I’m closing in on the end of Week 3 of my latest project that I blogged about a few days ago. I’m attempting to write the first draft of a new novel in 80 days, just under 3 months, and average at least 1,000 words per day while doing it.

It takes time, of course. I already know how much time I have, so that’s not a big issue (yet). And it takes determination and a bit of focus. And so far, just 17 days in, things are going great which is why I wanted to pause and write this update about it.

For anyone else considering making the same attempt, my first bit of advice would be to stay one step ahead of yourself. By that, I mean don’t stop once you’ve reached your daily word limit. If you have more to say, and more time to write it, keep going. A few extra hundred words won’t hurt you and will certainly pay off later.

As I said before, I firmly believe a novel knows when it wants to be written. I mention that because today being Day 18, I’ve just passed 22,000 words. Yep, I’m 4 days ahead of my goal and I’ve stayed at that point for almost a full week now.

I know a lot of full time novelists that have shared that they like to average about 2K a day. They also like to write first thing in the morning, like me. And might spend time later in the day doing some editing or even working on a different project. 2K a day is 14K a week, but when you put that into perspective against my current project, that’s 160,000 words in 80 days. That’s two novels if the average word count is 80K!

Since I have a full time job, weekends are when I spend the most time writing. My time through the week is limited to just about 30 minutes each morning before I start my day job. So, I definitely have to make the time count and I think jumping ahead on the word count when I have the chance on the weekends has helped me to keep up the momentum and keep going.

I’ll share more tips in the days ahead and update you on my progress. But for now, my only advice for any other writers out there who might be considering the same sort of deadline, just stay one step ahead, or a day ahead, or even four!