Welcome back grinders. How did that "Simple Synopsis" sentence come out? If you haven't posted it in the comment section then let me ask you, what are you waiting for? If you don't feel comfortable sharing in public then please email it to me at andrewdwewing@gmail.com and I will respond in private. I look forward to hearing from you? Now it's time to get started on our next step in getting ready for NaNo.
It's time to talk about word count. To complete the 50K words in NaNo you need to average 1,667 words a day for 30 days to win the challenge, but what does that look like for you? After all each of us has a different method for writing, we use different tools and we write at different speeds. I find it helpful to know how long I can expect a project to take before I choose to start it. So how long will it take you?
For those of you hand writing your novel it is pretty obvious that it will take longer versus somebody who can type at 60 words per minute on a keyboard. The first thing you need figure out is what tool you will be using to write and find out how long it takes you on average to hit a target word count. You can figure this out by using any number of websites online or applications on your smart phone or tablet, or for you low tech gurus you can set a timer for any period of time and then count your words after you finished and get your pace.
If you don't already know what your writing pace is, take some time over the next week and learn it. Once you know roughly your working pace you can accurately estimate how long it will take to complete NaNo or any writing project for that matter. I will share with you how I found my working pace and how long it will take me to finish NaNo.
I have been writing without missing a day for nearly a year (I get to celebrate my one year on November 1st, yes the first day of NaNo last year, it is amazing the habits NaNo builds), which means I have written now for 334 days. For most of that time I have been tracking my writing sessions that I do on the computer by setting a timer for anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours and banging away at the keyboard until the timer stops and then I use my Microsoft Word to find my word count, and then I record it with the date and total words. Here is the formula to figure it all out.
Total word count minus minutes spent writing equals words per hour.
Now understand that you are going to have some sessions where your word count will be high, such as when you write to your favorite music on your favorite keyboard with no distractions, and there will be times where someone pesters you or you freeze up in the middle of a key scene looking for the right word. You need to take those into account when you figure your word count so don't stop your timer unless you get up and stop writing completely for an extended time.
I have found that I can comfortably finish about 2,450 words in a 60 minute period. That is figuring that there are times when I struggle to hit 2,000 in an hour and there are hours I have hit 3,500 so what does that mean for NaNo? Lets find out.
50,000 total words needed divided by 2,450 average words an hour equals 20.5 hours of total working time to hit my goal.
Now if I know that I can better anticipate how long I will need I can better plan and carve out the hours I need to finish.
Roughly I now know that I will need 20 hours which is about 5 hours a week which breaks down to about 90 minutes of writing a day to finish NaNo, it doesn't look so daunting now does it?
Like I said everyone is different and each person will vary each day and week with their writing sessions, but I still challenge you to track it this week and the rest of the month. That way when November 1st flips up on your calendar you are better prepared to meet the challenge.
If you feel like sharing your writing pace in the comments great, if not feel free to email it to me at andrewdwewing@gmail.com.
And until next time, keep grinding out your words.
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