How long does it take to reach 1667 words? and 50k in one day - is it possible?



By Wendy C Allen

How long does it take a person to type 1,667 words?

&

How long does it take a person to type 50,000 words?

The TL;DR: Typing Speed Chart
(For people not interested in the article and only looking for the chart...
I've moved the chart to the top of the page, so you no longer have to scroll for it:)

How long does it take a person to type 1,667 words?

If you write ___ words per minute you'll reach 1,667 words in:

  • 10 wpm > 166m (23/4 hrs)
  • 15 wpm > 111m (13/4hrs)
  • 20 wpm > 83m (1hr & 13m)
  • 25 wpm > 66 m (1hr & 6m)
  • 30 wpm > 56m (average for most people)
  • 35 wpm > 48m (average for most people)
  • 40 wpm > 42m
  • 45 wpm > 37m
  • 50 wpm > 33m (average range for most hobby writers)
  • 55 wpm > 30m (average range for most hobby writers)
  • 60 wpm > 28m (average range for most hobby writers)
  • 65 wpm > 26m
  • 70 wpm > 24m
  • 75 wpm > 22m  
  • 80 wpm > 21m (average range for most career authors & journalists/reporters)
  • 90 wpm > 19m  (average range for most career authors & journalists/reporters)
  • 100 wpm > 17m 
  • 125 wpm > 13m 
  • 150 wpm > 11m  (average for most office secretaries)
  • 175 wpm > 10m  (average for most office secretaries)
  • 190 wpm > 9m  
  • 200 wpm > 8m 
  • 210 wpm > 7m 
  • 225 wpm > 6m  (the Guinness World Record)

My own speeds:

  • 91 wpm > 19m  (my average speed for casual typing, such as forums and Reddit posts)
  • 175 wpm > 10m  (my average speed during challenges like NaNoWriMo and the 50k in one day challenge)

Remember...

The important thing is not how fast you type, but that you do warm up exercises before you start typing. Stretching your fingers and wrists.

Just like playing sports or a musical instrument, with daily/weekly practice over a period of several months, you will strengthen the muscles in your hands, wrists, and fingers, and be able to type both faster and for longer stretches of time.

If you have never typed before, take it slow and steady at the start and only time for 15 minutes, then take a 15 minute break. You don't want to pull a muscle in your hands, wrist, or fingers (I've done that 4 times now, each time had my arm in a splint for 12 weeks! So I know how much it hurts and how long it'll put your writing on hold!)

While winning NaNoWriMo is great, taking care of your health should come first.

An average of 10,000 NaNoWriMo members are hospitalized each November from

  • sprained wrists
  • torn hand and wrist muscles
  • tendon damage
  • pinched finger nerves
  • carpal tunnel syndrome
  • 1 in every 3 cases the damage results in PERMANENT loss of the use of the hand and a writing career ENDED FOREVER

Put your health first!

If anything starts hurting: STOP TYPING!

Do NOT push yourself beyond your limits!

Even if you are a professional writer, career author, reporter, etc, you still should never type for more the 45 minutes to a time. Always stop and take a 15 minute break. Get up and walk around. Stretch your legs, grab a snack, put ice packs on your hands and wrists.

>  But if you mean in a literal day were you have something called “meals” and “errands. “sleep” there’s no way you can write half a book in a day

Just because you can not personally do it, does not mean no one can, in fact, people who type at speeds under 5k per hour are the minority, NOT the majority.

In order to get a job as a secretary, the requirement is to type 175 words per minute WITHOUT spelling or grammar errors. That's 10,500 words per hour WITHOUT errors in either spelling or grammar.

This is why when you take a college touch typing class,the requirement to graduate is at MINIMUM typing for one hour, while sustaining a MINIMUM speed of 175 words per minute, though if you want to pass with an A, you need to sustain 195 words per minute.

There are millions of secretaries in the world who type at speeds of 10,000+ words per hour without breaking a sweat.

It is very common for people new to National Novel Writing Month/NaNoWriMo, to baulk at the idea of writing 1,667 words a day, but, consider this:

How long does it take a person to type 1,667 words?

