How to Actually Write 1000 Words a Day

Consistency is key to making it as a writer

Photo by Vlada Karpovich: https://www.pexels.com/photo/content-young-businesswoman-using-laptop-while-taking-tea-cup-at-home-4050350/

I know for many of you writing a thousand words a day is nothing. In fact, for a professional writer it should be a relatively easy task.

But, articles about writing are not meant for the veterans of the trade.

Besides, a professional writer would know better than to get advice from me.

So, if you have trouble hitting a word count, keep reading.

Now, why a thousand words?

Well, it is a pretty good number to hit. After a few days it shouldn’t take too long and even if you knock it out relatively quickly then you have a decent bundle of words with which you can do many things.

1,000 words is a common word count for an article.

It could be a book chapter.

It could be ten poems.

So think of it this way. Hit a thousand words, and you have a 1,000 word article ready to go.

Or two 500 word articles.

Or four 250 word articles. I have no idea why you’re writing 250 articles unless you write for Buzzfeed. And then we’re playing fast and loose with the term “writing.”

Or, let’s say you’re writing a book.

A thousand words a day means that you would write 7,000 words a week. That’s 365,000 words a year. 366,000 if it’s a leap year.

Now a lot of that might not be usable. But even if a third of it is, then you could put out a book a year.

Might not be a good book.

Or you might not sell it.

But, hey you have a book.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. A thousand words sounds like a lot of work.

How do I get this done?

Well, you can do what I do and spend far too much time in a cabin in the middle of nowhere so people can’t bother you.

But I’m told that’s considered anti-social.

So, there are a couple things you can do to start hitting that word count.

One of the ways I like to do it is to break it up.

Instead of 1,000 words at once. Try 10, 100 word installments. Like you’re paying for a Bowflex, a little at a time. (Editor’s Note: That is one dated reference at this point. Ahh screw it I’m leaving it in the kids can look it up.

Look, it’s easy. I’ll show you.

“The dragon didn’t know what was going on. He just knew there was someone in his cave. He didn’t know who, because most people had the good sense not to enter the lair of a winged, fire breathing beast of destruction.

He looked around and thought to himself that perhaps he was hearing things. He was getting old after all. He hit the century mark last year. That’s when his father’s hearing started to go too.

But the search was futile so he went back to his bed of gold and gems only to find that now he wasn’t the only dragon in this cave.”

That’s 105 words and it took me maybe a minute and half.

So, ten quick spurts like that should take 15 minutes, maybe twenty. Heck, let’s give you three minutes per story chunk. Maybe you’re a slow typist. I used to be.

Now, at this rate you’d have a thousand words in just under a half hour.

That doesn’t sound so bad does it?

Surely you can find a half hour.

And if you can’t maybe, just maybe, you have too many family and friends and it’s time to start cutting some people off. Cut down your social circle to like 3 people tops. That’s what I do. It will do wonders for your productivity.

Oh? What if you can’t think of something to write in those little sprints?

That’s the key to all this.

You don’t wait till you’re sitting down to write to start thinking of what to write.

You have an idea, formulate in your mind and get it close to what you want to say, and then when it comes time to type you download all of that.

If you have the time and want to keep going, go for it.

Sometimes this is a good way to kick off a good long writing session and you’ll sail past the 1,000 word goal.

Sometimes I think of a great sentence that would make a great starting point and hold onto it all day and then the second I can sit down it’s off to the races.

But, say you do have a good day. Maybe you write 2,3, maybe 4,000 words in a day. Don’t rest on your accomplishment. It’s very tempting to want to sit back and take a day off.

But you can’t skip a day. It’s like the gym but writing is far more important than your looks and health.

Also, I’m aware that it’s a little ironic that this article isn’t a thousand words, but it’s a little over 700 hundred so I’d only have 300 more to go.

I mean look at what’s above. It’s proof that it’s not that hard.

So get writing.

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