June 16, 2009

Words per Day? and Celebrity Revealed!

As I'm working on finishing my adult mystery and rereading/editing a set of mystery short stories I finally want to submit, it got me wondering how others do it. It's hard switching gears and finding enough time in a day to do both.

Realistically I know if I did at least 2,500 words a day (about 10 pages) a week, I could finish the over 20,000 words I need yet in less than three weeks. Well... it never seems to work out that way, right? Somehow, guess I'll keep plugging. (Today it's near 1,000 words but I'm not done yet.)

Maybe I should be a midnight writer. ha! A few of us at the gym joked about us all getting up in the middle of the night, combined with the couple trips to the bathroom. Maybe on those prolonged can't-get-back-to-sleep sessions, I should write instead of read. (and I did consider plugging in the laptop tho I hate turning into a zombie later. ha!)

So, I'm curious and am asking other writers: what do you do? How many words a day? Do you write all day? Get up at night? Please share!

** Answer to Monday's Celebrity Quiz:

I shared the photos of two miniature dolls in Monday's post and asked people to guess their identities.

Philippa guessed the identities right off - Kevin Costner, and I thought the second doll looked like singer Susan Boyle. So Philippa, if you're a miniatures collector, contact me, or I'll try to find your email to send you a little something!

7 comments:

Katie said...

I was thinking that was Susan....but for the life of me I couldn't think of her name! She makes me cry when I watch her sing! Amazing!!

Hey...I found a tutorial for some plants you may like~ When I saw them I thought of you~ I listed the link on my last post!

:)

Unknown said...

I don't count words. I write the thought until it is complete. This usually means a complete story. As for books, I do the same in that I write what is on my mind. It may be a paragraph, a chapter, or just a few thoughts.

Unknown said...

Woweee...thank you so much.What fun.

I have written to you privately.
Philippa

Paul McDermott said...

Depends on what I decide to tackle.
Childrens' novella: target 1500+/day

Adult (Historical Romance) (3-Vol) a chapter (might be 10+ pages)

Plays disappointed if not at least 2 full scenes

Song lyrics Generally refuse to admit defeat until the song is complete - this has led to all-night arguments with Dylan, Lennon, Sedaka et al. but usually works out in my favour ...same applies to short stories, I'd rather get them all out in one blast.......

Amber said...

I don't word count unless I am working a word count project like NaNoWriMo. Then I keep a spreadsheet that I plug in how many words I wrote and then it tells me how many words I have left, how mnay I wrote per hour, etc.

Camille Minichino said...

When I have a deadline I use a spread sheet also. I figure 0 words at the start and 80000 at the end and do that many a day at least, or make up for it if I don't.

I think once the dream of having a publisher is realized, the dream of "waiting for the muse" vanishes!

Sans! said...

Chris, I am so flattered you came by my blog with that suggestion of printing my stories etc..So, where is your follower button? :) Subscribing is not my 1st choice as I do not use Google Reader. Will you be adding the gadget on this very fascinating blog? I already enjoy your last 2 posts and will want to keep coming back when a new post is made :). Or can you put my email add in your settings for updates? Thank you :)