Comments on: Consistent, Small Word Counts Will Get Your Novel Finished

By: [From the Archive] Slow and Steady – Goal Setting | Rhonda Eudaly

[From the Archive] Slow and Steady – Goal Setting | Rhonda Eudaly — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:18:28 +0000

[...] a motivational tool, I can see that. As a practice, I’m finding myself agreeing more with Jennifer Blanchard over on Procrastinating Writers. She wrote in July her argument against NaNoMo as she was partnering with Holly Lisle in a [...]

By: Is Your Procrastination Misdiagnosed?

Is Your Procrastination Misdiagnosed? — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:38:47 +0000

[...] ourselves. Sometimes we call ourselves procrastinators when we’re not. Sometimes we get lost in word counts and page counts to the point that our obsession with the numbers is what’s really holding us [...]

By: Reader Profile: Donald E.W. Quist

Reader Profile: Donald E.W. Quist — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:34:16 +0000

[...] with a word count as his goal, Donald E.W. Quist, forces himself to write every day as a way to combat the irritation [...]

By: Ideas to Get You Writing Every Day

Ideas to Get You Writing Every Day — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:16:58 +0000

[...] Count in Mind—Commit to writing a certain number of words everyday. It doesn’t matter if it’s 500 words or 5,000 words, as long as you write. This method can also work with a daily page [...]

By: Gerhi Janse van Vuuren

Gerhi Janse van Vuuren — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:10:26 +0000

I have been writing with Holly this past couple of weeks only trying to do more than 250 words a day. I am now over 3000 for my project and the word count keeps creeping up.

Doing it like this (effectively one page a day) is very doable with the only drawback I see so far the fact that you will have to keep the book in the back of your mind for a long time.

But if you are short on time this is the way to do it.

By: The Procrastinating Writer

The Procrastinating Writer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:26:58 +0000

@Andy Bee Writing at a slow, but consistent pace definitely allows your story time to ferment and become better and better. I’m glad this method helped you finish your novel. (And thanks for all your comments!!)

By: Andy Bee

Andy Bee — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:16:55 +0000

I have been working on my first novel since April 2006, fitting it around work, home, family, classic cars and every other distraction that life offers. Rather than try to drop anything, I managed to get hold of an old HP Jornada PDA from eBay, then a Netbook so I could utilise all that ‘wasted’ time that crops up during the day. Five minutes here, ten minutes there all added up to useful time – better than listening to the radio or drumming my fingers. Within two years I had constructed my Mileu (it’s a fantasy novel), developed my characters and thrashed out my plot…and 197,000 words!

I’d like to mention that writing at this slow pace allowed my work to time to ‘ferment’. I firmly believe that if I’d written as if a deadline was snapping at my heels, I would never have achieved a ‘full colour’ novel – more likely a black-and-white version.

Every week I cheered myself up by doing a word count and was consistently surprised by my own pace. Yes, two years is a long time, but compare that to never writing at all..!
Whatever you choose to do, keep plugging away at it and don’t be daunted by that target!

By: The Procrastinating Writer

The Procrastinating Writer — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:43:01 +0000

@gin Thanks for letting us know! I was trying to figure it out, but all I could find was DTD.

By: gin

gin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:20:07 +0000

Quick note for the curious -> DTD = Dreaming the Dead, her current working title. Some of the scenes she’s told about are sooo intriguing.

By: The Procrastinating Writer

The Procrastinating Writer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:53:36 +0000

@LauraLeeBloor You know, I’m starting to see that slow and steady really does win the race (just like you said). My new writing mantra is: “Don’t get it right, get it written” (James Thurber).

@pea.elle You’re absolutely right! One word makes the next word and the next word…Keep at it. You’ll get there.