Project 200: Making An Introduction

I have long been envious of prolific writers like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, it seems like they have a new book coming out every year and not little books either! I’m fairly certain Stephen King’s recent doorstopper 11/22/63 is considered a deadly weapon in every state but Texas.

But I’ve been doing some significant reading and spending a lot of time thinking and I’ve come to several realizations.

1. Habit is key.

I admit to being a sporadic writer. Some days I might pound out 3,000 words, but then I may go a week without writing. For someone who desires to be a published writer, this is simply unacceptable. I’ve always found that it is much harder to get back into the -pardon my dated slang- groove of writing after I’ve been away from it for a few days. In contrast, if I get in the habit of writing every day, ideas flow better and it is easier to write. 

2. A little bit every day adds up. 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Remember the lesson of the tortoise and the hare: taking a nap in the middle of a race is just fucking stupid.

3. You need to make part of your schedule. 

We’ve all got the same 1,440 minutes in each day. How we spend them is what matters. If you don’t set a side a block of time every day to write, it is too easy for your writing to get buried underneath work, chores, errands, time with family, time playing Pokemon X, etc. The universe isn’t just going to give you extra time to write. You’ve got to take it.

What is Project 200? 

Simply put, the goal of Project 200 is to make a habit of writing at least 200 words a day. Think that sounds hard? This post so far is 316 words. You can write that much everyday, can’t you? If you write 200 words a day for a year you’ll have 73,000 words. If you participate in NaNoWriMo and win, you can bump your total annual word count to 123,000 words. 

The average romance novel is 76,000 words long while the average fantasy is 122,000. Literary novels fall somewhere in the middle. So, depending on what genre you are writing, you’ll have a rough draft in about one to two years. And remember, that’s just writing the minimum. The true goal isn’t to write 200 words and then call it a day, the real goal is to get you into the habit of writing something everyday. Undoubtedly there will be good days and bad days, just as there are times of floods and drought. That’s okay, just keep writing.

What can you write for Project 200?

Any creative writing is acceptable: fiction, fan fiction, poetry, metafiction, screenplays and scripts. If you’re working on nonfiction, such as a book the development of submarines, I’d count that too. The only thing I’d recommend you exclude are things like personal journal entries, forum posts, any business writing you do and essays for school. 

When is Project 200 starting?

I’ll be starting Project 200 ‘officially’ on January 1^st, 2014. In the meantime you can look forward to posts on how to create a writer’s space in your home, how to create time to write and other topics. Fans of Eileen Reads Twilight, don’t despair! You’ll have your weekly sporkings at the regular time (Fridays). Throughout the year there will be posts on strategies for success as well as recommendations on writing books I’ve found particularly helpful. 

So what do you guys say? Are you in?

And if you're looking to be notified of updates to Project 200, Eileen Reads Twilight or just want to hear my musings on a variety of topics, you can follow me on Twitter.