Everyone has a different method of writing their books. Some people write as they plot: on the fly. Some people write so many words a day, week or month. Whatever works for you is your right way; there isn’t a wrong way to write – unless you’re leaving a blank page.
” I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book — something in which the reader can get happily lost, if the tale is done well and stays fresh. ” Stephen King, On Writing.
“I can fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank page.” Nora Roberts
I aim for 2000 words a day during the week, and I give myself the weekend off. Do I usually accomplish that? Unfortunately, no. But by giving myself a steady goal, I have some to reach for.
I’ve been tracking my work on Seasong on a daily basis. One day, I wrote just over 10 words. Another day, I wrote over 4000. I’m still finishing it up, but on average, I write around 1500 a day – not bad for having a daily goal of 2000.
I have a Word Count Tracker spreadsheet that I use to tally my daily writings and edits. Everything that I’m currently working on is in there – from Warped to Reclaiming Verity. Some, like Seasong and Verity, I’m using to keep track of my writing goals. Others, like Shattered, I’m using to keep track of my editing; Shattered is bloated since I took combined two 50-70k novels to make one cohesive book. Using my spreadsheet, I can see how close I am to my goal of 100000. That is a random number, but it’s something that I should be able to reach.
If you’re interested, the link to a copyable version of my Word Count Tracker is below. It’s not something of my own creation. On one of the many groups I’m part of, someone posted something similar, and I edited to my own preference. I separated the daily beginning and ending counts, and it will self-tally. I also added the weekly trackers.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Zh_HLP6tNNmf-KFHMrI5O3AVrQ4BZ0xvZC8NeGWtTDo/edit?usp=sharing
Something I try not to do while I’m writing is edit the same book I’m writing. I’ll go back and edit some changes that will make a difference to the book (small plot points that I’ve realized need clarified, adding a few important details etc), but I mostly leave the editing to after I’ve finished the first draft. To me, it’s important to get my words out on the page before I go and change them.
I love Nora Robert’s writing routine:
https://fallintothestory.com/heres-how-i-work/
How do you write? How do you get your ideas from your brain down onto the page?
Amber L. Hughey 
I have such a weird, intuitive way of writing. I plot out the whole book, scrupulously, in advance. Then, every day, I write the section that best reflects my emotions at the time. Dark mood, dark chapter! Do you write in order or do you tend to jump around?
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When I’m writing my first draft, I definitely write in order. When I edit, I can jump around. I’ve found that if I try to jump around while I’m doing the first draft, things don’t always line up how I envision – usually because I don’t plot in detail. When that happens, a lot of edits need to be made to make sure each section flows smoothly.
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