If you write ___ words per minute you'll reach 1,667 words in:

If you type 10 words per minute, you will reach 1,667 words in just under 3 hours.

If you type 200 words per minute, which is fairly common for many law office or court room secretaries, you will reach 1,667 words in 8 minutes.

* 10 wpm > 166m (2 & 3/4 hrs)

* 15 wpm > 111m (1 & 3/4hrs)

* 20 wpm > 83m (1hr & 13m)

* 25 wpm > 66 m (1hr & 6m)

* 30 wpm > 56m (average for most people) = 30wpm > 1,800 words per hour

* 35 wpm > 48m (average for most people) = 35wpm > 2,100wph

* 40 wpm > 42m = 40wpm > 2,400wph

* 45 wpm > 37m = 45wpm > 2,700wph

* 50 wpm > 33m (average range for many hobby writers) = 50wpm > 3k wph

* 55 wpm > 30m (average range for most hobby writers) = 55wpm > 3,300 wph

* 60 wpm > 28m (average range for many hobby writers) = 60wpm > 3,600 wph

* 65 wpm > 26m = 65wpm > 3,900 wph

* 70 wpm > 24m = 70wpm > 4,200 wph

* 75 wpm > 22m = 75wpm > 4,500 wph

* 80 wpm > 21m (average range for many career authors & journalists/reporters) = 80wpm > 4,800 wph

* 90 wpm > 19m  (average range for most career authors & journalists/reporters) = 90wpm > 5,400 wph

* 100 wpm > 17m   (average range for a few career authors & journalists/reporters) = 100wpm > 6k wph

* 125 wpm > 13m = 125wpm > 7,500 wph

* 150 wpm > 11m  (average for many office secretaries) = 150wpm > 9k wph

* 175 wpm > 10m  (average for most office secretaries & required to get a passing grade from touch typing college courses) = 175wpm > 10,500 wph 

* 190 wpm > 9m  (average for some office secretaries & required to get a grade A from touch typing college courses) = 190wpm > 11,400 wph

* 200 wpm > 8m  (average for a few office secretaries) = 200wpm > 12k wph

* 210 wpm > 7m  = 210wpm > 12,600 wph

* 225 wpm > 6m  (the Guinness World Record) = 225wpm > 13,500 wph

My own speeds:

* 91 wpm > 19m  (my average speed for casual typing, such as forums, Twitch chat, and Reddit posts)

* 175 wpm > 10m  (my average speed during challenges like NaNoWriMo, The Novel In a WeekEnd Contest, the 7 Day Novel Challenge, and the 50k in one day challenge)

My highest word count in a single day is 57k (fifty seven thousand) words, done for the 5k in one day contest, I started at midnight, and took a 15 snack/bathroom minute break every 60 minutes, and at the end of 24 of steady non-stop typing, with no sleep - I had 57k words, which was edited and published 5 days later as a 61k word novel (as part of the 7 day novel contest that was going on that same week.)

While writing an entire novel in a single day CAN be done, I do NOT recommend beginning writers try it, as it involves typing at speeds that you can't jump into and do without training. 

I took the secretary/touch typing course 3 times before I passed it, and each time was 3 months of daily 3 hour classes of doing nothing but typing whatever the teacher said. It was grueling and took more self discipline and dedication than I think the average hobby writer is going to want to attempt, so I really do not recommend high speed typing, for people outside of secretary jobs.

At the time I took the course, I was also a newbie-journalist for the Boston Globe (newspaper, which I worked for for 21 years) and so I had a job that required learning speed typing, in order to work at typing news articles, against deadlines that were often something like: "We need a 5k article on this morning's school shooting, ready for the evening edition" meaning I often had under 3 hours to research the event, type up the article, edit it, and hand it to the press shop for printing in the evening edition. I'd get the assignment under 3 hours before it had to go to press.

And that is WHY I (like every other journalist who ever worked for Boston Globe, New York Time, or any other big newspaper) ended up being about to type at an average speed of 90 to 175 word per minute. 

