For the past three years, I’ve written at least 300,000 words for publication.
It’s not that difficult, and you can do it too—it mostly requires an ability to focus. If you don’t have this ability at first, fear not: it’s a learned process.
Why Write?
Someone once said, “I hate writing, but I love having written.” I tend to think you have to love at least some of the writing part too, but I get the idea. In my case, I write because it makes me feel good, and because I feel like it’s what I’m supposed to do.
If you want to write consistently and thoroughly, you must learn to make writing your job, regardless of whether it has anything to do with your income. It must be what you think of at different times throughout the day, even when you’re doing other things.
You may have heard the advice about carrying a notebook everywhere and writing things down as you think of them. This advice falls into the category of “extremely helpful tips that almost no one follows.” Trust me, it helps: I have my notebook when I ride my bike, when I go to a restaurant, and with me on the seat of two-hundred airplanes a year. Never keep anything in your head—keep it in the notebook instead.
Once you start recording information, you’ll likely find that ideas are not the problem. For most writers (or anyone doing most kinds of creative work), execution is the problem. Therefore, the framework I write from can be summarized in this quote from Jim Rohn:
“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment.”
In choosing to write, you must choose the pain of discipline. Good news: it’s not that painful, once you get used to it. You just have to make it more important than other things you could spend time on.
Make your art your obsession. Fall in love with it. Experience withdrawal symptoms when you don’t give it your attention.
Say no to other things so you can make art. Learn to view sacrifice as an investment. Writing is a joyful experience that will bring you comfort and satisfaction, but you must put the hours in.
Think about what you know how to do, and write down all the steps that someone else should take to do the same thing. Spend your vacation outlining the novel you’ve always wanted to write. Start a blog, even if you abandon it later.
Do not worry about quality, especially when you’re getting started. Quality will improve as you put in the hours. (For evidence of this fact, read the first year’s archives of almost any blog, including this one.)
Worry instead about getting your words in. Wake up early, stay up late, use that notebook you are carrying, appropriate those ten and fifteen-minute breaks in the day with nothing scheduled.
When you finish at night (or whenever you pause for a while), try to end in a place where you know what you need to do when you return to it later.
Why 300,000 Words?
In my case, I want to write 1,000 words a day, six days a week. I often write more, but rarely less. The 1,000 words a day is my own metric—yours may vary, but it’s a good one to steal. In the end I’m not necessarily concerned with exact figures; it’s just that having a number helps me to keep working.
Also, 300,000 words ensures I can write a book every year, 100+ blog posts for AONC, 50 or so guest posts elsewhere, at least 2-3 business projects that require a lot of writing, and a few long-form essays or magazine pieces. I don’t count emails (200 a day) or short entries for social media sites.
***
I wrote most of this post when I was stuck in the Nairobi airport last month. Kenya Airways is actually a decent airline—on an hour-long flight to Rwanda, I was served a full vegetarian meal in Economy Class. In the U.S. I am upgraded to First Class 80% of the time, but I can’t even request a vegetarian meal in advance.
But I digress—the point is, while the national airline is nice, Nairobi Airport sucks. Sitting around for four hours, I knew I had two options:
a) keep whining to myself about it
b) use the time well
I knew I’d feel better if I used the time well, so I sat down and wrote. I made myself do it, camping out in a sea of people. There were no outlets, so I worked fast to conserve battery power.
I wrote 1,200 words, and then I wrote another 500 words for something else, and then another 500 words for this post. Four hours went by and I boarded my flight to Jo’burg feeling great. I was behind on my emails as usual, but ahead on my art. I drank bad red wine (shoutout to Kenya Airways again) and didn’t feel guilty about taking a short nap on the way down to South Africa.
I hope some of you write 300,000 words over the next year—then you can write the post about how 300,000 words was easy.
Most important: Love your art and it will love you back.
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Image: Brandice
September 26, 2011
Jana
I think a lot of this advice applies to anything you might want to do really well– not just writing. If you want to be a prolific writer, master a foreign language, become a star musician, or what have you, you have to do just this: “Fall in love with it. Experience withdrawal symptoms when you don’t give it your attention.” It seems to me that anyone who’s really great at something is great at it because they’ve fallen in love with it and made it a part of them.
September 26, 2011
dianne wist
OK…OK…I need to start writing. Your posts always hit me at exactly the right time. Giving me exactly the right message. Thank you!
September 26, 2011
Antonia
Love the article because I love to write, a habit of love. But your journal picture was an added inspiration for me because this is where I need to discipline myself: the form of it, the shorthand, the clarity. Here are some questions I have for you. What are the most useful ways, and creative, to maximize journal writing? What your personal shorthand often consist of? How you make use of journals when you’re writing several kinds of projects? In all the articles, books I’ve read on writing, I haven’t read any writers comments on their journal keeping except to say they keep one, or carry one everywhere. Artist sketchbooks often have a similar beauty. My first thought was: Wow, the writing is legible and visually fun to look at, and can be quickly scanned. Thanks, for the post.
