Sunday, July 24, 2011

For writers... 1 kph

A few of my writing friends and I are on deadlines, which can sometimes be rather stressful, so we're egging each other on with a new (to us) technique. 1 kph...

In other words, we're aiming for a thousand words in an hour. (Not every hour!!!)
To be honest we rarely manage this, but the system still works well. We set a time, turn email off (and in my case I plug in headphones and turn classical music on) and then we try to write without stopping for an hour.

In short bursts it's doable. I often get 500 or 600 words down which is much faster than my normal snail's pace. Of course, we still need to go back over our work to edit, reifne, polish and, sadly, sometimes delete... but for people who have to write day after day, these short bursts can be like a shot in the arm.
Do you gave a writing buddy? Why not try it? I'll be sprinting again this afternoon -- 3.30 till 4.30. Want to join me?

5 comments:

The Smiths said...

Thanks Barb, about to try for 500 in a half hour. Will tweet you if I manage it! Annie

Barbara Hannay said...

Good luck, Annie!!!

2paw said...

I wrote tomorrow's blog post!! It is only 481 words at the moment, but there is such a feeling of esprit de corps when you are 'alonging' with other people!! I don't Tweet.

Barbara Hannay said...

Well done, 2paw. You write such lovely, warm blogs I sometimes think you should turn your hand to creating fictional characters, although I know you feed your creativite urges with sewing, knitting and cooking.

You're so right about the boost of having others 'alonging'. -:)

Barbara Hannay said...

I should add that I managed 500 words this afternoon, before having to head to town. So that's 1,500 for the day. I'm happy!