Is It Writing 5000 Words in a Day?

Are you dreaming more in a day? Writing enough is one of the goals of most writers, especially those who are living a writing life through blogging.

We all know consistency matters in all areas.

Consistency in blogging > Writing daily or more frequently.

Whether you are a writer, freelancer, or blogger, you need to stick to what you are doing to achieve your goals.

I have heard a lot of people debating about writing a certain number of words.

Some claim they can write 5000, and some say writing even 1000 words in a day is difficult.

Folks are criticizing each other.

Let’s have a look at this real example:

Girl A: Might share her writing potential (3000 words a day). I don’t know who is Girl A. I just know what a girl B said about her post.

Girl B: Posted about the girl A, “I read someone says she wrote a certain word count (3000) in a day or maybe 1000 an hour. My mind blew up. I find it hard to write 500 words an hour. Why is she talking in the air?” People in the comment section appear with the same mentality and talk silly about girl A.

Instead of Girl A, I think about the limited perception of Girl B.

Because it’s common sense that writing potential varies from person to person. Also, 3000 words a day is phenomenal. Girl A didn’t say 1 lac words. Then what blew the mind of girl B?

Maybe Girl B doesn’t understand the factors behind the scene, which we call the contributing factors.

Let’s explore every aspect of “Why and why not is it possible to write a certain word count (phenomenally) in the day.”

Writing Potential in General

Generally, the writing potential could be divided into three parts based on a person’s experience.

• Beginner: 1000 words 2000
• Intermediate: 2000 to 3000 words
• Advanced: 3000 to 5000 words

Now, it’s not the entire story because it’s not just about counting words.

There are many contributing factors. Not all beginners can write 1000, nor all pro writers can manage to pen 5000.

Contributing factors

• Extrinsic factor (environmental)
• Intrinsic factor (interpersonal)
• Task-based factors

1. Extrinsic factor

Your home environment if working from home.

Office environment if working on-site.

Now environmental factors do not affect everyone in the same way. They also vary from person to person or situation to situation.

It’s not all about noise in the environment. You live in different homes, with different families, and in different facilities, so we compare one potential with another to critique.

2. Intrinsic factor

Mental health: emotional well-being.

Personal coping ability.

Genetically, we are different, so the same level of emotional disturbance affects people differently.

Physical health or normal energy.

Creativity, IQ level, versatility, and many more.

Again, here we must respect other abilities, whether someone could write more or less, there are so many things behind the curtain.

3. Task-based factors

Now, most importantly, it’s not just about word count. It also varies based on the task or project.

a. Writing on Medium or for your own blog depends on you.

Even if you write for your own blog, what you write in a day varies based on the topic you write. Such as, I can write a 1000-word article in an hour or two. On the other hand, writing a 600-word blog post could consume my whole day. What are the factors here? 1. Research 2. Complexity 3. Knowledge and Style.

b. Writing for clients as a freelancer requires a different energy.

The same goes when you write for a client. Each client’s requirements vary. Project complexity varies. Project-to-project challenges vary.

So, one can’t claim that if a project of the same word count is completed in a day or two, the other will take the same duration.

Same person: different potential on different days

Other than contributing factors that we divide into different categories above, the same person appears with different writing potential each day.

Let me take myself as an example here:

I have four years of experience in this industry. Based on experience, I lie in the advanced category, so I must write 5000+ words each day.

Yes, I do write, and I can pen 5000 words a day.

Somedays, I can write 5000 words a day and some days, I can’t even write 100 words. So, it’s not a compulsion.

Wrapping up: with what to acknowledge

There is no need to criticise others to prove your worth. You are you! They are them!

I hate the idea of personal branding on LinkedIn, where the only content idea they have is to talk about other’s weaknesses to prove their strengths.

If you can write 5000 words, you can’t degrade others whose capacity is 1000.

If you can pen 1000 a day, you can’t critique a person who has the ability to write 5000 or beyond to settle down your insecurity. This applies to everyone.

If you don’t understand the areas of being a writer, the problem is at your end.

I, being a writer, never feel someone less than me who can write less than me. I, being a writer, never feel others bigger than me who are doing better than me.

Everyone is better in their own way. I always respect my abilities and others too. I believe everyone is better in their capacity, including me.

However, I took inspiration from those who are doing better instead of criticising others as a coping mechanism.

By the end of the day, word count is not what defines a writer; it’s just a writing capacity.

Fun fact about this article:

It took 1 hour to pen the entire article as it was based on my opinion, knowledge, and understanding of the topic.

It took 30 minutes to amend the title. 😀

Happy writing!

© Mahnoor Chaudhry 🪻