Every town has it's own newspaper. Every state has a big newspaper, and EVERY journalist at each of them, types 100+ words per minute. It's standard common practice for professionally writers to have a 175wpm typing speed, that is WHY college courses use 175wpm as the requirement to graduate.

>>>Are you even trying if you aren't writing half a book a day?

>>>Also, I was being sarcastic.

I'm sick of people making fun of writers who take typing seriously and actually strive to become better typists. 

Do you know WHY I quit NaNoWriMo? And if you know NaNoWriMo, than you KNOW who I am - I hold the world record for both fastest typing speeds and highest word counts on NaNoWriMo - for 14 years running. Oh, yes, I AM THAT EelKat. Every year for 14 years I reached 50k words in 3 days or less, and every year for 14 years on day 4 of NaNoWriMo my email was flooded with thousands of death threats and people accusing me of cheating. November 14, 2013, one of them showed up at my house with a golf club, and I was paralyzed with a broken spine for 5 months, and spent the past 8 years relearning to walk. I'm crippled for the rest of my life. Why? Because one woman, one writer, was THAT convinced that no one could type at my speeds, because SHE couldn't type at those speeds.

Hobby writers, think everyone writes 10 to 35 words per minute. But I'm not a hobby writer. I was a Boston Globe journalist for 21 years. That's a high paced job, where you have to be on the scene of crimes, accidents, shootings, hurricanes, and you NEED to type fast, in order to get those news reports in the next edition of the paper, and you often have under an hour to do it. Newspaper journalism, they need to get the article in the paper as close to a few minutes after the event happens as possible, and if you can't type 175words per minute, you won't last 1 week in that job.

I write novels and short stories on the side of also being a journalist and the editor in chief of 2 literary magazines... so of course I type fast when I'm typing fiction too.

Here's the thing: speed THINKING is what is needed if you want to speed type. You need to snap, snap, snap, think on your feet, not dawdling around all will-nilly ho-hum planing this, outlining that, procrastinating and blaming it all on writer's block. No. You don't NEED to pre-plan, think of plots, come up with ideas, or build outlines. You CAN write without those things. It just takes having the self discipline to train yourself to do it.

I think far to many fiction writers, don't take professional typing training, because they really don't take their writing very seriously. If they did, they also wouldn't make fun of and mock those of us who do take our careers as writers seriously.

I think too, far too many writers, think they can pop out a single novel, become an overnight millionaire, and than never have to work a day in their life, just live off royalties forever. But that's not how the publishing industry works. Writing is hard work, long hours, grueling schedules/deadlines, and far less pay than you could get flipping burgers at MckyDs or stocking shelves at WalMart.

Think about it... I COULD, dawdle around twiddling my thumbs, blaming my inaction on writer's block and publish 1 novel every 10 years... or I could take my job seriously, punch writer's block in the face, and have the self discipline to sit down and type and publish 2 to 3 articles of 5k each per day, 1 short story of 35k words a week and 4+ novels of 150k words per year... oh, wait, that IS what I do, because guess what? I have bills to pay and I don't have the luxury of sitting around waiting for inspiration or some muse to bite my ass and get me writing.

Does that mean everyone should type like I do? No. Certainly not. But it does mean, one shouldn't lump every writer into ALL can do this or NONE can do that. We are all different and write as slow or as fast as suits us personally. No one way is right or wrong.

For me, writing is my full time job. Writing IS my 9-5, I'm also elderly and seen as "retired" by the average person. So I have schedules and deadlines and "free time" that are quite different that if I was a young single mom juggle 2 jobs and 3 kids and trying to write a novel during my 20 minute lunch break at work.

>>>Some hardcorers can do a novel’s rough draft in a month or less, some write 300 words in 4 days and pat theirself on the back. but But for an average hobby writer, what could be a a good and possible daily writing goal?

For non-fiction, I write whatever assignment is handed to me. And usually that's around 2,000 to 5,000 words about some morning news event, that has to be printed in the newspaper in less than 3 hours from when I was handed the assignment. I did 2 to 3 of this per day when working for the newspaper, but I retired from that in 2006, and since than do the same 2 to 3 a day, but now freelance and with no deadlines, I submit them to various papers, newsletters, magazines, and websites, depending on the topic of the article. I do it now, more out of habit, because I did it for 21 years for the Boston Globe and I missed it after I retired, so I started doing it freelance after retiring, because I was getting stir-crazy over NOT having the fast paced deadlines any more.

