IT LIVES!

[wordwhacker]

You know what's a sign of writer's block? Not updating one's writing journal for over TEN MONTHS. Yeah.

Okay, so though I have been almost totally inactive, I haven't completely dropped off the writing map or anything. I did do (and win) NaNoWriMo last November, as indicated by my spiffy new icon. I also did Script Frenzy this April here in Sydney, and while I didn't finish my script (got about halfway there) I DID meet a bunch of completely awesome people who have, collectively and individually, helped inspire me to write again.

One concept to which I was (re)introduced recently was that of writing a million words. I've heard a few renditions on this one - that your first million words will be crap, so you might as well get them over with... that after you write a million words you will have a firm idea of what kind of a writer you are. And other variations on that theme. The thing that I like the most is that it's a goal - a BIG goal, though not so ridiculous as to be completely implausible. And it's a goal of quantity instead of quality. Like NaNoWriMo, this doesn't require for my words to be "good" - in fact, it's irrelevant whether they are or aren't. What matters is that they happen.

Even just counting my NaNo and Script Frenzy efforts, I have written in excess of 300,000 words. Tallying up my various short stories and unfinished projects I probably have 350,000 words under my belt. Which is not bad. But which can be significantly improved upon.

So I'm using that figure as my starting point, with an eventual goal of 1,000,000 total words. I'm aiming for 500 words per day - getting to a million words will take me about three and a half years at this pace. I might put a quick post up here every day, but it's more likely that I'll just keep track of it on my own most days and slap the graphic up here once a week or so. Expect to see more of me, at any rate.


Today I wrote 1,196 words in just under an hour.

351196 / 1000000 words. 35% done!

I'll talk about WHAT I'm writing later. Suffice it to say that it's an old idea, that it's a hell of a lot of fun, and that it's something I should have made myself finish a long, long time ago.

Comments

[eternalism.livejournal.com]

You know, it could be almost feasible to write one million words in the span of a year... For a moment, i was almost tempted to challenge myself to that.

Then my good sense kicked in and refused to let me. :p

I wonder how many words I'd have if I tallied up all the half-finished stories on my laptop... Probably not as many as you have. *goes to check*

187519 words. But that wasn't counting The Grass is Always Greener, or any story that's on the old hard drive that has yet to be transferred over. Still, over the past year or so, that isn't too bad a wordcount, especially considering I've only been writing intermittently.

Still a long way to go, though. :p

[wordwhacker.livejournal.com]

Woah - okay, so a million words in a year would be... *calculator-time!* ... 2740 words per day. Geeze, when you think about it that way, it's not too bad at all. It would probably be 3-4 hours of writing per day (for me, anyway), accounting for mini writer's blocks and re-reading (I can't help but re-read what I've been writing most of the time).

Counting all your NaNo projects and things you've posted to your website and that kind of stuff, I wouldn't be surprised if you had 350,000 words or even more. You've always been a more prolific writer than I have. *laughs*

[eternalism.livejournal.com]

I did count all my NaNo projects, and stuff I'd posted to my website, all the little short stories and stuff. :p You still have more words than me. I doubt even my half-finished previous NaNos would be enough to get me to that level. :p Remember you've finished NaNo more than I have, and have done Script Frenzy, which I haven't.

They say most novels average about 100000 words or so. So 1 million words is just approximately ten finished novel drafts, give or take.

[wordwhacker.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay - you said you were tallying the half finished stuff on your laptop, so I thought you'd left that other stuff out. Still, counting "The Grass is Always Greener" you probably have more than 200K words. Ain't nothing to sneeze at.

I have decided that my quest to reach a million words will include fanfiction of some description. Because I've always thought about writing it but kept thinking that it wasn't worth the effort. But hell, writing is writing, might as well jump in and enjoy the ride, eh?