Last Updated on by Michael Brockbank
Recently, I went on a weekend vacation to see family and I didn’t want to spend it working or writing. It’s been a couple of years since I went home and needed some time away. But in order to relax, I needed to write more than 7,200 words in one day. This is how I did it.
Keep in mind that these were words scattered among different projects I’m working on. It wasn’t a single blog post or story. In reality, I have several YouTube channels, blogs, novels, and eBooks going on right now.
And I count the words of every one of them as each helps me along in my career. I’ll do a quick breakdown later on of the words I count in a day and why.
In the end, I cranked out 7,963 words.
What Did I Do to Reach 8,000 Words in One Day?
In reality, I didn’t really do much outside of what I’ve done before. On this particular day, I simply reverted to what made me successful using content mills.
Only this time, I am the client, which makes it far more difficult to get motivated to write.
Meeting Personal Goals
First of all, I’m a fan of creating goals for myself. In fact, my spreadsheet monitors my goals for the day, month, and even year as a whole. It then gives me an estimate regarding where I stand in terms of the number of words I’ve written.
Before going on vacation, I was within striking distance of beating my record for the most number of words for the month. The previous record was back in January.
Since I planned on this being a non-working vacation, that meant I needed more than 7,200 words to beat that record. That’s because it was July 29th and I wanted the last two days of the month to be spent with family.
Instilling a Sense of Urgency in Myself
Between wanting a non-working vacation and breaking my personal best for 2021, I instilled a sense of urgency within myself to get the work done. This is perhaps one of the most difficult things to do when working from home.
Whether you’re writing a novel or trying to pass yourself off as a professional blogger, you just don’t have a sense of urgency when you don’t have a boss standing over your shoulder.
That morning, I literally talked myself into getting everything done and ready so I didn’t have to worry about writing while on the plane the next day. I forced myself to see the situation as urgent.
Scheduling Future Posts to Publish
One of the things that instilled that sense of urgency was the 30-day blogging experiment I was running for CrossingColorado.com. I needed at least three more blog posts published in order to reach that goal.
This meant I needed to write two additional blog posts to publish on a timely schedule for those days I was gone. Of course, this only accounted for about 3,500 words on that day.
Still, being on a strict publishing schedule for yourself can do wonders for keeping you on task.
Think of it this way, every article you have scheduled to publish is one you don’t have to worry about later on. Not to mention how each article you write propels your blog forward overall.
Scheduling posts ahead of time is just a good habit to get into.
Writing for a Myriad of Platforms
Perhaps the biggest benefit to helping me write nearly 8,000 words that day is the fact that I have so much going on. Between blogs, stories, eBooks, and status updates for my Buy Me a Coffee supporters, it was pretty easy to keep busy.
However, I didn’t count everything I wrote that day. Things like social media, emails, and the like are never counted towards my goals. I’ll explain why in a moment.
At any given time, I can write for the various categories in Vocal, Medium, or Hubpages, one of five blogs I operate, GreenGeeks content, Despair (my audiobook on YouTube), VII (my novel on Wattpad), or write video scripts to follow for YouTube.
Needless to say, I am never a bored writer.
Not Letting Distractions Take Away from My Day
I’m easily distracted by things like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, or when kids are running around the house. On that particular day, I decided to focus on my goals and not worry about the other elements.
Well, aside from the kids. I don’t need them burning my house down.
But I made a deal with myself that there would be no YouTube or games until I was done for the day. There is nothing on those platforms that won’t be there tomorrow.
Not Letting Me Take Away from My Day
Another one of my biggest problems is how I let myself get in the way of being productive. I often find things around the house to do or get distracted by taking too many breaks throughout the day.
I made another deal with myself that I cannot walk away from my computer until I finish a project or two hours had passed, whichever came first.
After all, it’s vital that you take regular breaks. It actually keeps you more productive if you take moments for yourself every 90 to 100 minutes or so. It’s all about utilizing your Ultradian Rhymths to keep you productive.
The point is how often do you get in your own way when you have goals or deadlines to reach? For me, it’s way too often.
Extensive Background in Writing and Research
When I write an impressive number of words per day, it’s not thanks to fluff and filler. I don’t believe in padding an article for the sake of reaching a certain amount of words.
I’ve been writing in one form or another since January of 2012. Over time, I’ve developed several skills to help me create good content in a short amount of time. In other words, I honed how I conduct research while improving my typing speed.
To make the most amount of money on content mills, you need to develop abilities that help you crank out content very quickly.
This isn’t something that happened overnight, mind you. It took more than a year to really hit my stride and pull in a full-time income. So, what I’m saying is that you shouldn’t compare the number of words you write per day against mine.
Always aim to surpass your own abilities. It doesn’t matter what anyone else does as long as you put in the effort to improve yourself every day.
What Do I Keep Track of in Terms of Words Per Day?
So, I told you I would break down all of the different things I count when keeping track of productivity. Everything else is ignored on my spreadsheet.
I keep track of:
- Every blog post I publish on every website of which I contribute.
Obviously, this is going to propel me forward on a professional level. It’s all about getting my name out there as an expert. - Every client article I write.
Of course keeping track of content I write for clients is vital. Every word someone pays me for is literally money in the bank. - Stories I write for publication on Wattpad.
My ultimate end game as a writer is to be published. The more practice I get on platforms like Wattpad, the closer I get to seeing my name on the spine of a book on my bookshelf. - Scripts or bullet points I set up for YouTube videos.
YouTube is part of the success I have as a creator. As such, scripts and bullet points are a vital part of creating that content. Especially since I write, read aloud, and record my Wattpad books on Creative Sanctuary’s YouTube channel. - The eBooks I am writing.
The eBooks I plan on publishing on Amazon Kindle only work towards making me that much more successful. Even if I don’t sell a single copy, it’s still a step in the right direction.
Everything else is just what I refer to as “common writing” and doesn’t really impact my success as a writer. That, and keeping track of every social post, email, and message would be way too tedious…even for me.
As you can see, though, I have quite a bit going on every week. The only reason why I don’t hit higher word counts every day is because of distractions and myself.
Though, I am actively working on solving those problems. It’s all about self-improvement and what steps you take to make yourself more successful.
What Is a Good Number of Words to Write in One Day?
In reality, picking a good number of words to write in a single day is going to be more up to the creator, than anything. What is good for one person may be unrealistic for someone else.
For instance, I know a lot of people who can’t write nearly half of what I did before going on vacation. This doesn’t mean those people are terrible. It just means I have more experience doing what I do.
I’ve been doing it for a very long time.
There are simply too many variables that come into play. For example, what kind of content are you creating? Are you working on a novel? Are you writing for a content mill? Do you have a blog set up as a hobby? What kind of target audience do you have?
I’m telling you, there is way too much that goes into a good number of words written on any given day.
Base the number of words you write per day on your own capabilities. This means setting a daily goal to beat how much you wrote the day before. Even if you surpass that goal by one word, it’s still moving in the right direction.
In fact, this is how I grew to be the freelance writer I am today. I worked on surpassing my own abilities on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. It was my goal to be the best I could possibly be.
So, to answer what a good number of words are per day, the answer is…more than what you wrote yesterday.
It All Comes Down to You As a Creator
To be successful as a writer in any regard, it all comes down to you as an individual. Your motivation, determination, and perseverance play a massive role in success. And if you want to gain all those riches and notoriety, you have to put in the work.
The more you get done today, the quicker that success will come.
Set goals for yourself and do what you can to keep focused on them. Because a goal means very little if you don’t put in the effort to meet it.
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