How to Write 1000 Words a Day in Practice

I realize for many of you writing a thousand words a day is nothing. In truth, for a skilled writer it should be a pretty straightforward process.

But essays on writing are not aimed at the veterans of the craft.

Besides, an experienced writer would know better than to seek advice from me.

So, if you have difficulties hitting a word count, keep reading.

Now, why a thousand words?

Well, that is a very good number to hit. After a few days it shouldn’t take too long, and even if you bang it out quite quickly, then you have a solid bundle of words with which you can do numerous things.

1,000 words is a standard word count for an article.

It might be a book chapter.

It may be ten poems.

So think about it this way. Hit a thousand words, and you have a 1,000-word article ready to go.

Or two 500-word articles.

Or four 250-word articles. I have no clue why you’re creating 250 articles unless you write for Buzzfeed. And then we’re playing fast and loose with the term “writing.”

Or, let’s assume you’re writing a book.

A thousand words a day means that you would write 7,000 words a week. That’s 365,000 words a year. 366,000 if it’s a leap year.

Now a lot of stuff might not be usable. But even if a third of it is, then you could put out a book a year.

Might not be an excellent book.

Or you might not sell it.

But, hey, you have a book.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. A thousand words sounds like a lot of labor.

How do I get this done?

Well, you may do what I do and spend way too much time in a cabin in the middle of nowhere so people can’t disturb you.

But I’m informed that’s deemed antisocial.

So, there are a couple of things you may do to start achieving that word count.

One of the ways I prefer to do it is to split it up.

Instead of 1,000 words at once. Try 10, 100-word installments. Like you’re paying for a Bowflex, a bit at a time.

Look, it’s easy. I’ll show you.

“The dragon didn’t know what was going on. He just knew there was someone in his cave. He didn’t know who, for most people had the good sense not to visit the lair of a winged, fire-breathing beast of doom.

He looked about and thought to himself that possibly he was hearing things. He was becoming old after all. He achieved the century mark last year. That’s when his father’s hearing started to go too.

But the search was useless, so he went back to his bed of riches and diamonds only to find that now he wasn’t the only dragon in this cave.”

That’s 105 words, and it took me maybe a minute and a half.

So, ten short surges like that should take 15 minutes, maybe twenty. Heck, let’s give you three minutes for each tale piece. Maybe you’re a slow typist. I used to be.

Now, at this rate, you’d have a thousand words in a little under a half hour.

That doesn’t seem so horrible, does it?

Surely you can find a half hour.

And if you can't, maybe, just maybe, you have too many relatives and friends, and it’s time to start cutting some individuals off. Cut down your social network to like 3 individuals tops. That’s what I do. It will do wonders for your productivity.

Oh? What if you can’t think of something to write in those small spurts?

That’s the secret to all this.

You don’t wait till you’re sitting down to write to start thinking of what to write.

You get an idea, construct it in your mind, and get it near to what you want to say, and then when it comes time to type, you download all of that.

If you have the time and want to keep continuing, go for it.

Sometimes this is a terrific way to kick off a nice lengthy writing session, and you’ll sail beyond the 1,000-word objective.

Sometimes I think of a fantastic statement that would make a terrific starting point and hang onto it all day, and then the second I can sit down, it’s off to the races.

But, say you do have a wonderful day. Maybe you write 2, 3, or maybe 4,000 words in a day. Don’t rest on your accomplishment. It’s really tempting to want to sit back and take a day off.

But you can’t skip a day. It’s like the gym, except writing is far more essential than your appearance and health.

Also, I’m aware that it’s a bit ironic that this essay isn’t a thousand words, but it’s a little over 700, so I’d only have 300 more to go.

I mean, look at what’s above. It’s proof that it’s not that hard.