Word Count Advice from Rachel Aaron

I’ve been reading upwards of 30 articles a day on writing since starting NaNoWriMo. The best way to write is to read about it, right? Urgh.

So my compulsion to collect every remotely useful resource on writing aside, I actually read a post that is extremely useful, from new-to-me (no offence, everything is new to a n00b) Rachel Aaron’s Pretentious Title blog, How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day.

She regulated that writing, homes.
Now this gal broke down her writing practice like a scientist. She recorded everything – when she wrote, where, how much, and what. One aspect that will immediately repel all the NaNoWriMo pantsers is Aaron’s discovery that when she was at all stalled on a scene, she’d sketch it out. Knowing what she was planning on writing set the words free.

Every writing session after this realization, I dedicated five minutes (sometimes more, never less) and wrote out a quick description of what I was going to write. Sometimes it wasn’t even a paragraph, just a list of this happens then this then this. This simple change, these five stupid minutes, boosted my wordcount enormously. I went from writing 2k a day to writing 5k a day within a week without increasing my 5 hour writing block. 

Seems basic but damn, so is all the best advice. The entire post is well worth a read.