September 26, 2011
Fiona Leonard
I hunkered down last year and did NaNoWriMo and managed to knock over ~70,000 words in 6 weeks. Was a great learning experience as to what is possible.
September 26, 2011
Osayi
I’m currently working on my 300000 words!!!
It’s not easy but it’s so worth it.
Sometimes I go back to my notebook and laugh at the silly ideas, but most times I am surprised by how brilliant I am to come up with so many great ideas!
Thanks for being an inspiration!
September 26, 2011
Juliet Oberding
Yikes! I just got that scared kind of excited feeling that tells me this is something I need to do. Thanks, I think!
September 26, 2011
Brandon
I love Sarah’s comment about wishing she could write while swimming. Almost as funny as the red wine shout out.
I recently embarked on a crowd-funding campaign for a film I’m working on. One of the pieces of advice I remember hearing on the subject was to love writing, because you’ll do a lot of it! That bit of wisdom is definitely accurate. Luckily, I love it or else this might be really overwhelming right now.
Thanks for the break. Now, I’ve got more writing to do.
September 26, 2011
Sheila
I always, always, always carry a little book with me (I call it a ‘catbook’) when I go out and I’m constantly writing in it when I have a spare moment and need to clear my head. It’s a constant presence in my back pocket or purse, like a pack of cigarettes is for a nicotine addict. If I don’t write at least something every day, I get cranky and sour. I don’t understand why more people don’t do this.
September 26, 2011
Nina
Alright, alright….I’m gonna jumpstart the engine tomorrow. I have notes everywhere iPhone, iPad, Post it Notes, pieces of paper next my bed, in my purse, kitchen. Constant reminders that I need to sit my #@$ down and write. I have NO EXCUSES and more than enough content, but the discipline has been a challenge esp recouping from jetlag.
Maybe I should find somewhere with no plugs.
September 26, 2011
Tristan
A good reminder that setting a goal (even a moving one, whether it’s 1000 words, more or less) is a great starting point to keep focused. I’ll be trying to work on that. Thanks!
September 26, 2011
Tom Sawyer
As an aspiring blogger just starting out this post is fantastic. I’ve bought myself a notebook though I often find myself jotting things down on my iPhone. I’ve set myself a goal for a post a day (without word limits) for the next month, and then hopefully will start to move into more detailed / longer posts as my routine gets better!
Thanks for the inspiration.
September 26, 2011
Claudine Arthurs
I’ve just completed an incredible 2 year journey around the world. While on the road, I started a blog…but I yet to even finish the first post! I’ve been going around in circles for months on what to write about, the fear of my writing not being perfect, of being judged yadda, yadda, yadda! But today, I draw a line in the sand…..
A big heartfelt thanks for your post today, it was truly inspirational! I will commit to writing at least 1000 words per day and I will finally hit the send button on that first blog post by the end of the week! xo
September 27, 2011
Shirley Tomlin
Chris, thanks so much for those 300,000 words! So many of them have inspired me.
September 27, 2011
misha herwin
Fall in love with what you do. Sacrifice other activities. So true, so right and such a necessary reminder today when I’m bogged down with mundane things. This advice couldn’t have come at a better time.
September 27, 2011
Carmen
Thanks for the swift kick in the butt! I agree with what another comment said: your posts are always timely.
September 27, 2011
John Liddle
I feel the same about climbing mountains as your anonymous source did about writing. I really don’t like climbing them – it’s seriously hard work – but I love being on top of them and walking on the high ridges, so if I want the pleasure I have to do the hard work.
And taking a funicular or being dropped off by a helicopter just wouldn’t feel right! The effort in getting there is the foundation for the reward.
September 27, 2011
Tyler
Great post!
I’d love to hear your process for how often you go back through all of your notes and what you do with them.
I collect a lot of my ideas in a notebook too, but a lot of them just die in there. A lot of times I totally forget them because I don’t have a good system for going back through stuff.
Probably a simple thing, but I’m always interested in hearing other people’s processes.
September 27, 2011
Sonia Marsh
Chris always inspiring. Bad red wine? Does Kenya make wine or was it bad South African red wine? Love to write, but the killer comes with the revisions, especially for a travel memoir.
September 27, 2011
Carol Hess
Ah, Nairobi airport. Remember it well. (Used to live in Kenya many years ago.) My ex-hubby got strip searched there once. Not fun. But I digress.
“You just have to make it more important than the other things you spend time on.” Thank you for the perfect words I needed to read as I’ve been moaning and groaning to myself that I needed to get more writing done. It’s simple, Carol. Plunk your butt in a chair and write. Repeat.
September 27, 2011
Caitlin
Completely convicting.
