Steven James
You know, some authors go for a certain word count each day—1000 words, 2000, or some crazy prolific authors shoot for even more than that. I find that when I do that I end up frustrated.
One week last year I set a word count goal and hit 6000 in one day, and then 1 the next. Yes. One word, in ten hours of writing. That’s because I end up rewriting, editing, deleting what I’ve worked on even as I move forward.
So, I’ve started timing myself instead. I use a stopwatch and as I work on my manuscript I let it run. Get up for a cup of coffee—stop it. Check email—stop it. Pet the cat—stop it. That way, at the end of the day I can say, “Cool. I’m eight hours closer to finishing this book than I was this morning.” I call them Actual Manuscript Hours, or AMH. It helps me stay on track.
I like to shoot for five AMH by one o’clock. Man, whenever I can pull that off it’s a great start to my writing day.
One week last year I set a word count goal and hit 6000 in one day, and then 1 the next. Yes. One word, in ten hours of writing. That’s because I end up rewriting, editing, deleting what I’ve worked on even as I move forward.
So, I’ve started timing myself instead. I use a stopwatch and as I work on my manuscript I let it run. Get up for a cup of coffee—stop it. Check email—stop it. Pet the cat—stop it. That way, at the end of the day I can say, “Cool. I’m eight hours closer to finishing this book than I was this morning.” I call them Actual Manuscript Hours, or AMH. It helps me stay on track.
I like to shoot for five AMH by one o’clock. Man, whenever I can pull that off it’s a great start to my writing day.
More Answered Questions
Marjolein
asked
Steven James:
Hi Steven, I just started reading 'Every Crooked Path' in Dutch and I was wondering... how old is Pat supposed to be in this book? Because I think something went wrong with the Dutch translation. It says he's almost forty, but it takes place before The Pawn... and he's 35 in The Pawn? So that would make Pat 32 in Every Crooked Path, right?
Steven W
asked
Steven James:
I think I found a goof in 'Opening Moves'. On the first page of ch. 16 it is mentioned that Patrick's age is 25. This is on 17th of November 1997. In 'The Pawn' it is mentioned in ch. 2 that Patrick wouldn't turn 36 'till January. This is on the 23rd of October 2008. So if my calculation is correct, Patrick should have been 26 in opening moves right? Not to be nitpicky, but I just thought it was interesting.
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