For short stories, I write the full thing in one to two sittings, most are 15k to 35k words, which is around 17k words per sitting, usually twice per week.

For novels, I write one scene at a time, and most scenes in the series I write are between 2k to 4k and try to write 3 scenes a day, meaning about I usually add 7k to 12k words to the novel each day (though I don't work on it every day - usually just 2 or 3 days a week).

All that said, I did not reach that shecual overnight, it was something I built up to over several decades (keeping in mind I published my first novel in 1978, 43 years ago, so I've been doing this nigh on 50 years now).

In the beginning, I struggled to write daily, and even 100 words per day seemed a lot. It took me several years to condition myself to reach a daily schedule of writing 1,000 words per day, and I was writing as a hobby for nearly 10 years, before took my writing seriously, took typing classes, got a newspaper job, and started working on my self discipline.

It was the touch typing classes that really turned things around for me and got me looking at writing as a possible full-time career instead of just a hobby.

And it was the job writing for the newspapers, where I really had to step up my game and work at super fast paced schedule and deadlines, if I wanted to get anywhere careerwise in the industry. Self discipline to write whatever, whenever, any topic, without planning/outlining and do it fast, became a high priority skill to learn. (I worked at 5 small newspapers, besides the Boston Globe, all 6 of them owned by the same publishing company. It was a case of work worked for the company and you never knew which paper your article would end up in, and sometimes it would end up in all 6 of them.) I didn't used to be someone who could write fast, write any topic, write by the seat of my pants. I used to spend weeks/months outlining, planning, world building... than I got that job for the newspaper, and I had to learn to write on the go, and without planning or outlining. That was a hard skill to learn, but it was perhaps the most valuable, because now today all these years later, I can take literally any topic and a week later have a 120k word novel draft ready to go, without any pre-planning or outlining at all. That is NOT something that comes naturally to me, that's a skill I learned through years of working for the newspaper.

I can, and do, go to r/WritingPrompts every week, grab whatever the newest prompt is, and write about it for a week, and that's where most every short story and novel I've published in the past 10 years got it's idea/start from. No planning. No outline. No worldbuilding. Nothing. Just a one sentence prompt from Reddit.

>>>But for an average hobby writer, what could be a a good and possible daily writing goal?

The only correct answer to this is: Whatever works for you.

50 years ago, I struggled to write 100 words a day, and I struggled to write daily. But I wanted to get better, so I set goals, sought out college classes, looked into writing jobs... Funny thing is, I never set out to be a career writer. Writing was just a thing I wanted to do as a hobby and I set out to trying to improve my writing, and somewhere along the line, it became an obsession, one that eventually became a career.

How long does it take a person to type 50,000 words?

If you write ___ words per minute, you'll reach 50,000 words in:

  • 10 wpm > 207 days
  • 15 wpm > 138 days
  • 20 wpm > 103 days
  • 25 wpm > 82 days
  • 30 wpm > 70 days (average for most people)
  • 35 wpm > 60 days (average for most people)
  • 40 wpm > 52 days
  • 45 wpm > 47 days
  • 50 wpm > 41 days (average range for most hobby writers)
  • 55 wpm > 37 days (average range for most hobby writers)
  • 60 wpm > 35 days (average range for most hobby writers)
  • 65 wpm > 32 days
  • 70 wpm > 30 days
  • 75 wpm > 27 days  
  • 80 wpm > 26 days (average range for most career authors & journalists/reporters)
  • 90 wpm > 23 days  (average range for most career authors & journalists/reporters)
  • 100 wpm > 21 days 
  • 125 wpm > 16 days 
  • 150 wpm > 13 days  (average for most office secretaries)
  • 175 wpm > 12 days  (average for most office secretaries)
  • 190 wpm > 11 days  
  • 200 wpm > 10 days 

There have been tests done by doctors and scientists, and it is a medically proven fact that a person is not physically able to type at speeds of more than 200 wppm for more than 10 minutes to a time or for more than 3 of those 10 minute sessions a day. Therefore I have not included times above this figure.