Time flies when you fall in love. The things that you once thought were major sacrifices get swept under the rug. You let go and embrace something new.
Thanks for the reminder.
September 27, 2011
Robert Filla
I’ve been writing monthly columns of approximately 800-1,000 words for the last 17 years. It’s a bitch a times. And usually I’m very disappointed in the end product. But then, a month or so later, I go back and re-read my column. It’s always much better than I thought originally and, at times, surprises even me in its content and depth. I ALWAYS carry my notebook and camera. You just never know when that one great opportunity will present itself.
September 27, 2011
beth luwandi
This is transition year for me to see if I can earn enough money to do what I love instead of spend all my time teaching others… Primo time for me to get this link from my lovely daughter.
I’m reminded of my favorite professor’s answer to his own question between the difference between writers and non-writers:
writers write.
Funny how this post makes me hear him saying,
“do the work, Beth.” Thank you!
September 28, 2011
moom
I probably write more like 100,000 words a year and I don’t write every day in terms of writing stuff for final publication. But writing is one aspect of my work as a professor, so that makes sense. Doing the background research is a big part of the story and presenting and talking with people too. I do have goals of how many “products” I want to put out a year but not number of words or how many to write a day. So you can produce quite a lot of writing even without the traditional writer’s type schedule like this.
September 28, 2011
Abigail Rogers
Where would we be without laptops?
I just finished reading AONC, taking copious notes. Thank you so much, Chris, for putting so much inspiration and wisdom into the hands of semi-sleepwalkers like me!
September 28, 2011
SavvyTraveler
Very much agree with your comment about descipline. Loved the quote above.
“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment.”
September 28, 2011
Joe Valley
Hell Yeah! You wrote this for me. I know it!
October 3, 2011
Frugal Expat
Brilliant post! Thanks for highlighting this quote… It keeps me inspired.
“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment.”
October 11, 2011
Richard
So true Chris, writing is the smart person’s way to think things out which, I should do more often. Hence, I am writing this note to motivate myself to commit. Not sure If 300K is reachable but, I will make it a goal and perhaps I can attain close to that and improve from here on out. My trouble is having something compact to write in. I will be looking for ideas and if anyone has any, please forward outside of bringing a laptop with me which is not feasible for me to do.
October 11, 2011
Finlay Cowan
@RICHARD – If its any encouragement… I was able to produce a graphic novel in a notebook sitting on buses, planes and trains. If its possible to draw on the move then maybe you can write just about anywhere ? From a tech point of view I tried writing on an ipad and an iphone but it didn’t work for me… it was physically too painful and I couldn’t get creative ‘flow’… have you considered writing freehand then having dedicated time at internet cafes etc ? I find this helps with my creativity… keeps me away from the screen and allows me to be fully ‘in’ the environment.
October 11, 2011
Donna Kazo
Funny, 300,000 words seemed like a lot when I first read the title of this blog. But then I remembered, oh yeah, that’s how 1,000 words a day works out, 300 days a year. Since May 1, 1999, I’ve been writing “Morning Pages” as prescribed by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way and her other books. Longhand, with a “fast” ballpoint, three pages of college-rule notebook paper almost every day. These pages are not meant for the eyes of others, although I tell my daughters that they are allowed to read them when I am gone. These pages have helped me work through the deaths of both my parents and my husband, and our cats’ lives and deaths, my daughters’ school years, my return to college which resulted in my placement on the dean’s list, how to raise money for our nonprofit, ideas for paintings, articles, and a way to capture all sorts of small things which give juice to our daily round.
What’s best is that they are a safe ground to sow small seeds of ideas, to grow them into ever-growing beanstalks, unfurling themselves into the clouds. At the very least, I can check in with myself, not let time pass unconsciously. I also like to type, and with all of my fingers too! But- Julia’s right when she says, just move your hand across the page, don’t worry about what comes out, you will surprise yourself with the quality as you are outsmarting the inner censor within. The more you write, the more you CAN write! Thanks again, Chris, for your inspiration and honesty.
October 17, 2011
Heidi
I’m writing my thesis and this blog has definitely been encouraging. 1,000 words a day works for things that we love to write and things that we must write to move on to other, more fun things too. At this pace I’ll be done with a first draft by the end of the week. Thanks for your piece and write on!
October 17, 2011
Mike
Chris, thank you for for this wonderful post. I read it at the perfect moment…when I needed to get past some hurdles towards writing goals.
I love your saying, “Never keep anything in your head—keep it in the notebook instead.”
You’re right about quality developing over time with repetition.
Thanks for all that you do.
March 10, 2012
Rahmi Fitria
It’s such a great article. I my self have been dreaming to write my own book. I hope I will be able make one at least:) Thank you very much for such an inspiring article, it really boosts my spirit to write more seriously.
By the way, I see you have wide interests in your life from writing, business to travelling. What a colorful life you have! Very interesting…
Once again, thank you Chris!