Newton’s First Law of Writing: Writers who write everyday will be comfortable writing everyday until The Forces of Evil Life frazzle their careful routines.
Before you tell me that word count goals are silly–(“Quality, not quantity!” I hear someone shout.)–consider this: If you write 1,000 words per day, you can possibly finish a rough draft of a young adult novel in 50 days. If you write 100 words per day, it’ll take you 500 days to write that same draft. If you write 1 word per day, you’ll finish in 50,000 days. If you write 0 words per day, you won’t finish.
Blame it on Writing Physics: It’s hard to write if you don’t write regularly. I know, I know: Some writers are different. But don’t kid yourself, because that writer is in short supply. Writers who don’t write everyday routinely write 0 words per day, unless they have the strength of Writing Gods to get back on the wagon once they’ve fallen off of it for a day. (Some writers find doing this easy. I do not.)
Let’s start with 1,000 words per day. It’s a good word count goal, but some writers might cower in fear at such an ambitious goal. When I first set that goal, I was a high school freshman. I wrote Every. Single. Day. I finished a lot of novels, novellas, and short stories in that time. Yes, sometimes it was a struggle to get 1,000 words every day. Other days, the words poured out of me like a superfluid at its lambda point. I wrote good words and bad words. I wrote a lot of crap–but I finished every project I started, and I learned to squeeze writing time into the busiest of days.
I was strolling along comfortably until life really got in the way. It turns out that high school juniors tend to stay a lot busier than high school freshman. I went from a consistent 1,000 words per day to 0 words per day. I had fallen off the wagon.
Guess how many novels, novellas, and short stories I finished after that? (That’s right. 0.)
A couple days ago, I reinstated my word count goal for what is probably the five hundredth time since I fell off that daily word count goal wagon. After unsuccessfully attempting to write 1,000 words per day, 2,000 words per day, and a vague “just write” words per day, I went back to a goal I knew I could achieve within fifteen minutes, max: Write 250 words per day.
I ended up writing 1,000 words.
Woah! Where did that come from?
This is another side of Newton’s First Law of Writing. Remember, it’s hard to start when you’ve stopped–but it’s also hard to stop when you begin! It’s pure mind trickery. Trick your mind into writing 250 words or 50 words–or whatever seems manageable, a piece of cake. Then write them. I bet you will have trouble stopping at your target as long as you really love your story, believe in your words and tell your internal editor to shut it. It’s like nudging an unstable wagon at the top of a hill.
Note that Newton’s First Law for Writing doesn’t work with large word counts. Imagine an ant pushing that 500-pound wagon sitting unstably at the top of the hill. (Doesn’t work, does it?) Start with something insultingly simple. Even 50 words per day is better than 0, if you’ve never used a daily word count successfully. When you get faster and when life permits it, raise the stakes to a larger word count that is still manageable. Daily NaNoWriMo is a no, no. Practicing with large word count goals when life is slow will certainly help you achieve smaller word count goals when life declares war against your sleep cycle.
The key is to adjust. Go slow when you’re too tired to challenge yourself. Challenge yourself when you have blocks of free time. Don’t begin with 1,000 words per day if you can’t spare at least two hours to write per day. If life gets busier during certain seasons, lower your word count goal for that season. Even setting a new word count each day might do the trick.
If you fall off the wagon, begin with a low word count goal that doesn’t strike fear in your heart every time you think about it. Remember that Newton’s First Law of Writing is still working in the background: It’s easier to keep going when you’ve started and harder to start again when you’ve stopped. So lure yourself into writing with a little push. Try writing 50 words, if you can’t imagine reaching your old word count goal after you fall the wagon for a day. If you’ve been practicing, you’ll probably end up exceeding 50 words anyway.
And even if you only squeeze out 50 words–well, 50 words is better than 0 words. Just don’t make that a habit, unless you plan on spending 1,000 days to finish your first draft.
