: Re: 1000 words a day for a part-time writer I've got a 40h, full-time job, as many do. Yet I'd like to become a writer someday, or at least, bring a novel through the first draft. This considered,

@Kaufman555

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National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, NaNo) is an online challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. If you can add exactly 1,600+ words per day you can meet the goal with time to spare. (I' believe the exact number is 1,667 but to be honest I don't keep track that closely. Sometimes you write more than you set out to do, others you write less). Of my two successful attempts, the goal was reached well before the deadline and before story completion.

My trick was to break it up into three periods of about 500 words (with lunch being the hard goal of five hundred... Morning and Night were softer goals of 500 and to good stopping point, like a scene change or a chapter break, so I don't stop mid-idea, but I also meet my goal and end at a short scene that doesn't contribute the 500 words).

This was certainly doable within about a half hour - hour period of time depending on time constraints and what I had planned. It also helped me focus in on the next scene that I would need to write as I had to focus on my goal for the end of the next major writing session... where was I an where did I need to be...

Certainly 1,000 will take longer, but you'll find it surprising how much you over write when you're getting to the good bits (I've had a few days where I ended up writing 2,400 words just because I had the time AND it was a really juicy bit.). 1,600 words is about the length of a single page in word, in a standard font (Or a school level 5 paragraph paper). It's not a lot... and yet it's really cool to see just how fast it adds up.

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