with short stories. They feel fresh and more importantly, I get them done! It was a story I started on my phone about 2 weeks ago. I write a lot in notes on my phone because it serves as a reminder of what I'm working on. It also gives me the opportunity to reread/edit when I have a spare moment.

Welcome @anerki10 and congratulations on your publications 🎉 I'm sure your nonfiction work will have helped you when writing fiction. I've been reading some creative nonfiction recently and it was a lesson in observation and story about the natural world. I'm the same as you when it comes to knowing the ending of a novel. I often work backwards or know the beginning and end and just need to find out what happens in between. I'm glad you're feeling optimistic about your novel. What genre is it? Your creative writing degree sounds amazing. Creating a submission pack sounds like a dream. I finished my degree in English Literature in 2020. I loved the creative writing modules 📚 ♥

@snowqu33n How was your trip to the mountains? It sounds like a wonderful setting for a novel. I understand what you mean about wanting to go back and edit parts of your work. I keep a list of sections I want to work on or general ideas of how I can improve. I write the page numbers and everything. That way, I won't lose track of edits or forget what ideas I had to rectify them. Also, don't forget to write positive notes too. For example, if you think characterisation was done well on a particular page or dramatic tension was captured, make a note of it. The Curtis Brown course taught me that. It really builds confidence. Your love of reading as a child mirrors mine. Fairytale, or lack of, comes up a lot in my stories. I loved the ladybird books. Princess and the Pea I read over and over again. I love the Disney films too. Beauty and the Beast is my favourite. Thank you for your tips about stocking a self-published book in libraries. I've started looking into it online. It's a relief to know that there is a way after all.

I managed to edit a couple of pages of my novel yesterday. A really good writing day in all. I've been reading the Teach Yourself book Write Short Stories. I often read books like these to understand the craft better. Stephen King's book On Writing is excellent.

Hi Anerki 😊 a creative writing degree is my dream! Is it helping you develop more consistent habits of writing each day? Would you recommend your course? I so relate to the feast or famine of output, it’s very satisfying to overcome. Consistency is a big challenge in all aspects of my life. 1500 doesn’t sound an unreasonable daily target, especially if you can average it over a week or a month?

A mentor sounds a wonderful idea snowqu33n! How did you find them? How does it work? Can they advise on how to balance the editing/new ideas against the need to move forward (it seems to me that refining what you’ve written so far IS forward movement)? Envious of your mountains.

Congrats on getting another short story finished Bella43, and on editing some more of the novel. Are there any themes linking your poetry and prose? I’m a huge fan of On Writing too, not that I’ve looked at it lately. I also have Julia Bell’s Creative Writing Coursebook and a very very well thumbed copy of Writing Down The Bones which comes with me everywhere but its tiny pages are falling out now. These texts plus some video courses on Domestika help me imagine myself on a poor semiliterate person’s creative writing MA. Currently working through Shaun Levin’s Creative Writing for Beginners, it's exactly the right level.

Yesterday I tried an exercise from Levin’s course (techniques for writing anywhere) and went to a museum I’m currently obsessed with and wrote for ten minutes about whatever caught my attention. It inspired me to sign up for Julia Bell’s Creative Nonfiction course on the same platform. It’s in the queue of courses I have purchased there.

I’m trying to leave my camera at home when I go for a walk and use my notebook to record what I see instead, in verse as it’s NaPoWriMo. Writing bad haikus really does make a person feel better!

I felt horribly awkward and exposed going out without a camera but the absence of it seemed to awaken other senses - sounds and scents and the feeling of textures, found it all quite hard to put into words.

Those courses on Domestika look amazing @Guillebeaux 😍 I've watched a few of the video trailers now. It's on my to do list to buy Writing Down the Bones. I've had it recommended to me before and read the first few pages online. Her voice is amazing.

My poetry and prose are sometimes linked by elements of fairytale. My poetry is often pastoral or romantic. The tone is sweeping and gentle. I take a lot of inspiration from paintings. My prose tends to be darker, the broken fairytale. I'm trying to write some uplifting stories to balance them out. I'd love to put together a collection of short stories. I used to write a lot of ghost and speculative fiction. I've noticed recently my ideas are becoming more contemporary and domestic. I guess we change and evolve all the time as writers.

How are your haikus coming along? I enjoy following the rules of haiku 😊 Is your camera still at home? I'd love to have that 'eye' of a photographer. It sounds like you were using your five senses without it. Rather than trying to put them into sentences when you're out, maybe you could just list what you see and hear. Those little snapshots are often all that's needed to breathe a passage to life.

@Guillebeaux I absolutely love the degree. It's honestly so inspiring and motivational. Though, it hasn't helped particularly in regards to developing daily writing habits but I think that's just me and the way I work. But yes, 100% recommend. Obviously you don't need a degree to be a writer but it's fun, helpful and encouraging. Networking with industry professionals and other published authors is great too. All of lecturers are published in different areas with different expertise so if there's a particular focus for you, there's normally someone around for a chat about it.

1500 words doesn't sound too bad but will definitely have to average that over a week. I've been out of action for a few days this week with an ear infection so I already feel very behind on the 1500 target per day.

@Bella43 love Stephen King's book! We had to read it as part of my degree. I hadn't heard of it before but it's a brilliant. There's a couple of others we've had to read too that have been great. I'll try and find the titles.

Genre wise this time I'm doing something completely different. Romance. Eek! Not my normal thing. Usually more of a dark and gritty writer and very unfamiliar with a HEA.

Manage a few paragraphs by hand this morning. Not sure on word count until I type it up this evening but hoping to add some more before I type it up tonight.