Do I Have a Daily Word Count? – Dan Thompson
I was asked earlier today by fellow writer Kate Foster, if I had a daily word count to aim for when writing. We were talking about my epic fantasy series, which starts off with The Black Petal, published by Ghostly Publishing and available to preorder here. I’m currently writing the sequel, and I’m up to chapter three so far. I still have a lot more to write – more chapters than The Black Petal, but hopefully just as magical.
I had a think to myself – do I have a daily word count? The definite answer is no, no I don’t. But I do count how many words I have written during a writing session. You may notice that I update my FB page when I’ve just had a session.
My life isn’t simple; I’m guessing most writers’ lives aren’t. I work full-time night shifts as well as raising my daughter too. I have to fit my writing around everything else I do. Paying bills, doing the shopping, reading, working, cleaning …. With everything going on, I simply cannot write every day, but I certainly aim to write every week. My current goal/aim is write a chapter a week, but I’m not going to scold myself if I don’t quite make it.
I’ve learnt that adding deadlines and pressure into my writing only makes failure more likely. I get stressed quite easily, and I thought I would have my previous novel Here Lies Love ready before it actually was. I got down, felt stressed and ultimately had to go away for a while to clear my head.
I’m not setting myself any deadlines for The Golden Lyre. I’m going with the flow and taking things as they come. I feel already that my writing has come a long way since I first wrote The Black Petal. I can schedule myself better. I’m looking forward to writing again – there were times earlier in the year when I wasn’t looking forward to writing. I’m happy where my writing life is going at the moment.
If you are a writer, do you have a daily word goal?
Autumn Orchard 