I tried an experiment
early last week. I had decided I wanted to up my writing speed to about 1,000
words an hour, but first, I needed to have some idea how fast I currently
write. So I got up, had breakfast, set my timer for 3 hours (the amount of time
I had decided I could carve out of a day for my writing), and started a new
story.
I can't say that I
was not interrupted. The dog wanted out, or wanted to play, or the phone
rang... each time, I paused the timer to take care of the interruption, and
then came back to work as soon as I could. It actually took me almost 4 hours
to get 3 hours of writing done.
How did I do? My 3
hours of writing got me 1,800 words of rough draft on a story where I only had
a vague idea for the opening scene. It also included some brief research (How
are these mythical creatures usually described?), and choosing names for
characters. That averages out to 600 words per hour.
I suppose that sounds
like I have a long, hard road to travel to get to 1,000 words per hour, but I
don't see it like that. I was afraid that this test would have my speed at
something like 600 words for the entire 3 hours, but instead, it shows me being
a LOT closer to that initial goal I've set for myself. This was good news, indeed!
Unfortunately, after
that day, my body started insisting I sleep 10-12 hours a day, and when I did
get up, I tended to be dizzy more than not, which makes it hard to function.
The ear/nose/throat specialist has put me back on a med I've been on before, but
at a higher dosage. I will be on it for at least 6 weeks. I think it's working.
Slowly. I haven't been doing much writing, other than that one day when I
tested myself, and I hope I can get back to it. Soon!
In the meantime, my
'back burner' has plotted out the rest of that short story, worked out a thorny
knot that had me stuck in another story, and started working out possibilities
in a story I haven't even started outlining yet.
If I could type as
fast as I think, I'd be doing a lot more than 1,000 words an hour!
No comments:
Post a Comment