Keep in mind that these numbers are mathematical averages and assume you are only writing for an hour or 2 or 3 a day.

You end times of how many days to reach 50k will be much less then those listed above if you sit and type for 75 wpm for 8 hours non stop with no break, for example.

The shortest feasible possible time to write 50,000 words, btw, is:

10 hours. 

Also the average person does not write consistently at the same speeds, often types very slow for the first hour, gaining speed in the second hour and reaching speed peek in the 3rd hour of each typing session.

Someone high on caffeine may write 100 wpm for several hours, then the next day be very tired and struggle to reach 15 wpm, then most days stay around 50 wpm. These types of fluctuations are normal and expected.

With all these things in mind, your own personal time vs speed to reach 50k may vary dramatically.

Remember...

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to motivate you to make an active effort at getting your novel out of your head and on paper.

Some days you may write 10,000 words, other days you may write 100 words. Both are okay and nothing to stress over.

Some days you may be very productive by doing research and spending hours in a local museum archive reading old diaries, but get 0 words written other then notes. This is fine.

Other days you may be sick or tired or have family responsibilities and get no writing done. Again, this is fine.

Don't get down on yourself for missing days.

Don't worry about days you don't reach 1,667 words.

It's okay if you don't reach 50k in 30 days.

Just because NaNoWriMo last 30 days, doesn't mean you have to stop writing on day 31. If you are serious about getting your novel published, you'll have to keep writing until you reach 120,000 anyways. Then you'll have to edit 4 or 5 times and revise 10 or 12 time, spending another 2 years polishing it into something you can submit to publishers.

In the end, how fast you typed the first draft is meaningless, so don't worry over that aspect and focus on writing the best story you can.

There is no right or wrong speed for typing. Take as much or as little time as you need. Never let anyone tell you, you are typing too slow or too fast. Don't try to type faster then is comfortable, just because someone said you were too slow and don't force yourself to slow down just because someone said you were going to fast.

The goal is to get your book written at a speed that is comfortable for you and will not hurt your hands, not get your book written at speeds right for someone else.

This chart is intended to help you calculate an expected time frame to help you plan your schedule, it is not intended to be used to try to compare yourself to others.

To write 50,000 words in 3 days:

From 2008 to 2012 I reached 50k words in 3 days every year, resulting in a lot of people asking how fast and how many hours a person has to type to reach 50,000 words in 3 days instead of 30...

  • 50,000/3=16,667 words per day
  • Most of the year I write 7,000 to 12,000 words a day as an everyday part of my writing career. It takes very little effort for me to push myself to a slightly higher word count of 17k.

Most years I strive to write 25,000 words on Day 1 of NaNoWriMo. Then write 15,000 words each on Day 2 and 3. Resulting in a total of 55,000 words written by the end of day 3.

Is it possible to reach 50,000 words on Day 1 of NaNoWriMo?

How fast do you have to type and for how many hours, to reach 50,000 words in one day?

Can the average person type 50,000 words in 1 day?

No.

Here's why:

The average person types 35 words per minute.

The average person is physically unable to type for more than 4 hours in a single 24 hour period (doing more causes sprained wrists and pulled finger muscles)

  • 35 wpm X 60m X 4hrs=8,400 words

This means that the average person (80% of all NaNoWriMo members) can expect to aim for as much as 8,400 words per day MAXIMUM.

While it is possible for the average person to reach 50k in 1 day, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to do so without suffering serious, possibly permanent damage to their hands. 

They could reasonably aim for writing 50,000 words in 1 week, however.

Can the average hobby writer type 50,000 words in 1 day?

No.

Here's why:

The average hobby writer (bloggers, fanfic writers, etc) who writes consistently 1 or 2 days a week, all year long, (about 15% of NaNoWriMo members), write at an average typing speed of 55 words per minute.

