Monday 8 September 2014

Writing 2,000 words a day

I'm chugging along with my 2,000 words a day challenge, only taking time off when I'm traveling or hiking. Yesterday was my first day off when I went to climb La PeƱota mountain near Madrid.

Other than that break, I've been right on target. Once you have some writing experience under your belt it isn't actually too hard of a challenge, and the pages really start to pile up. I still have time during the day to edit, work on nonfiction projects, and search for freelance jobs on Elance. That last bit hasn't been bearing fruit, I'm afraid. There are a lot of time wasters on there.

One trick I've learned is to stop just after 2,000 words, even if I still have ideas. I let those ideas bubble in my head until the next day, so the writing starts more easily.

Besides my book projects, I've been doing more short stories, and have joined the Write 1 Sub 1 weekly Challenge. It's just what it sounds like--you commit to writing and submitting one story a week. This was my first week. I wrote two flash fiction pieces, one a humorous Western and the other set in my Toxic World post-apocalyptic series. I wanted to submit them to Everyday Fiction, but their submission form was down this weekend. Grrr. I also started a story set in my Trench Raiders WWI series which I'll finish this week. So 2.5 stories written, no submissions.

OK, back to writing!

3 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Two thousand a day is impressive. Smart to stop in a place that will prompt you to start the next day.
Good luck with Write1Sub1. Milo has done great things with that.

D.G. Hudson said...

Good Luck, Sean, I know others who have success with this challenge (W1S1).

I'm working more on short fiction, with a monthly challenge group. I also like the idea of short stories as sides to our novels.

Sean McLachlan said...

Alex: Milo's name is all over that site!

DG: I'm thinking (hoping) some short stories will be good promotion for my novels. They sure could use a boost in sales! It's getting pretty frustrating, I have to say.

Looking for more from Sean McLachlan? He also hangs out on the Civil War Horror blog, where he focuses on Civil War and Wild West history.

You can also find him on his Twitter feed and Facebook page.