How (and why) to Write 1,000 or More Words Every Day
Have you watched Neil Gaiman’s Masterclass? It’s great. I highly recommend it.
But if not, I do have one key takeaway that I’d like to share today. One shiny little gem he gave away that forever changed my perspective on writing.
At one point in his class, Gaiman was discussing an anecdote he had heard from a fellow writer. This writer had somehow managed to get ahold of a prominent Hollywood type, and once he had him on the phone, the writer asked for a tip on breaking into the industry.
Mr. Hollywood’s response? Be so good that someone says yes.
I love this. I watched this more than a year ago and I still think about it all the time. Because the really good news for you and me is that writing is a skill. It’s a craft you can practice every day. But your skill only improves if you actually work at it. Your golf swing won’t get better unless you go to the range. And your writing won’t get better unless you get words on paper. Every day.
I keep this advice in mind at all times. It lifts me back up when I’m down because I can remind myself that I’m better now than I was yesterday or a month ago or before I ever penned my first word.
On a similar note, I also remember hearing a writer once say that every day she writes 10 pages and then throws 9 of them out, knowing they’re just not up to snuff.
Of course, this is a little extreme, but it runs in the same vein. The first words you get on paper will likely not be as good as the 100,000th word you get on paper. So trust that the more you write, the better of an end product you will have.
What does this mean for you? Simple. It means write constantly. See if you can get 1,000 words down every day. By the end of a month you’ll have written 30,000 words. By the end of a year? Look out.
As a disclaimer, I want to stress that 1,000 words is a completely arbitrary number.
Your chosen target could be 300 words or 3,000. But the point is that you show up and improve your craft consistently. By doing this, you’ll get that much closer every day to being so good that someone says “yes.” Whether that’s an agent or an editor or a reader or even yourself.
I also like to think about Brandon Sanderson’s advice here.
I watched one of his lectures recently in which he discussed a mindset shift he had after his 12th book. At this point in his life, he was still unpublished. He hadn’t gotten anyone to say yes. But he asked himself if his ambition of being a famous novelist was what he was truly after, or if he could be happy if he reached the end of his life and had never published a book, but always continued writing. If he could have 100 novels that were each better than the last.
His answer was yes. And as the cherry on top, after writing his 13th novel he finally broke into the industry. Today he is one of the bestselling authors alive.
If you get words on paper every day, that means every day you get to live your passion. Every day you get better. And every day you get closer to selling a book. A book that might just be the one that changes everything for you. One of Sanderson’s first published novels was the 6th book he wrote. He had it in his archive. A finished product he could whip out and get someone to believe in.
The more you put out, the better your chances of success.
If you know all of this logically but are struggling to actually show up and get words on paper every day, you’re not alone. Our brains try and stop us from doing just that. They want to keep us safe, and writing every day when we know we’re doing it to better ourselves or achieve our goals feels scary, so our own brains try and sabotage us.
Luckily, there’s a way to overcome this.
Here are 3 steps to help you hit your personal word goals every day, no matter what shows up or where you are or how much you don’t believe you can’t do it.
Step 1: Make your writing FLOW (if your own brain is trying to sabotage you).
In order to do this, all you have to do is gain awareness around your thoughts and emotions. I speak from experience when I say that this simple action will set you free. It will open up your whole world. And in the eBook, I give multiple processes to help you better understand your own thoughts so that you can train your brain for success and always find a way out of self-doubt or imposter syndrome.
Step 2: Make your writing STRUCTURED (if you are feeling stuck, lost, or unsure what to write next).
In order to be more structured, all you really need is a basic understanding of, you guessed it, story structure. I break down the 7 plot points I turn to again and again that always help me get un-stuck or break through a writing block.
Step 3: Make your writing EFFECTIVE (if you are frozen in research mode).
Our brains are tricky. They try and make us believe that we’re being productive when we research. It’s this crazy midpoint where we’re somewhere between actually taking action by writing the book and just sitting on the couch twiddling our thumbs.
But while research certainly has its place, if you get stuck in research mode, you’re not getting words onto paper and, consequently, that book will never be done. I give you 5 basic steps to make your novel compelling, emotional, and effective without getting lost down the research rabbit hole.
Bottom line? Always keep improving and inching that much closer to your biggest author ambitions by writing every day. It could be 100 words or 1,000. But as long as you sit down to write EVEN WHEN IT’S A STRUGGLE, you’ll be stronger on the other side.
The fastest way to write a strong story is with an effective outline that plots your novel’s beating heart.
In Outline Your Novel, you’ll learn exactly what these beats are, why they matter, and how to outline them effectively to make your story sing.