Because their finger and wrist muscles are conditioned for writing, they are better able to write for 8 hours a day, but are unlikely to be able to sustain momentum after 8 hours per 24 hour period.

  • 55 wpm X 60m X 8hrs=26,400 words

This means that the average hobby writer (15% of all NaNoWriMo members) can expect to aim for as much as 26,400 words per day MAXIMUM.

While it is possible for the average hobby writer to reach 50k in 1 day, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to do so without suffering serious, possibly permanent damage to their hands. 

They could reasonably aim for writing 50,000 words in 1 weekend (2 days), however.

And the 50k in 3 Days instead of 30 Challenge should not be too difficult for them.

Can the average professional/career writer type 50,000 words in 1 day?

Yes. 

Here's why:

The average career writer (daily newspaper reporters, freelancers writing 5 or more articles per week, authors who publish 4 or more novels per year, daily blogger, etc) who writes consistently 4 to 8 hours per day for 5 or  days a week, all year long, (about 5% of NaNoWriMo members), write at an average typing speed of 90 words per minute.

Because their finger and wrist muscles are conditioned for writing, they are better able to write for 12 or more hours a day, but are unlikely to be able to sustain momentum after 14 hours per 24 hour period. However, typing for 12 hour sessions requires full 48 hours of no typing at all, in between each 12 hour typing session, in order to avoid damage to your hands.

  • 90 wpm X 60m X 12hrs=64,800 words

This means that the average career writer (5% of all NaNoWriMo members) can expect to aim for as much as 64,800 words per day MAXIMUM.

While it is possible for the average career writer to reach 50k in 1 day, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to do so without suffering serious, possibly permanent damage to their hands, and they should wait at MINIMUM 3 days before using their hands again after doing so.

Every year a few hundred people reach 50,000 words on Day 1 of National Novel Writing Month, resulting in lots of questions, accusations, and skepticism as to whether or not they cheated.

Knowing that it was possible to reach 50,000 words in 3 days, because I had done it several times, I decide to join the Write 50,000 Words On Day 1 Challenge, to see, if it could be done and if so, how difficult was it to do. Was it possible that so many people were doing it each year?

The answer:

Yes.

It can be done.

But... it's extremely difficult, and while it is likely that members who are professional career authors can, do, and have reached 50k in one day. It is highly unlikely that many, in any, first time newbie writers have ever done it and likely did "cheat".

Interestingly, when I contacted many of the 50k in 1 day winners and asked what methods they used so that I could try them...

MOST, said they were using voice to text or speech to text software to dictate their stories and had not typed a single word.

The bulk of NaNoWriMo members are quick to classify the dictation method of writing as "cheating". I'm not one of them. Dictating is a valid way of writing your novel. 

However, I think comparing TYPING 50k in 1 day to DICTATING 50k in one day, to be like comparing a 1975 Honda Civic to a 2017 Rolls Royce Phantom - both will get you from point A to point B, but one gets you there with muscle cramps from being jammed into a small space you don't fit in, while the other had heated memory foam and butt massagers relaxing you on the way there.

  • Typing 50k in one day = VERY difficult to do, and requires week long rest periods between each 50k day.
  • Dictating 50k in one day = VERY easy to do and, heck, you can easily do it every day, and 100k days are not that difficult either.

So while both are valid methods of producing a first draft, they are 2 very different methods that have dramatically different output speeds and a dictator's output is going to be double or even triple the output of someone who is typing.

I find myself deeply disappointed to learn that the bulk of the winners of 50k of Day 1 of NaNoWriMo dictated those 50,000 words rather then writing them, as this discovery told me the likelihood of WRITING 50k in 1 day was slim, if the bulk of the 50k in 1 day winners with DICTATING and not WRITING 50k in 1 day.

In contacting the various HUNDREDS of 50k in 1 day winners to ask their methods, I found fewer than a dozen who had actually WRITTEN/TYPED and not used some sort of speech to text voice activated dictation software.

This lead me to want to test it out myself to see exactly how difficult it was to actually WRITE 50k in 1 day as opposed to dictating it.

One year (2012) I attempted to do 50,000 words in a single day, and stopped at 37,000 words because my wrists started hurting. 

