Okay – some of my writer friends are looking at this title and laughing thinking how much of a slacker number this is because they hit 2,000 words with their eyes closed.
Well I don’t.
A very wise investment professional once used the quote, “Some days peanuts, some days shells.” As a writer, I experience both. Some days the words flow and I feel like I can write an entire novel in one sitting, while others are just a struggle to get a paragraph down.
My last few days I managed to get in the groove and produce over 2,000 words a day. I’m not saying everything I wrote is good, or usable, and doesn’t need editing. The words are on the paper.
This is a first draft people. It takes time to mature.
So how does one write 2,000 words a day. The easy answer is you sit at your computer, make sure the computer is turned on, and you write.
Boom. Done. Not quite.
In my experience, I have spent many days staring at my screen, typing nothing because I can’t think of what to write. Apparently this happens to a lot of inspiring writers because I have heard this many a times from many people. Lately, I have used Walter Mosley’s advice from his ThrillerFest workshop as motivation, “Write every day.”
And I have. My most productive days seem to come after I have spent time listening to live music the night prior. Although I can’t figure out why since I am usually exhausted too. For the last four days I was fortunate to attend one of those huge music festivals. Normally the computer would stay home locked in the safe, except Walter said you have to write every day and while a pen and paper would suffice, I would only have to type it all in later. To be honest, I don’t think I would have written so much “manually” anyway.
Here is the breakdown: I wrote the morning before we left, around 1,000 words. Went and saw two bands that evening, got up the next day and wrote about 2,000 words. Went and saw five band, crashed hard (slept soundly), got up, saw four bands, skipped the headliner because we’re not a fan, came back to the room and wrote 2,200 words. The final day I got up, wrote only 1,000 words because Warren Haynes was doing a solo set at noon and well, one does not miss Warren Haynes solo.
I had the motivation; time was my enemy.
I’m writing this on Monday so no counts in yet I know they’ll be high. My characters are screaming to be heard as I finish this post. Since this was the Summer Of Live Music for me, I looked back at my word count for mornings after concerts. Not only were my counts up, in my opinion, the quality appeared better.
It seems to me that live music is my muse.
So the answer to How To Write 2,000 Words A Day is feed your soul, find your muse, and then sit and write.
Good luck and happy writing!
L.M. Pampuro 