Post: #1

There's so much avoidance, procrastination, "learning and preparation," and time-wasting going on in the world of the writer when what you really should be doing is...writing.

Of course, there's no clearcut prescription but many famous authors advocated or held themselves to 1000 words per day, each and every day. Stephen King, for one. In fact, Ray Bradbury said you should put in 1000 words per day for 3 years just to build your basic foundation as a writer.

That may be an extreme statement in a world where you can make money with information online pretty quickly, but the general habit makes perfect sense considering that building the right habits is often the key to getting what you want in life.

Since I'm a freelancer, I feel it necessary to state that the stipulation is the work you do for clients does not count for this challenge. This must be 1000 words of your own content, whether for your book, blog, or other intellectual property. It must be yours.

Note: guest blogs or other marketing materials created for someone else's site but for your own purposes will count too.

We're not talking polished and shining final draft content here. Just 1000 words of raw writing on a daily basis.

Who is on board? I propose setting a 3-month goal on this. They say that it takes a month to solidify a goal, but I've read that's not entirely accurate and that it's more like 60 days. Might as well call it 90 and really establish a pattern here.

From there, you can reassess and decide if a different writing schedule would work better for you.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #2

Good idea BB.

Does the writing of a journal/diary type thing count?

Post: #3

Yeah I'm in. I've written hundreds of thousands of words in the form of engineering reports and I want to try something more creative so the fiction stuff I produce first will be mainly garbage lol.

Hopefully I'll get a few good blog posts out of it.

I won't be able to stick to 1000 per day religiously as some days ill work 13 hours without notice. But its gonna be close and better than nothing.

I remember downloading a program years ago called something like "dark room" where all you have is a black screen, green text, no spell check and no distractions. I think you can also set a time in which it won't let you exit the program either. Am on my phone now but will look tomorrow. It was awesome for bullshitting my way through work reports at college. That was definitely creative writing come to think of it haha.

Post: #4

Careful what you wish for. I am already a motormouth.

Post: #5

Got my 1000 words and beyond done today. So my challenge starts 3/16/2015.

(03-16-2015 03:06 AM)Lizard King Wrote:  Good idea BB.

Does the writing of a journal/diary type thing count?

Sure. It's really about ingraining the habit of writing something for yourself everyday, so I don't see why not.

(03-16-2015 03:07 AM)Sooth Wrote:  Yeah I'm in. I've written hundreds of thousands of words in the form of engineering reports and I want to try something more creative so the fiction stuff I produce first will be mainly garbage lol.

Hopefully I'll get a few good blog posts out of it.

1000 words per day for 90 days is 90,000 words.

You can get a lot more than a few good blog posts out of this if you take it seriously.

Hell, you can write a novel or memoir in that many words.

Quote:I won't be able to stick to 1000 per day religiously as some days ill work 13 hours without notice. But its gonna be close and better than nothing.

I'm glad you're interested in doing this, but the entire point is to do it on a daily basis. Writers throughout history have built their careers while working one or two jobs and sometimes raising children. The entire idea is that there's always enough time to at least squeeze in that 1000 words, which really isn't a ton, and building the habit is more important than anything early on.

Everybody has their "buts" and "becauses" when it comes to getting the writing done - everyone has a life. The purpose of the challenge is to get your 1000 daily words done regardless.

If you're unsure whether you'll be able to get the count, you could try dictating into a recorder instead, at least on workdays; there should be one on your phone. You can create a lot of content pretty quickly that way.

I just read Million Dollar Productivity from the Million Dollar Writing Series, and the author, who has written 125 books, dictates his novels while hiking in his morning. The guy talks about churning out 10,000 words a day sometimes while working on his projects (he doesn't go that wild for every book). Sounds like a great way to get exercise while "writing," and you can use the same trick to get work done even if you don't have an hour of ass-in-the-seat time to set aside.

