NaNoWriMo and 4k Words a Day

This is a strange feeling. On Saturday, we hit the halfway point for NaNoWriMo. This is the blog post where I should give you my word count and tell you how things are going with my current project. I should discuss my progress so far and what I need to do to finish in time. That’s what I did last year, after all.

This year, things are a little different. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month. On the 15th, the halfway point, I…crossed 50,000 words.

According to NaNoWriMo, my average word count has been about 3400 words a day. For the first few days, though, my word counts were well below that. I also take Sundays off. What it really comes down to is that I’ve started writing around 4,000 words a day, sometimes close to 5,000.

How? A few years ago, I’d have given anything to learn how to write 4,000 words a day. Sure, I had some great writing days back then, but nothing consistent.

My Vague Guide on How to Write 3,000-5,000 Words a Day

First, I’ve given myself a structure to follow. When I just go through the day, writing a little bit here and there whenever I feel like it, it’s hard to get a lot written. And I’m not a big fan of scheduling my writing. I’d much rather do it when the mood hits me. For this NaNoWriMo, however, I started attending morning chats with other writers from my Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction program. That forces me to spend a specific block of time each morning writing. I don’t have time to do anything else.

And I’m not even tempted to waste the time during the chat, because we do writing sprints.

Writing sprints, word wars, whatever you want to call them, a little bit of competition goes a long way. It’s not so much wanting to write more words than other people as knowing that when the timer goes off, you have to show your word count to a bunch of other people. It makes you accountable, and it makes you try your best.

Next, I type fast. It’s hard to get around that one. Speed makes large word counts a lot easier to get. I never really thought about my typing speed until I started doing these writing sprints, but now it’s noticeable. We do 20-minute sprints, with breaks in between. On average, I get around 1,000 words written each sprint.

I stay for 4 sprints and end the morning around 11 o’clock with 4,000 words already written. If I want to bump that up a little further for the day, I just need to work some writing in like I would have otherwise.

One other, important element…

I really love my story this year. I mean, I love my story. Even if you can type fast, you’re holding yourself accountable, and you’re setting aside specific times for writing, it’s hard to turn all that effort into high word counts if you can’t come up with the ideas fast enough. That’s been my challenge in the past–using the time I’m not writing to figure out what’s going to happen next.

It isn’t a problem this year. I find myself thinking through the next few scenes all the time. New events just pop into my head. Writing this story isn’t a chore, it’s entertainment. I have to remind myself there are other things I need to do, so I can’t spend all day working on it. I love my characters, and I want to see their story through to the end.

And that’s just what I’m going to do.

NaNoWriMo ends on November 30. Even though I already have my 50,000 words, I’m not ending here. For me, a new NaNoWriMo challenge has presented itself: finish the first draft of this novel before the end of the month!