The day I wrote 37,000 words on Day 1 of NaNoWriMo I was:

  • typing at an average of 91 wpm
  • typed for 8 hours steady
  • took 15 minute breaks every 45 minutes
  • slept for 3 days straight after
  • had to wear hand braces for the week following writing 37k in one day

I believe if I practiced, by spending September and October, constantly writing 25k to 30k words each of 2 to 3 days a week, I probably could get my hand muscles strengthened up enough to do a 50k on Day 1 challenge.

So, yes, I do believe it is possible to write 50,000 words in a single day. Difficult, but very much a possibility.

Will I ever try the 50k on Day 1 challenge again?

Not likely.

I did it before to see if I could, and at that point, my wrists were not strong enough to hold out. Had I done pre-NaNo warm up sprints in the days leading up to NaNo, I probably could have.

But seeing how my goal was to see if I could write 50k in 1 day, and I concluded that at that point I couldn't, but with practice I likely could, I therefore saw no reason to attempt the challenge again.

How fast should you be writing on a sentence-by-sentence and word-by-word scale? What can I do to put words on paper faster instead of stressing over each and every one?

There is no SHOULD. You write as fast or as slow as is comfortable for you. Only this and nothing more. Every one is different and there really is no need to compare yourself to what others do.

Comparing yourself to others is... well... stupid. So don't do it.

>>>How fast should you be writing on a sentence-by-sentence and word-by-word scale?

>>>I've noticed recently that when I write creatively, I will write individual sentences extremely slow. I'll look at them word by word and write several drafts of just one sentence until I think I've mastered it before I move on to the next one. This slows down my work drastically because I feel like everything needs to be perfect, or else I'll forget to change it/perfect it later on. Is this how most people write? Do people usually stress over single words and sentences within the writing of the first draft, or am I worrying too much about the perfection of something that could be fixed later?

>>>At this speed, it usually takes me around half an hour to write just one paragraph because I don't feel confident enough in my writing to speed it up and write faster.

>>>What can I do to put words on paper faster instead of stressing over each and every one?

I used to do that too. How did I fix it?

Dr. Wicked's Write or Die: https://v2.writeordie.com/

Set everything to the highest setting possible. Use Kamikaze Mode. Don't type anything important, not at first at least. You'll lose it. You really will.

It teaches you speed typing... by forcing you to NOT STOP TYPING, because as soon as you stop, it's starts deleting everything, and the slower you type the faster it deletes.

And if you have phobias, you can set it to start showing you images of... spiders or whatever, and the only way to get those things off the screen, is to type faster and faster and faster.

When I started using it around 2 decades ago, around 2004, (It's been around a long time) I struggled to type 35 words a minute.

Today, even without it, I average 91 words per minute, and when I actually want to type fast, like when I do 500,000 words in 30 days for NaNoWriMo instead of 50k... I can reach 175 words per minute, though I can't sustain it long term.

I used to struggle to type 1,000 words a day, because I kept trying to edit every line as I was typing.

Thanks to Dr. Wicked's Write or Die 1, I now average 17k words a day, and can fly through the 50k in one day challenge with ease.

I also went from publishing 1 or 2 short stories a year and a novel every couple of years, to publishing 50 short stories a year - 1 a week - and 3 to 6 novels a year, most years, though there was 1 years when I published 1 novel each month 12 in one year - and when I say novel, I mean 400 to 500 page Epic Fantasy novels, 150k to 200k words each.

Dr. Wicked's Write or Die 1 taught me to speed write my first drafts without stopping to worry or fuss about editing and perfection, and it completely changed my writing career, taking me from a hobbyist writer to a full time career author.

It teaches you that getting your words on the page as fast as possible is more important than editing those words while you type.

It's a free program, you don't have to download anything, you type right into the browser. It has a paid version, but I'm not sure what that is. I've only ever used the free version. The fully free version, Dr. Wicked's Write or Die 1 was deleted off their website a few years ago (around 2018-ish) and replaced with Dr. Wicked's Write or Die 2. I stopped using it when the 2nd edition was released, because I kind of didn't need it any more, by that time it was a habit for me, so I've not used the 2ed edition and I'm no sure how different it is from the original.