That said, you might want to try for more than 1000 words if you're dictating because 1000 will come pretty quickly and will need to be transcribed later, either by you or someone you hire, so it'll take more effort to turn that 1000 words into something substantial.

Another idea is to transcribe the dictation using something like Dragon Naturally Speaking but it will take time to learn the program and train it to your voice.

Anyways, that's just how it goes when you want to accomplish something, though; there are always obstacles and you have to find your way around them.

I'm going to be shooting more for 3000 words per day myself. Partly by training myself to get more comfortable dictating. I'm just setting the barrier to entry low because it's more likely I'll solidify the habit. Then I'll raise the bar for myself down the road.

I'm aiming to be a full-time author, though, and I've got a blog that needs a lot more content, so I've got a bit more skin in the game than most.

Of course, you're free to do what you want regarding your habits, but I highly recommend you find a way to hold yourself to that baseline if you want to jump on this. It'll be an effort, but just think how much work you'll get done - not just in the allotted time but by instilling such a habit in your life for the long-term!

Quote:I remember downloading a program years ago called something like "dark room" where all you have is a black screen, green text, no spell check and no distractions. I think you can also set a time in which it won't let you exit the program either. Am on my phone now but will look tomorrow. It was awesome for bullshitting my way through work reports at college. That was definitely creative writing come to think of it haha.

Yeah, dictating may give you the the same effect too. Cuts out the temptation to edit as you go.

(03-16-2015 04:06 AM)iknowexactly Wrote:  Careful what you wish for. I am already a motormouth.

I didn't say to post everything you cranked out in the thread, IKE. ha

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #6

Like I said in the other thread I read On Writing last month and that has compelled me forward a bit. I have been shooting for 1,000 per day but most days I have only been hitting like 500-600.

I have a small shitty blog to throw some verbal diarrhea up on though so I am in.

If anyone else is serious about trying to improve as a writer I would recommend jumping in on this as well. Ever since I committed to freelancing and writing daily it has gotten easier. My thoughts go down on the page faster and I am learning better habits. I have been notorious for editing while writing but I am finally starting to break that habit.

Post: #7

I don't know of I could manage 1,000 words a day.

WIA

Post: #8

This is a great idea.

It will be hard as I'm very lazy by nature, but I'm in. 90 days from tomorrow.

Post: #9

You guys have anything specific in mind for your writing?

Also, going to leave this brilliant post by delicioustacos here.

Quote:
Every morning, get up an hour before you have to. As you take your morning shit, read a book by your favorite writer. I recommend Charles Bukowski.

Then sit down, every day, and just make your fingers move on the keyboard. Just write the first shit that comes into your head. Don't worry about structure or getting jokes in there or expressing any particular idea. Write this material with the idea that NO ONE is EVER going to read it. You will have a voice in your head chiming in constantly saying OMIGOD THIS FUCKING SUCKS! YOU HAVE NO TALENT! IF ANYONE EVER SAW THIS IT'D BE LIKE EVERY GIRL IN JUNIOR HIGH SEEING YOUR NAKED DICK AFTER YOU WERE SWIMMING IN ICE WATER! You will need to get past this voice. It takes about a year.

Talk about EVERYTHING. The shit you took, what you jerked off to, the millimeter of bumpy brown nipple you saw in the cashier girl's blouse when she bent over to bag your eighty five per cent lean ground beef, how that was the highlight of your day. Everything. Your job, your mother, your porn, your stupid Xbox games. Whatever is on your mind naturally. Force nothing.

If you are being honest, you will find yourself confessing a lot of stuff. Writing a lot of horribly self-deprecating things. At first writing may simply compound your self-hatred and make you more miserable, dwelling on it so much. Doesn't matter. This is the gold, but you don't know it at first.

The trick is: shit that is painful while you're writing it is fucking hilarious a few days later. I can't believe I was that hung up on my job, my mother, my porn, my stupid Xbox games. I can't believe seeing half the fucking bag girl's tit was the best part of my fucking day. Shit that you thought was a confession you would take to the grave suddenly doesn't seem so bad, and in fact would make a fucking funny blog entry. The more it hurts when it's happening the funnier it is later.

