How long did it take you to write the last chapter of your novel? How about your last manuscript? How many words do you average per day? I guarantee that if you asked Stephen King or JK Rowling those questions, they would know. If you want to take your writing seriously, you need to be tracking how many words you write a day. This is important for five reasons.
1. You know what your time is worth.
Let’s say you are approached by a magazine to put your animal expertise to use by writing a 1,500 word article about how to train your dog to waterski. Are you being paid the equivalent of one dollar per word… or one penny per word? You won’t know if you don’t know how fast (or how slow) you write.
2. You know what deadlines you can make.
Your article on waterskiing corgis was an absolute hit! The magazine wants a follow-up article on parasailing cats. They also want to have it in next week’s issue. It’s Wednesday and they’ll need the article by noon on Friday. Will you be able to make that deadline? Unless you’re tracking your word count and the completion times of projects you wouldn’t know.
3. You know if you’re heading off course.
Let’s say you have six months till the deadline for you to turn in your manuscript. Are you on schedule? Behind or ahead of schedule? Impossible to know without a daily recording of your writing.
4. You have the data so you can improve your word count.
“Data! Data! Data!” he cried impatiently, “I cannot make bricks without clay!”
Just as Sherlock Holmes needs more data to solve the mystery, so do you need hard data if you want to evaluate and improve your daily word count. Don’t just record how many words you write a day, record where (at home, at a coffee shop) you wrote them, and when you wrote them (morning, afternoon or night?). Patterns might emerge. Maybe you write best at night when everyone else is asleep. Maybe you need the ambient noise of a restaurant to pound those words out. Everyone is different. Find what works for you.
5. You are holding yourself accountable.
If you are participating in Project 200 you are making a promise to yourself that you will write at least 200 words a day. Keeping track of your word count is how you are holding yourself accountable to that promise.
Ways Of Keeping Track
Keeping track of your word count can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You can pencil it in your calendar, track it on your phone, or use a spreadsheet on your computer like these free ones here. The main thing is that you get in the habit of tracking your word count daily. Don’t wait till January to start!
As always, thanks for reading and commenting! If you wish to be the first to know when a new blog post (either Project 200 or Eileen Reads Twilight) is up, follow me on Twitter!
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