{"id":379,"date":"2017-09-26T15:51:55","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T14:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?p=379"},"modified":"2017-09-26T16:12:48","modified_gmt":"2017-09-26T15:12:48","slug":"word-count-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s one of the oldest tricks in the book for <\/span>getting writing done<\/span><\/a>: set a daily word count, and hit it at all costs. It\u2019s also a cruel master, and getting to that number can drive many a writer batty. So we asked a series of seasoned practitioners of the craft how they think about the daily word total hack, and how much of that writing ever sees the printed (or pixelated) page. <\/span><\/p>\n

Is the daily word count goal a savior or a tyrant? A magical solution to the problem of not writing consistently, or a cruel master? Their answers vary, but in each of them, we find a kernel of something that can help any and all of us get our work done. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bryan Burrough<\/b><\/a>, author of the acclaimed <\/b>Barbarians at the Gate<\/i><\/b><\/a>, considers the daily goal to be a novelists tool\u2014and not for him either. Non-fiction, as he puts it, is a process in which you \u201cgo where the day takes you: <\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, I have no daily goals like a novelist might have. In non-fiction, you go where the day takes you. And most of what I write sees the light of day. I mean, I cut a lot. I\u2019m ruthless. But that\u2019s about pruning, rarely eliminating entire chapters and such. Although I did, on an editor\u2019s recommendation, cut 23 percent of `<\/span><\/i>Public Enemies<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u2019 after turning it in. Did it in like three weeks.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reigning MOOC queen and accomplished author <\/b>Barbara Oakley<\/b><\/a> uses the word count trick\u2014and then doubles it when a big due date is coming:<\/b><\/p>\n

It depends on what I\u2019m working on and the stage of the project. \u00a0I\u2019d say when I\u2019m book-writing or script-writing (I do scripts for massive open online courses), I\u2019ll often sit down with a goal of 500 words in that day. If something big is due, I might set a goal of 1,000 words in a day.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Probably three-quarters of what I ultimately produce might see print. But it\u2019s worth noting that I\u2019m a compulsive editor, so a lot of what I write is thrown out or altered during the lengthy creative process. I don\u2019t like it when I have to produce an article on a short deadline because I don\u2019t have much of a chance to edit.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

On days when I\u2019m teaching or giving a speech somewhere, I don\u2019t worry about writing.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bestselling author and student of the writing process, <\/b>Jeff Goins<\/b><\/a>, embraces a minimum goal of 500 words\u2014deliberately small enough that he can\u2019t miss it, but still a stake in the ground to drive his process: <\/b><\/p>\n

I try to write at least 500 words a day. When I\u2019m on deadline, I may produce 5000 words, but the minimum output is always 500. It\u2019s a small enough amount that I don\u2019t have an excuse to avoid it, which is crucial for me. I have to feel motivated to write, which means breaking up a huge task like a book into small, achievable chunks.<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i>At least a third of the words I write never see the light of day. With my last book, <\/span><\/i>Real Artists Don\u2019t Starve<\/span><\/i><\/a>, I cut 25,000 words from a 75,000-word manuscript. I\u2019m too much of a coward to delete them, though. They go into a file called \u201cdarlings.txt\u201d which I never look at but makes me feel better that I never deleted them. Might use them some day, after all.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For celebrated meme creator and newly-minted author <\/b>George Resch<\/b><\/a>, the per-day goal wasn\u2019t as important as paying attention to everything else going on around him. <\/b><\/p>\n

I never set a goal of words per day, but when I was trying to collect more material I\u2019d meditate more, speak more with friends with whom I had great conversations, and try to stay aware of my thought processes so I didn\u2019t lose anything to the great sieve which is my mind.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Award-winning historian and biographer <\/b>Andrea Wulf<\/b><\/a> tried the word count process, but found it restrictive. Plus, how to count the words that end up at the bitter end of the delete key?<\/b><\/p>\n

I have successfully avoided to have a word count hanging over me \u2013 I tried but it completely stifled me. I spend so much more time reading, researching, restructuring and thinking than writing that it has become meaningless to have a word count. I\u2019m an obsessive re\u2013drafter. I write, re\u2013write, re\u2013write and re\u2013write. Draft after draft. And how would you count those words?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pulitzer Prize-winner <\/b>TJ Stiles<\/b><\/a> writes until he\u2019s spent, without a specific goal in mind\u2014and he takes his cue on daily goals from Nobel-prize winner VS Naipaul:<\/b><\/p>\n

I never set a word count. I write until I\u2019m exhausted. Because writing is exhausting. In my late 20s and early 30s, I was on a chess kick, and used to play in novice-level tournaments; the hours of concentration would utterly deplete me. After I\u2019ve written in one long streak, I feel the same way. V.S. Naipaul once said that he can only write 250 words a day, and if he does more he pays for it the next day. I am not so afflicted, or gifted, but I know what he means.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Novelist <\/b>Aaron Thier<\/b><\/a> gets the words down on the page–whether very many or very few:<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a big spread. Sometimes I write a few thousand words, sometimes much less. I try not to set any kind of goal in that respect. In any case, almost everything I write gets peeled away as I revise the manuscript. I\u2019d guess that no more than five to ten percent of the sentences in a rough draft end up in the published book.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s one of the oldest tricks in the book for getting writing done: set a daily word count, and hit it at all costs. It\u2019s also a cruel master, and getting to that number can drive many a writer batty. So we asked a series of seasoned practitioners of the craft how they think about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nShould You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number. - Writing Routines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number. - Writing Routines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s one of the oldest tricks in the book for getting writing done: set a daily word count, and hit it at all costs. It\u2019s also a cruel master, and getting to that number can drive many a writer batty. So we asked a series of seasoned practitioners of the craft how they think about […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writing Routines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-26T14:51:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-26T15:12:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3588\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1842\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin Currie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@writingroutines\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@writingroutines\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin Currie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin Currie\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175\"},\"headline\":\"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number.\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-26T14:51:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-26T15:12:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/\"},\"wordCount\":989,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/\",\"name\":\"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number. - Writing Routines\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-26T14:51:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-26T15:12:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg\",\"width\":3588,\"height\":1842},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/\",\"name\":\"Writing Routines\",\"description\":\"A behind-the-scenes look at the daily habits of writers and authors\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Writing Routines\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Writing Routines\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/writingroutines\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/writingroutines\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175\",\"name\":\"Kevin Currie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin Currie\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number. - Writing Routines","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number. - Writing Routines","og_description":"It\u2019s one of the oldest tricks in the book for getting writing done: set a daily word count, and hit it at all costs. It\u2019s also a cruel master, and getting to that number can drive many a writer batty. So we asked a series of seasoned practitioners of the craft how they think about […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/","og_site_name":"Writing Routines","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/","article_published_time":"2017-09-26T14:51:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-09-26T15:12:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3588,"height":1842,"url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin Currie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@writingroutines","twitter_site":"@writingroutines","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin Currie","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin Currie","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175"},"headline":"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number.","datePublished":"2017-09-26T14:51:55+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-26T15:12:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/"},"wordCount":989,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg","articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/","name":"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number. - Writing Routines","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg","datePublished":"2017-09-26T14:51:55+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-26T15:12:48+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/wordcount.jpg","width":3588,"height":1842},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/word-count-goals\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Should You Set A Word Count Goal? Seven Writers on The Virtues and Drawbacks of a Daily Number."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/","name":"Writing Routines","description":"A behind-the-scenes look at the daily habits of writers and authors","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization","name":"Writing Routines","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Writing Routines"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/","https:\/\/x.com\/writingroutines","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/writingroutines\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175","name":"Kevin Currie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin Currie"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}