Eventually you get used to this, and writing becomes a therapeutic tool to get you over shit. Things don't feel real until you write them down. Then they don't feel real until you share them with your audience. You will have a sense of control over the world. If something shitty happens, part of you is thinking: fuck yeah, material. Some Steven Seagal shit, turning your pain's momentum against it.

You will worry that your words aren't any good. They will get better, and come to you easier. You will worry that no one gives a shit about your banal life. Well, most people lead banal lives, and reading someone's similar story makes them feel less alone in the world. Plus the fucking bugs eating chicken bones in my trash can are engaged in epic life and death struggles to eat, fuck, and live another day. Stories are everywhere and nothing is too small. Just stay honest. Say exactly what you think and to hell with what anybody else thinks.

Also, I find it helps when you say "fuck" a lot.

Post: #10

^ That is pretty much exactly what I had in mind for most days, then in the weekend when I have more time I'll try something a bit more presentable.

My main focus is getting my thoughts into language then onto paper / out in conversation quicker.

Post: #11

I'm in as of yesterday. Good idea.

Post: #12

(03-16-2015 02:39 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  I don't know of I could manage 1,000 words a day.

WIA

(03-16-2015 04:44 PM)Sooth Wrote:  ^ That is pretty much exactly what I had in mind for most days, then in the weekend when I have more time I'll try something a bit more presentable.

My main focus is getting my thoughts into language then onto paper / out in conversation quicker.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

One of the easiest ways to get more productive at writing is to silence that inner critic while you're writing first drafts. Just write everything and don't stop, no matter how stupid it "sounds" in your head as it comes out.

The more you get into the habit and the more you work that writing "muscle," the better it starts coming out the first time around.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #13

(03-16-2015 02:39 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  I don't know of I could manage 1,000 words a day.

WIA

Do you want to try? Or are you just making an observation?

You could always shoot for 500 and try 1000 later on.

Like building any habit, sometimes it's best to make the barrier of entry low and solidify the pattern first.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #14

(03-16-2015 04:29 PM)Nascimento Wrote:  You guys have anything specific in mind for your writing?

I'm working on a few different books. And blog posts.

It might be more motivating to focus solely one one big project - like trying to finish a novel in three months, for instance.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #15

Im in as of tomorrow. Will start a new blog.

EDIT - First post! https://boomboomshaketheroom.wordpress.c...m-whatnot/

Post: #16

I did 500 yesterday, 700 today. I doubt I can write 1000 words everyday consistently for 3 months but I am trying to do 500 words a day.

Post: #17

(03-16-2015 10:44 PM)pitt Wrote:  I did 500 yesterday, 700 today. I doubt I can write 1000 words everyday consistently for 3 months but I am trying to do 500 words a day.

Right on, Man. If the 500 is doable, just focus on that for now. It's a damn good start and consistency is the key here.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #18

Just did a 1000 word blog post. I'm in!

Post: #19

(03-16-2015 11:09 PM)ColSpanker Wrote:  Just did a 1000 word blog post. I'm in!

Imma do a 1001 word post tomorrow morning.

TOP THAT, MOTHERFUCKERS

Post: #20

Sharkie, that first post was true poetry.

I'm crying too.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #21

(03-16-2015 09:23 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 02:39 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  I don't know of I could manage 1,000 words a day.

WIA

Do you want to try? Or are you just making an observation?

You could always shoot for 500 and try 1000 later on.

Like building any habit, sometimes it's best to make the barrier of entry low and solidify the pattern first.

I'm joking. I probably do more than 1,000 on RVF alone

WIA

Post: #22

I actually did this last year and the year before when I wrote two books (not to final draft) of a trilogy. I kept a daily and cumulative log of word count and other things.

