Today I'm embarking on an epic quest.
This will be the year I write a million words.
That sounds very dramatic, but I think in the past I've hit something like 600,000 words in a year (I didn't keep strict track), so I'm looking forward to it.
Why?
Well, as a writer I want to be growing and evolving.
The best way to do that is to write enough to make a difference.
A million words in a year will take somewhere around 2700 words a day. My writing pace is somewhere around 30-60 words per minute, depending on the subject, how rested and prepared I am, and what I'm writing.
I still sometimes hit a wall, but ideally that means that I only really have to spend an hour and a half writing during my bad spots, and maybe even less once I get back in the swing of things.
What Counts?
Because the point of this is self-improvement, I won't count just any words. I'm sure there's some program I that would count the number of times I hit the space bar on my computer and give me a number, but that's not valuable.
Instead, I'll count three things:
- Blog posts, since I need to get good about building up profiles I've permitted to fall.
- Any text added to a manuscript.
- I wrote almost two novels (one finished, one just needing a couple linking scenes) and a chunk of a non-fiction book last year. They need editing, and the revision process will probably involve more words for both.
- Any book, game, or script I write will count, even if it doesn't get published in 2021.
- Anything I write for freelance clients or as part of an instructional program.
And here are the things I won't count:
- Correspondence and social media posts (barring long-form stuff like what I do on Hive).
- My bi-weekly newsletter for my author's site (kwilleywrites.com) except for the extra post I write for it, which I'll count separately.
- Anything I write as part of employment to fulfil the obligations related to my employment. Since I'm hoping to pick up a teaching job once I finish my degree, that means no lesson plans or course material.
I won't be writing daily updates, but I'm using NaNoWriMo's tracker, so viewing my profile there will be a place to go for somewhat up-to-date progress. I'll probably write occasional reflections over at my author's site, if you're interested in following them.
Finding the Words
I've got several ways for people to find my content.
All my blogs are cross-posted to Hive; either to @loreshapergames (content here is exclusive to Hive), @kwilley, or @kwilleywrites, depending on whether they're game-related, semi-personal, or writing-related.
I post my games on itch.io and DriveThruRPG. They're all free, so feel free to check them out.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://blog.homoeoteleuton.com/the-year-of-a-million-words/