“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”            

                                                                          ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Setting Your Word Limit

                                                                              

Just How Much Is Enough?

    

    There are a variety of ideas of how many words a writer should contribute to their book daily. It's crucial to set aside a certain amount of time each day to writing your novel, and it isn't always easy. Keeping a schedule requires discipline and perseverance. But it's also important to figure out how many words per day on average you want to commit to writing. 

 

   This varies from writer to writer. Some writing forums suggest two hundred words per day while I have seen some writers put themselves down for as many as four thousand words every day. My advice is this: don't pay attention to any of those suggestions. In order to decide how many words you should write daily in your novel, you need to take into consideration several things that rely on you personally. How much time do you have to write in your novel? What number of words do you find is easy to type down? At what word number does your mind blank out?

 

    If you go with a word number someone suggests, you could either be writing below your capacity or you could end up pushing yourself so hard that at the end of the day your four thousand words don't make a lick of sense. That's why I suggest you do the following. 

 

    Sit down and start writing. It might take a few days to find the word number that works best for you but don't worry. Just sit down and write. Over the period of three to seven days (don't worry if it takes longer) gauge what number of words you can wright easily and then push yourself a few hundred words. You don't want to write a number that is a breeze, you want to write an amount that will push you a little bit out of your comfort zone. 

 

    For example, I write one thousand words a day on average. The first seven or eight hundred words go by fairly quickly, but then the well starts to run a little dry. I don't give up though, I push myself out of my comfort zone a little bit to complete my one thousand words. This stretches my mind to think beyond my regular capacity and I believe helps me grow as a writer.

 

    Don't rush this process. You might believe you have found your average writing pace but then, weeks later, you review the material to edit it only to find out your plots are contradictory and your wording is jumbled. Take the time to see just how much is enough, it's worth it in the long run!

 

~Lydia Sherren