The first draft of the first book came to 504,967 words, which I wrote from 12 May, 2013 to 23 September, 2013 (135 days). The average daily word count was 3,740. The lowest daily word count was 1,373 on 13 May. The highest daily word count was 9,336 on 1 June. From 12 June onwards, I didn't dip below 1,800 words per day.

Along the way I also created several glossaries/appendices with characters, places, etc.

After completing the first draft, I did a second draft (mostly proof-reading, little content change other than to get consistency across details). That took from 24 September until 11 November, though the bulk of the work was done in the first few weeks (after which point, I became increasingly burnt out, but more on that below).

I then spent the remainder of the year thinking about the next book and preparing an outline for it. Then the real mania began.

From 1 January, 2014 to 5 March, 2014 (64 days), I wrote 433,765 words (daily average: 6,778 words). The lowest daily word count was 2,388 on 8 February (more on that day below). The highest daily word count was 11,932 (29 January), though there were also two other days >11,000 words, and one >10,000 words.

Today is the first day since then that I have looked at the entire project, though it has increasingly been on my mind for the past few months and I am finally regaining enthusiasm for it.

Before I go into the whole psychology of it, I'll just give some background on the entire process of beginning writing. The ideas for the first book had been floating around in my head for at least a year (maybe two) before I started writing it. At the time, I had two friends who were writing novels. One had actually moved interstate to isolate himself in a small town so that he would write. After a year, he had about 250,000-300,000 words. After he moved back to Melbourne, I later asked him how much he wrote per day. He said that he usually struggled to get a couple of paragraphs per day done, which actually shocked me. He is going about it the complete wrong way and he is never going to get his book finished. It is largely for this reason that I haven't told him that I have written anything. He is kind of a fragile guy and I think it would knock the wind out of his sails completely.

My other friend is the guy who runs the Millennial Woes Youtube Channel. At the time, he was working on the nth draft of his novel. Since then, he has been focusing on other things (a novella based upon something from within the novel, various graphic programmes, and of course, his Youtube channel, for which he uploaded over 400 videos last year, plus a whole lot he has yet to upload). Before I began writing, I read his novel and I spoke with him at length about the writing process. He showed me logs, including of edits, etc. and gave me lots of suggestions. I was really inspired, and still am, by his work ethic with the whole thing. He also gave me the helpful advice of printing a draft out, if possible, which I could whilst working at a school. Now, with the books running to something like 800-1,000 pages, that would be quite time consuming and expensive. Regardless, reading and editing in hard form was better, I think. It was a bit like the difference between reading a book and an e-reader. I then made changes on the computer.

Before I actually came to start writing, I wrote a fairly detailed set of plans for the first book. The plot and the purpose of the book changed throughout the planning and the writing, but it really helped to plan it out. I wrote a series of timelines and other things to keep track of what was going on (because there are four main characters, whose lives converge and diverge at different points over a 38 year period). I also wrote loose outlines of the plot, which I fleshed out a bit into sections, and then chapters. I can't remember exactly how long that process took for the first book, but it was only a few weeks because many of the ideas had already been in my head for at least a year, some much longer.

The other thing I did was that at the end of each day, I wrote a plan for what I was going to write the next day, so that I could hit the ground running. In that way, I was able to achieve flow and average ~1,500 words per hour when writing.

I did all of those things for the second book also, but the process seemed much more rushed because the ideas were forced in less than two months, rather than percolating up in a more organic fashion as for the first book.

There was no point at which I really got writer's block and didn't have anything to say. The first book involved more access to the internet (which I managed to be fairly disciplined about, mostly using it for researching minor details). The second was largely conducted whilst on vacation, part of which was in Australia at my parents' holiday house in the countryside with no internet access.

