As if Chuck Wending hasn’t already proven himself as the Internet’s Sherpa of Wordsmithery and Resident Cheerleader By Way of Clever Usage of Unbelievably Foul Language and Biting Sarcasm, now Chuck dishes out what may be his best piece of advice ever:
Essentially, you’re going to give yourself one year’s time to write your novel. You will write five days a week, giving yourself the weekends off. That gives you 260 days to write. On those 260 days, you will write 350 words. That is all.
350 words x 260 days = 91,000 words, or nearly 400 pages.
Of course, you’ll need to edit this once you’re done. But it’s totally doable. Who’s with me?
Look, Chuck’s even created a pretty chart!
If I can do 50,000 words in NaNoWriMo, surely 90,000 over a year is achievable. Plus I can still do bugger all on the weekends and it will be a lot better than the drivel that fell out of me in November.
Agreed. My 50K this past November has left me slightly irritable. What Chuck’s advising is a hell of a lot more sustainable, I think, both in terms of output and sanity.
Don’t forget about sleep time!
Sleep is overrated.
This is excellent. Love the poster. Thanks!
The poster really wins it for me.
Wow. Sounds so simple when put that way…
I truly suck at math – no, really, I kid you not – but that’s an easy equation for me to live with. Very simple math indeed.
Chuck Wendig is a wordsmith alright. I love his no-bullshit approach. I especially like, ‘give yourself permission to suck’. A vital ingredient, because hey, we’re all human.
I have a straight-up mancrush on Chuck. In fact, there’s a mug with his words of wisdom imprinted on it sitting on my desk. Those words? “Art Harder, Mother Fucker!”
Reblogged this on It's a Blog About Nothing and commented:
Well, when you put it like that, then yeah, I can totally do this! (Reblogged).
Do it!
Writing isn’t tough. Writing every day is the real behemoth.
I’ve always found the part about writing easy. It’s the part about finding the time/place/solitude/hey-leave-me-the-fuck-alone-can’t-you-see-I’m-writing-here sweet spot that’s the burden of writing.
I write in mall foodcourts during my lunch time. No one ever talks to me, and the white noise and limited timeframe keep me focused. I also like to peoplewatch when I get stuck. Thinking of how I would narrate them helps me get the pen moving again. I understand this doesn’t work for everyone though.
I did precisely the same, before I started working from home. Part of the appeal for me was the looks I get once in a while from people, who were either curious or put off by this person scribbling furiously onto a notebook.
Wow! You have been posting Chuck for a while now, and he’s always had good stuff, but this is so succinct and clear that you cannot argue with it. Doubt and Fear, that’s what makes the whole thing crumble for me, and also the allow to suck; I’m not so good at that.
Being allowed to suck is the most important thing any writer must give themselves.
I’m totally onboard with this – I’ve set myself the target of getting first draft done by the summer and edited by the end of the year. I can’t always do every weekday but I aim for 5 days a week in total and make up for gaps by binge-writing when I can. One thing I find useful is to resolve to use ‘dead time’ for writing and since I started not only do things like getting stuck at airports (I’m writing this from one as we speak) not seem to painful but I don’t have the regret of wasted time spent playing video games on my phone or watching TV I don’t enjoy. Anyway, great advice – thanks for sharing!
I definitely agree this is completely doable. It’s bite-sized, to say the least.
My favourite is the last one: Give yourself permission to suck.
That’s the single best piece of advice, perhaps ever, in terms of writing.
This is what I call real motivational advice. There’s tons of advice on how to complete a novel out there, but not as simplistic as this. Thank you for posting this OWTBDR!
Chuck definitely ascribes to the “keep it simple, stupid” approach.
I actually used to read this blog…I need to get back over there. Good stuff…good use of fuckery too.
Good use of a lot of dirty words, actually!
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My problem is the word count … sometimes it’s hard not to get caught up in it – I mean I’ve had agents ask for another 10K words on a 65K novel – then had another tell me not to focus on word count – Think The Moon is Down and To Kill a Mocking Bird – make every word count – all great books aren’t War and Peace. Egads … anyhoo I’m focusing on content right now – Oh, and I did get your award nomination – BLUSHING – gosh, thanks. I accepted it today on my blog.
There’s got to be some kind of sweet spot when it comes to word counts. I think 65-70K is a good amount, don’tcha think?
My pleasure on nominating you. Glad you accepted!
Fantastic!
Word!
Reblogged this on not quite sixty reasons and commented:
Reason 11. The brilliance of other people’s blogs
That’s all a gotta do? Consider it done!
Simple, huh?
Er, um, gee, ah . . . yes, and no.
Well, ah…uh…yeah, I was trying to…umm…okay.
Love this!
Chuck is my hero!