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Join me for a slightly mad writing experiment?
Hello hello.
I’m horribly, desperately behind on my 4th book. I’ve booked today off (thank you to my lovely Jericho Writers colleagues for making do without me) to focus 100% on getting words onto the page. I’ve set myself a completely mad goal of writing 20,000 words in one day. They probably won’t be good words. They definitely will need a lot of editing. But I do tend to find it easier to edit bad writing than to add to a blank page.
So, all that to say, I’d love some accountability. Does anyone fancy joining me for a day of writing sprints? Your goal definitely doesn’t have to be 20k to join in (though it can be if you want to torture yourself too!) But just knowing other people are typing away with me does seem to motivate me.
I’m starting at 9am after the school run so will check in with my current word-count, and then I’m thinking I’ll do 45 minute sprints followed by a break. I’ll update my word-count every hour and would love for you to do the same!
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24 Replies
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Current word count: 15,975
Goal for first hour sprint: to reach 18,832 words
And…. go!
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So much for taking a day’s ‘break’! Good luck – you are mad – but will be cheering you on from the sidelines!
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I love this idea! Good luck Becca, enjoy the day and hope you make some great progress with your word count 😀
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1 hour update: Now at 17,925.
Didn’t quite reach my goal but still good! I got a bit stuck at the end of that sprint so I’m going to do something I NEVER do and just move on to the next bit. I’ll come back to this section later.
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That’s *does the maths* almost 2000 words. You’re doing great 👏
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2 hour update: 18,291
I’m flagging. Going to take a break and come back with a cup of coffee soon!
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3 (and a bit) hour word count:
19,893.
I’ve written just under 4k words so far. Not quite where I was hoping to be so I imagine I’ll end up doing some writing this evening too.
I went to a coffee shop for this last sprint to have a change of scenery and that did wonders. Going to grab some lunch now and will update again after my next sprint 🙂
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That’s amazing! Regardless of whether you hit 20k or not today, you’ll still have made loads of progress.
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Are you still sprinting Becca? You must be over 20k if so! Cheering you on – then have a good break over the weekend!
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Thank you! I’m at 28,108 🙂
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Becca,
I am so late to this writing party but I wish you lots of success getting to that tremendous goal.
I love the idea of a writing day, or even a half-day, writing with fellow JW members. I attend the Writing Room almost every week and the hour flies by, is always productive for me, and I often wish it were a bit longer.
If any of the Jericho Team see this, I wonder if they might consider running a regular longer writing session as well as the hour-long Writing Room? @jerichowriters what do you think?
Kate
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Hi Kate, I believe we limit the sessions to an hour so that we’re in keeping with most writer’s preference for how long their writing sprints are. I do love your enthusiasm and envy your endurance levels! I definitely struggle to keep writing consistently past that one hour mark but I’m sure others can outlast me by miles. I’ll pass your suggestion on to the rest of the JW team and we’ll have a think 😊
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Thanks for replying, Katie. I do appreciate that an hour can be long enough for so many of us, especially when it can be hard to find time to write in busy lives. I suppose a longer session could be more ‘mini-retreat’ with breaks to check in and some sprints too? By regular, I wasn’t suggesting it would be every week. Perhaps once a month to road-test the idea? Anyway, thanks for passing this on.
Kate
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Hi Kate, I agree, doing it as more of a special occasion might be more suitable than weekly. I’m just anticipating the issue of when we’d run something like this, I imagine most people will be at work during our office hours 🤔 We’ll have a think, thank you for sharing your ideas, we’re always happy to hear them 😊
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I’d be happy to do it on townhouse regularly in an informal manner like this one. We could choose a particular day (would need to be the weekend as I work for Jericho Mon-Fri) and do sprints, checking in as we go, with a final word-count post at the end of the day?
I also have a few other days booked off specifically for writing if you want to join me on those days. Here’s my schedule…
Friday 1st December
Friday 8th December
Friday 15th December
I’ll probably create a thread just like this one on those days so would love to have you join in 🙂
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Yes please, Becca. I’m in. I’m in awe of your experimental day. Well done! How were you the next day?
Kate
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Okay, 5pm check-in:
I’ve written 12,133 words so I’m pretty happy! I will continue to write this evening once the kiddos are in bed. I can’t guarantee I’ll hit 20k words but I’m definitely going to try!
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Amazing! I’m new here, but I love writing sprints and co-writing! Short, long and everything in between. I will keep an eye out for your future dates.
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That’s it. I’m calling it a night. Words written today: 17,395. Bringing my total to: 33,370.
Now… I sleep 😴
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Well done! I couldn’t imagine writing that much in one day. I thought I had a huge day today at 3200, but I had only about 3 hours to write. I don’t know what I would do from 9 am to midnight.
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I am in total awe, Becca! Way to go!
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I’m baaaaaack!
Doing another sprinting day today, though I’m going to be a bit kinder to myself and give myself a 10k target! As before, please do join in. I’ll update throughout the day and would love for you to do the same 😊
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Check in 1: I’ve written 1,989 words so far and finished chapter 9, which I’ve been stuck on for ages! I also did the *tiniest* bit of editing, because I just can’t help myself haha
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That’s great! Well done 👏
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