The first book I really enjoyed writing, though the sheer workload of it was still tiring and I was burnt out a little towards the end, but especially with the editing. The second book was something else entirely. I definitely got in a zone and a work ethic when writing. I was obsessed with not writing fewer than 2,000 words per day, to the point where those 2,388 words on 8 February, and the 5,139 words the day before were written on the return trip from Australia. If I remember correctly, about half of the 5,139 words were written between flights at Changi Airport in Singapore, and the 2,388 words were written about 22-24 hours into the journey, on the train trip south from Taipei. I remember feeling distinctly battered by the end of it, but I had the words down, regardless of their quality. That's how I felt about the entire second book, and I was extremely displeased with it, feeling that I'd got a lot of words down, but not much of worth. Those feelings are largely what have stopped me from looking at the project since, so I would offer a strong warning about pushing too hard. I understand the desire to just get words on a page, and I think that it's probably better to err towards just getting garbage on a page than fretting over writing the perfect sentence or paragraph. The work can be edited or refined later, but burnout is a real thing.

As to how I had time to do all of this, I made it the focus of my life. I usually wrote for an hour or more before I went to work (I lived nearby), so I usually already had a good 1,200+ words under my belt before the day had begun. My job was pretty slack (only teaching about three hours per day, with several blocks of a couple of hours of free time per day), so often, I got all my writing done by the time I went home. I usually only wrote in the evenings if I had a long chapter that I was in the middle of and wanted to finish. Aside from anything else, it was actually really good to write at school because I hated my job, so it served to keep me from dwelling on that. On weekends, I usually wrote for a good four to six hours, before doing something else in the afternoons and evenings. For the second book, a fair part of it was written on vacation, as I mentioned above. Sometimes, I went on tears for the entire day. Sometimes, I wrote at other times. I actually had to isolate myself a bit from other people so that they wouldn't distract me.

As I also wrote above, I'm getting back into the idea of writing again. My parents are going to visit me soon, so I probably won't do too much until after they leave, but I have a lot more things on my plate right now, so I might just have to bite subsequent drafts off piecemeal, rather than thinking I can just go on a bender for a couple of months. It might be better for my sanity, also.

Post: #23

(03-17-2015 12:21 AM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 09:23 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 02:39 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  I don't know of I could manage 1,000 words a day.

WIA

Do you want to try? Or are you just making an observation?

You could always shoot for 500 and try 1000 later on.

Like building any habit, sometimes it's best to make the barrier of entry low and solidify the pattern first.

I'm joking. I probably do more than 1,000 on RVF alone

WIA

Yeah, it's not a ton of content. For some guys it does seem like a bit, but it's really meant to be a habit-builder. You obligate yourself to the 1000 per day benchmark but if you're feeling inspired you just keep on writing. It's more about sitting your ass in the chair everyday.

It's just like when I started working out, I just obliged myself to showing up at the gym, and if I didn't feel like exercising, I went home. The majority of the time I'd work out (I'd say 99%), but just knowing I didn't have to was low pressure enough to make it easy, and the important part was building the habit of showing up each and every time.

That said, forum posting isn't really equivalent to working on a book or your own blog. There are plenty of guys here with thousands of posts who've been talking about getting a book down forever and haven't even started. Same with blogging. Or people start one and then lost momentum quickly.

I'd also say that 1000 is a lot harder for fiction writers to come up with than non-fiction, at least until they get in their groove.

Anyways, you're welcome to obligate yourself to 3000 or 5000 if you're up for the challenge. I almost set a higher milestone but wasn't sure I was ready to commit and was even less sure that others would be.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #24

(03-17-2015 12:28 AM)Feisbook Control Wrote:  very very deep wall of text

jk. writing is definitely a catharsis

Post: #25

I'll be posting the more presentable ideas on my blog https://knowethnaught.wordpress.com/ which I started over a year ago but have only posted a few times oops

The idea behind that blog is to get comfortable with having my thoughts in the public domain, so I never intend for it to gain a large following or be a money spinner.

Banged out a short post tonight to get started. I think I'll aim for one decent blog post a week. I'm sure there will be something to wright about if I stick to 1000 words of random stuff per day.