Rhythm

I've managed to stay on track for over a month now, and I'm hoping it continues. At this rate, I'll have close to 365,000 words written by the end of the year.

That's right: 1K a day.

I know there are plenty of writers out there who are able to pound out a whole lot more on a regular basis. I read a writer's blog a few months ago where she explained how she manages to maintain a 10,000 words/day target. (I don't think she eats...)

Maybe if I didn't have a day job, I might be there too. But I teach English and creative writing to a bunch of hyperactive 7th and 8th graders during the school year, so I'm lucky if I have an hour to write in the evenings.

1,000 words in an hour isn't always pretty; seriously, some of the sentences are strung together so horrendously I can only cringe and promise myself I won't look back at them until it's time for revision. But it's only the first draft (the "sloppy copy" as I tell my students), and it doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect.

I just have to keep this rhythm going.

Last year, I wrote 130,000 words of new material. In 2011, it was closer to 160,000. But this year, if I keep steady at this rate, I should easily be able to double that.

How have I done so far? My January Write1Sub1 ended up being 27,000 words, so I was close. This month, I've already managed to write 10K in 10 days, so I'm right on target. Of course there will be days when things come up and I'll lose that hour in the evenings, but overall, I know I'll be able to stay in the zone by writing every day.