The Value of Averages, 2
October 6, 2024 by Harvey
In today’s Journal
* The Value of Averages, 2
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
The Value of Averages 2
As I noted in Part 1 of this series, even when you’re taking part in a challenge, you aren’t writing for the challenge.
Maybe you believe you’re writing to finish a short story you started yesterday or last week. Or to add-to or finish a novel you started yesterday or last week or last month.
But in the overall scheme, you’re doing much more than that. As I wrote yesterday, you’re writing to accomplish something you’ve never accomplished before. And you CAN do it.
How?
You only have to learn to tell the conscious, critical voice to shut the hell up. I recommend saying it aloud. Repeat as necessary. And stick to your guns. Telling the conscious, critical mind to leave you alone will become less necessary as time goes by.
You have to drive that critical voice back through the door into that little box or jail cell in a dark corner of your mind. Maybe it’ll take the hint and go to sleep for awhile.
Then leave it there until you need it. Like when you’re taking a class or reading a how-to book about fiction writing.
Or when you’re about to lean one palm on the hot burner of a stove or cross a busy intersection or drive or do other things that require your full, conscious attention.
Writing—creating—doesn’t require your conscious critical mind.
It requires only your CREATE-ive subconscious.
Anything you do with the conscious, critical mind—whether for your own physical safety or to “build” something, is construction, not creation.
If you want to BE a fiction writer vs. simply “doing writing,” only three things are important:
1. Setting a daily goal (for days you write)—to keep you in the chair, give you something to strive for and teach you discipline,
2. That you actually write—because to be an actual writer you have to write, duh, and
3. Your average words per day—because your average will show you what you are able to do.
In case you’re wondering, I do exactly the same thing I’m recommending to you.
Even now, as I’m writing my 96th novel, I’m not writing to add-to or finish the novel. I’m writing to accomplish something I’ve never accomplished before.
I’m writing so that in another day or two or three, I can say, “Hey look! I’ve written 96 novels now!” I’ll say that to my critical mind too, and I’ll also tell it, “See what I can do without your help and despite your annoying interruptions?”
And when I write my next short story (sometime after Sunday) I won’t be writing just to write another short story.
Again, I’ll be writing to accomplish something I’ve never accomplished before: writing my 17th short story on the year and my 254th short story overall. And I’ll duplicate something I have done before: I’ll go one more week without breaking my brand-new baby streak.
Also, you know I’m hoping to write 1,000,000 words of fiction on the year (again, something I’ve never accomplished).
I have a good shot at that, despite the fact that as of September 30, I had written only 741,508 words on the year. As I wrote yesterday, math doesn’t lie.
But again, think in terms of average. My quarterly “goal” if I want to write 1,000,000 words on the year is 250,000 words of new fiction per quarter.
So as of September 30, I was 8492 words behind the curve for the quarter.
So to attain my 1,000,000 word annual goal, in the last quarter I would have to write 258,492 words of new fiction.
Now leap ahead with me. As of October 5, I’d written 762,041 words on the year. So I wrote 20,533 words of new fiction in the first five days of October.
So I erased that 8492-word deficit. And going into the 6th of October, I’m actually ahead of the curve by with 12,041 words in the bank.
That’s also 5533 words over my daily goal of 3000 wpd. So somewhere between now and December 31, I get a free day when I don’t have to write fiction at all and my average will remain above 3000.
Of course, I’ll save that abundance and use it when life forces one of those days on me. In the meantime, I’ll continue trying to exceed my daily goal and build on that abundance.
See how it works? Average really is what matters.
Dean Wesley Smith talks a lot about what he calls Pulp Speed. Pulp Speed One is 1,000,000 words per year.
But again, average is what matters.
To write 1,000,000 words per year, you have to average 2740 words per day (slightly rounded up).
Therefore, if you write at least 2740 words in a single day, for that day you’re writing at Pulp Speed One.
If you write at least 19,180 words in a week (total, even if you skip a day or days), for that week you’re writing at Pulp Speed One.
And so on. You can do the math. Just use 2740 as your base multiplier.
Finally, always try to stay in the chair for One More Word or One More Sentence or One More Paragraph. Even the single-digit difference between 2739 and 2740 makes a huge difference.
2739 x 365 = 999,735 but
2740 x 365 = 1,000,100
See?
More tomorrow in The Value of Averages 3.
Talk with you again then.
Of Interest
Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: Finding & Creating Beauty This should be required reading for all human beings. It all starts with you.
Writing Process A sad situation, one I’ve encountered with many writers. I hope everybody will read this.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 920
Writing of “That Night with Carolyn Price”
Day 1…… 1254 words. To date…… 1254
Day 2…… 0536 words. To date…… 1790 (done)
Writing of The Darling Members Club (novel)
Brought forward…… 6632
Day 1…… 3601 words. To date…… 10233
Day 2…… 4137 words. To date…… 14370
Day 3…… 4433 words. To date…… 18803
Day 4…… 2988 words. To date…… 21791
Day 5…… 3584 words. To date…… 25375
Fiction for October……………………. 20533
Fiction for 2024………………………… 762041
Nonfiction for October………………… 6290
Nonfiction for 2024……………………. 309880
2024 consumable words……………… 895960
Average Fiction WPD (October)……… 4107
2024 Novels to Date………………………… 13
2024 Novellas to Date……………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date…………………. 16
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..……. 95
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………. 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………..… 253
Short story collections…………………….….. 29
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies. They will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog. Please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!