It’s the beginning of July, and with that, the beginning of Camp NaNoWriMo! In honor of Camp, I’m going to share my method for how to get back into the regular flow of writing when I haven’t written in a while. (Disclaimer: writing is different for everyone, so what works for me may not work for you. There’s no one right way or wrong way to write. If you think my way might work for you too, give it a try, but if not, that’s totally fine.)
I call this method, the 600 Words Method. This method helped me finish a novella and get back into and finish a novel. You can probably guess what my method is. It’s simple.
The 600 Words Method is to make yourself write just 600 words every day, until either your project is complete or you get into the flow of writing more than that.
Why 600?
600 words isn’t much in the grand scheme of things (I’ve found that usually it’s less than one scene), but that also means it doesn’t take too long to write. It can be done in just an hour or two. At the same time, 600 words is enough to bite into something substantial.
Writing less than that might be easier, but at least in my experience, 600 words is enough that I’m writing something substantial. I can’t just flounder around adding extra descriptions or useless fluff if I have to write a whole 600 words.
When I use this method, I also give myself writing session goals. When aiming for 600 words, I’ll do 100 word goals in ten minute increments. So for example, if I’m starting to write at 10:30 am, my goals (which I type into the notes app on my phone) might look like:
Finish 100 words by 10:40.
Finish 200 words by 10:50.
Finish 300 words by 11.
Finish 400 words by 11:10.
Finish 500 words by 11:20.
Finish 600 words by 11:30.
Often I’ll fall behind in the first half of my session, but I’ll make up for it in the second half. It’s very small steps, but for me, that’s the point. It lets me give myself credit for every step of progress I make, even if it’s small. When I’m just getting back to writing, and the act of writing feels sluggish and slow, the sense of accomplishment by putting a checkmark beside my little steps of progress can be encouraging. It's like crossing off items of a to-do list.
Remember, all of this is what works for me. If you have less time to write, if you’re a slower typist, or if you have more distractions or stress around you, your sweet spot of what word goal will ease you back into writing may be less than 600 words. It could also be more.
But for me, 600 words works best. After a week or two of 600 a day, I find myself naturally stretching up to 700, 1000, and beyond.
That’s the 600 Word Method (and a little extra.) What’s your writing process like? Let me know in the comments!
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