Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘word count’

Nov 5

3 Comments

Three posts to keep the words flowing

If you’re one of thousands of writers joining in National Novel Writing Month, you’re likely knee-or-neck deep with ideas and currently in that wonderful zone of writing hot. You’re 8,000 or so words into your story and everything’s flowing until…well…until it’s not.

But not to worry. When you reach that point where your brain has turned to mush, when you’re asking yourself what the heck you’ve gotten yourself into and where did your normal, real life go….that’s when it’s time to take a deep breath and read these posts below for inspiration in getting back on track—or on an entirely new track–but hey, words are words, right?

Three posts to help you find your flow:

Four quick tips to increase your NaNoWriMo word count

A little inspiration for NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo or not, boost your word count

Nov 21

3 Comments

Four quick tips to increase your NaNoWriMo word count

Today is day 21 of National Novel Writing Month—the month where passionate writers the world over take the challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in a month.

If you’re a bit short or behind in your word count or wondering how you can possibly meet your goal, below are a few tips to help you increase your word count:

1. Write what’s hot. Don’t worry about writing your scenes in order. If you want to write that hot sex scene that comes after the climax of your book (pun intended), then go for it. Write the scene you’re passionate about now.

2. Flesh out earlier scenes. Review some of your earlier scenes. Does one lack details about the setting? Is one mostly dialogue with little sensory detail or description? Fill in the holes in some of your earlier scenes (as long as it doesn’t slow you down). Read more

Jun 17

Find writing success in small, daily actions

It is a universal law that you must express your power

or the power will turn against you. What do you choose? 

—Michele Jamal, Shape Shifters:

Shaman Women in Contemporary Society

The above is one of my favorite quotes because it reminds me to express my power or be my “gift” each and every day. We all have gifts—a light that we uniquely bring to the world—but we don’t always display or use our gifts.

Recently, I was reading “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy, the publisher of Success magazine, and realized how easy it is to ride along in life and not make the daily little choices we need to make in order to allow our gifts to shine. I spent much of my early adult life just going with the flow and letting others make choices for me. Because I wasn’t proactively living my life, life was living me.

You know what I mean and, if you don’t, here are some examples:

  • Did I really inhale that bag of potato chips without even thinking about it? Read more

Feb 19

1 Comment

Track your daily words with this website

George Burns once said, “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”

Here at OneWildWord we often write about the power of words. We know that one word can begin an entire avalanche of words.

But sometimes, even getting down a single word can be a challenge. 

So, in my ongoing struggle to carve time out of my day for my writing and keep myself accountable, I started using a free service that Carly wrote about last year. At www.750words.com, the goal is to simply write 750 words per day. You receive points for each day you accomplish this goal and points for going over 750 words. Read more

Nov 8

4 Comments

NaNoWriMo or not, boost your word count

In our month-long celebration of NaNoWriMo, we’re offering tips, tools, and inspiration to help you write your heart out. NaNoWriMo or not, these resources and ideas will make you more prolific and creative well beyond November.

I was intrigued to find this post by author Rachel Aaron about how she went from writing 2,000 words a day to 10,000. Yes, you read that right. Here are brief explanations of her tips, with a link to the details in her blog post. She’s also written a book available for only 99 cents, which you can buy on Amazon, that details the process.

Side 1: Knowledge or Know What You’re Writing Before You Write It
After realizing a scene she’d written was a mess, Aaron discovered that if she scribbled out a short-hand version of what she planned to write on a pad of paper, she could quickly spot any writing pitfalls and more efficiently and quickly finish the scene, upping her word count.

Read more