Writing in Public – getting up to speed 3k, 5k, 10k words per day?

by Frank | Oct 4, 2013 | Writing

Want to know how to make writing fun and easy again? Here’s how. I’m back at my desk and working at a new, fictional, series project. So far it’s a blast, mainly because I’ve been mentored by some successful US indie authors. They have inspired me to do several things.

FIRST:

Write fast.

To do this I’ve learnt to touch type again. I learned in school and forgot how. It took me only a few days using Typing Tournament to learn again. Primarily a game for kids but it works just as well for adults. I hit about 41 words-per-minute now, which is still 9 WPM off my two-finger speed of 50 WPM. So while that might seem like a step back, it isn’t. I’m still getting 1000 words-per-hour down and whereas that was as fast as I can go with two fingers my ten finger typing will only pick up speed over time as my fingers get used to remapping the keys and they gain strength.

I’m tempted to get one of these classic typewriter docks configured for the iPad. It’d make a great typing workout.

SECOND:

Spend more time writing.

So it takes me roughly an hour to write 1000 words. The more time I spend at the machine the more words I will write. That’s simple math right? I’ve started easily, 3000 words per day. I use this as my bench mark and a warm up. Here’s what I’ve achieved this week:

Daily word target: 3000

Average words typed: 3139

Weekly total words typed: 12555

Bear in mind I can only work a four day week because of childcare commitments the rest of the week. If I was typing five days a week that would be 15694 words this week. But don’t worry I’ll achieve that next week. My goal for next week is a minimum of 4k words per day. I know that’s achievable as I’ve already hit 3500 today, easily. And I’ve done it before. Anyone practicing their writing regularly can achieve 5k per day or more.

But how many hours have I actually been writing for?

13:52:00 according to my word processor Atlantis. So if my working week (8am-5pm x 4) = 36 hours, there’s a lot of hours left to make good use of. If we took a conservative 25 hours a week writing time (you’ve gotta eat and check email after all) then we’re talking around 22500 words per week at a speed of approximately 900 wpm.

That’s a book to average-length first draft every 4-5 weeks.

THIRD:

Rewrite less.

I tend to edit the crap out of things. I have noticed over time that more editing ≠ better writing. Yes, you need to take the cliched dross and the typos out, but that’s as far as it goes. Dean Wesley Smith has written extensively on this over on his blog. These two posts are some of the most fun a writer can have:

Writing Fast is Bad

Writing is Hard

I sent DWS a quote from an interview with Lee Child on how he approaches things, here’s what Child said:

I have a kind of two-steps-forward, one-step-back process. At the start of every day I revise what I wrote the day before, and then press ahead. At the end of the book I’m always vaguely aware of one or maybe two sections that are a bit loose, so I duck back and tighten them up. But I don’t really do a second draft, as such. I just finished the book that will appear in 2004 — wrote the last line at midnight on a Thursday and had it in final shape by Sunday afternoon. Over the years I have realized that a book is a snapshot of where you were that particular six-month period, and you have to just let it go. Perpetual revising is a danger. Just type ‘The End’ and mail it in.

It’s taken me this long to shake a leg and get to it, and I’ll be following Child’s approach for this project. The proof of whether this works or not will be in the reading. But bear in mind that most of the news content that you see on TV or read in print is written fast and on the fly. Also in those WPM figures above I’m not including an exercise regimen that demands I move every 20 minutes – it usually incorporates weights, yoga and calisthenics – or the revisions I make at the start of every day as Child does.

For the first time in years I’m excited about writing again. This is productive and fun.

Stay tuned, it could get busy round here.

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