I have a deadline and I’m being pulled towards it like light into a black hole. My aim is to complete my approximately 90,000 word long sequel to Beckoning Blood by the end of August. I’ll then have at least a month to edit. While that is a scary prospect in itself, completing the first draft is the most pressing issue. I have set myself an aggressive goal, which is paying off, not least with the addition of 30,000 words in just five days. Here’s how I did it.
Setting goals and targets
It’s important for me to know how far I have to go and the progress I make, so I’m using a spreadsheet to keep track. My first column has dates in it. In the next column I have the word count for that day. Next is the total word count for the book, how many words remain overall, then how many remain for that day.
This works wonderfully if you can stick to a strict schedule, but if not, then adjustments are required. For me, July was a bit of a choppy month. I spent just over two weeks in the UK, and then a week in Churchill, Manitoba, with Beluga whales and polar bears. This didn’t leave much time to write, so in August my daily word count requirement increased, and then, realising I would get no work done on weekends, it finally topped up at about the 6000-plus mark. Scary stuff.
Recording as I went
You’d think a watched word count never increases, but it does. Every tappety-tap produced something. Sure, it wasn’t excellent but I’m writing a draft and I’ve given myself permission to write crap. No matter what I wrote, whenever I came to a stop, I’d add the word count into my spreadsheet, and lo, I was nearer my daily target. And watching the numbers go up and down spurred me on. I was making progress. I could do this.
You’ll see that my “remaining today” figure looks pretty good but that’s only because everything keeps shifting the more you write.
Rituals
Many writers have their little quirks. Maybe they can’t write while the cat is sleeping on the bed, or they must wear a kaftan while sitting on a fit ball. For me, I set a ticking timer, which helped get me into flow. I could write without it but I was usually more easily distracted and didn’t write as fast. The ticking sound urged me on.
Other rituals that helped get the words out were drinking green tea in the morning as a signal that it was time to get on with it, and I sat on the balcony while typing. I live in a small apartment and my computer is in a box-like den with blank walls. It’s not the most inspiring.
The good thing about the apartment though is it’s 40 floors up and has a spectacular view of Toronto. In addition, our balcony has pot plants on it and a green rug that looks like grass. I sat on a comfy chair and typed . It was great. I usually found I could get the majority of my words written then.
Going to the gym
So with all these plans in place, when I woke up in the morning and started writing, I could usually get out about 3000–4000 words, then I’d have lunch, try to force out a few more, but ultimately give up at about 2:30.
With only 2000 words remaining, I would try to bash them out but usually my brain got a bit dead so I’d cut my losses and go to the gym. I now go to the gym regularly enough that missing a session makes me lethargic. Going helps my body and my brain, and after an hour, I came back to the computer, saw I only have 2000 words to go and then finished off the day.
Words begetting words
The first day I wrote 6000+ I felt pretty good. The second day I couldn’t believe I’d get more than 4000, if that. But then I pushed on and reached my goal. Same again for the next few days until I got to Friday and had 30,000+ words that I didn’t have at the start of the week. The great thing about this though was that when I only had 1000 or 2000 words left to write for the day, these targets seemed almost as small as 250 words and easily achievable. Strangely, even 4000 words is feeling easy.
Rewards
Though it might sound fake, reaching these 6000 word targets was rewarding in itself, and though you might not believe me, going to the gym once I reached a certain level was actually a nice reward too. And a reward is a great way to take a break from all that thinking, and recharge the batteries. After my mega week, we went on a road trip to Montreal with a friend for the city’s Pride festival. While it was a full-on weekend, it was great to take a break from writing and come back the next week, eager to get back to the story.
Angel outside the Museum of Art in Montreal
Colourful food in a colourful city
So those are the things that have helped me write 30,000 words in five days. While it helps to know vaguely what you’re writing about, even when I clicked into unknown territory, the targets helped push my brain into a usable direction.
I still have a way to go to finish the draft (and it now looks as if I’ll need more than 90,000 words to reach the end) but thanks to perseverance and these tricks, I’m much more confident in getting there than I was even a week and a half ago. Bring on another 30K week.
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