It’s the first week of July’s CampNano. Which means a lot of people are obsessing over word counts. If you aren’t familiar, CampNano is a month-long writing challenge that happens a few times a year, wherein you can partner with your writing buddies and harass each other to complete a writing project. It’s like team sports for writers. And it’s FUN. Trust me on this.
But back to the word counts. What is word count? The number of words you’ve written. The goal that keeps you tossing in your sleep. The bane of your existence.
Word count can mean any one of these things to me on any given day. But more often than not, I tend to write a lot. My word count uses me up rather than holds me back. Sometimes, I stare at the screen so long I know I’m destined for glasses. Thanks to my ability to word vomit, I’ve established a reputation for big word counts, and my lovely Twitter buddies (I mean that. They’ve lovely. No sarcasm) have coined the term:
Pulling a Melanie, ie: writing a boatload of words in a short time frame.
Yeah, I’m proud of that. But I also wonder why–why is it that the words pour out so quickly? Not because I’m a jerk and I like to pat myself on the back, but because I really sympathize with those who struggle. Those for whom word count is a four letter word (that makes no sense but stick with me here).
A few weeks ago, I was at the NJ-SCBWI conference, and I was lucky enough to have lunch with Lauren Oliver. She said something that really stuck with me, and which I believe is the answer to the question: how do I write so fast?
Practicing writing every day helps you build a tolerance for solving problems — Lauren Oliver
Yep. That’s me in a nutshell. I spent a decade designing products in every category of the market. With each new project came a whole new set of problems, and I had to solve dozens of them just to finish a single sketch. And we often sketched hundreds of concepts for each project. That’s thousands of decisions a week.
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| A typical product design sketch wall |
So, there’s no big secret to pulling a Melanie. Basically, I’m used to making a lot of decisions, very quickly, and I’m comfortable changing direction on a moment’s notice. I am not made of magic–but practice IS magic. The more you write, the better you will write. The faster you will write. So even if you’re not opening Word, crack open a journal every day. Jot down your thoughts about a problem you’re facing in your story (this is stupid and I hate this are acceptable notes!).
Stick with it, and the words absolutely WILL take you somewhere. Granted, we all write at different speeds. But I do believe you can maximize your own performance by practicing the very thing Lauren Oliver highlighted–build your tolerance for the craft. Then, hopefully, word count will become less of a focus and more of a side effect.
Ha! I love it.
I write the most when I have exercise and shopping breaks in between. I need that downtime to let everything settle.
Maybe it's the eacher brain- needing to process all the work before deciding whether to review or continue. 🙂
That should of course say "teacher." I really need to stop typing on my iPhone.
You crack me up.
Great advice. There have been times when it flows for me and times when it doesn't, but it's so true that practice helps us make choices. So much of any creative medium is problem-solving and making choices. I think that's why drawing and painting are so wired for me — years of making rapid fire decisions makes it so much quicker to go from idea to execution. It's so easy to see when something doesn't work. Good thoughts!
Brilliant advice. Guess this explains my word slinging as well. Problem solving is my middle name. Off to scribble in my journal. 🙂
Yes! Same thing with painting. So many writers I know are diverse in their talents–stretching the brain muscle has to help! 🙂
I think you've hit it. There are thousands of decisions that go into writing something. Sometimes I'm more conscious of the decisions than other times, sometimes more wary of potential consequences than other times,… I look forward to when I might more ably trust the muse.
I love the lightness with which you approach it.
Thanks for posting!
Great point – making the word count a side effect and not the main goal. Word-count goals scare me away from writing; plus, I'm a slow writer. There's a story about a famous writer, I can't remember who, known for taking painstaking effort, telling his agent he got one sentence out that day. The agent responded, "That's great!" And the writer said, "Yes, but I'm just not sure they're in the right order." That's me.
Fascinating connection between word count and making a lot of decisions quickly. Also enjoy the point about WC becoming less of a focus and more of a side effect.
I LOVE this: practice is magic. That is absolutely, wonderfully TRUE. And I need to remind myself of that every single day. 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you! I try to remind MYSELF of this every day, too. Some days are harder than others, especially if I've taken a break from writing for family holidays or travel. It's hard to write every day. But the more often, the better! 🙂