FINAL THOUGHT...

Every year, people who reach 50,000 words in anything fewer then 30 days, are faced with 10s of 10,000s of hate emails being sent to them calling them cheaters and liars and saying all manner of foul things. In many cases, these hate emails are sent to the members by the forum moderators of NaNoWriMo itself.

If you write more then 50,000 words in 30 days - DO NOT announce you have done so on the NaNoWriMo forums.

Prior to 2011 NaNoWriMo forums were modded by Chris Baty himself and he was on top of keeping the mods in line. Since he retired in 2011, the mod hostility towards members has increased. Since 2016 the FBI has been investigating The Offices of Letters & Light (the company that owns NaNoWriMo) after the deaths of multiple members, the bombing of multiple member homes, the flurry of death threats written by mods,

Since 2014:

  • 7 NaNoWriMo overachiever members have been murdered - in each case a NaNoWriMo forum mod  was the primary suspect
  • 12 NaNoWriMo overachiever members have commit suicide - in each case a NaNoWriMo forum mod was the primary in harassing them to the point of suicide
  • 5 bombs have been built, destroying the homes and nearly killing overachiever NaNoWriMo members - in each case the FBI's primary suspect is a NaNoWriMo forum mod - my house was one of the 5
  • 500 cats, dogs, and other pets, have been kidnapped, beheaded, and returned dissected to 140 families - in each case the family had a family member who was a NaNoWriMo overachiever - in each case a NaNoWriMo forum mod is the FBI's primary suspect of these horrific acts of terrorism and animal abuse

The advice of FBI Agent Andy Drewer who is heading the FBI investigation of these hate crimes and terrorist attacks by NaNoWriMo forum mods on overachiever members is this:

"If you want to write more than 50,000 words in 30 days, go ahead. Just don't tell anyone on the NaNoWriMo forum you have done so.It's the only way to ensure you do not become the next target."

If you have been harassed in ANY way, by a forum mod of NaNoWriMo, please report it to the FBI agent in charge of the case:

Have Information? 
Please Call FBI Agent 
Andy Drewer @ (207) 774-9322  

If you have witnessed other NaNoWriMo members being harassed by NaNoWriMo Forum mods, please report these instances as well.

Help make National Novel Writing Month a safe activity again. Do it before someone else dies.

End of The TL;DR

The Full Article:

How fast should you be writing on a sentence-by-sentence and word-by-word scale? What can I do to put words on paper faster instead of stressing over each and every one?

>The whole point of NaNo is to write garbage, as far as I can see. To get that first draft done, so you can poke at it later if you want to.

That does seem to be what it has become. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when I used to do NaNo, it and it was actually just Chris Baty and a few hundred of his MySpace friends and their wasn't a dedicated website, it was vastly different. We were about meeting offline in coffee shops and bakeries and just writing the book we had had in our heads for years.

There wasn't a word count goal originally. Originally the goal was, take that novel you been dreaming about writing and dedicate a month to writing a page or 2 of it every day, and by the end of 30 days you'll have set in a daily writing habit which will last into the next month and the next and eventually, you will have a book finished.

It was also in April every year, not November, back then.

Starting the NaNo dot org website was a big mistake by my mind, because it took away the original goal of NaNo, which was to get together OFFLINE with your friends and write a book via you each other boosting each other's confidence and building a daily writing habit that actually results in you getting your book finished.

But after the creation of the dot org site, things changed A LOT. 4 years into the website Lindsey Grant NOT Chris Baty made 2 big changes, one moving the event to November and two, setting an arbitrary number (50k words) which really had no meaning at all other then it was a nice even sounding number. And every one, even Chris Baty was pointing out 50k barely counts as a novellas, let alone a novel, because publishing houses won't look at anything under 80k, and back then in late 1990s and early 2000s, MOST publishing houses wouldn't touch a manuscript under 120k words. Keep in mind Amazon self publishing was not invented until 2007, so there was still another decade before NaNo became the self publishing scum dive is evolved into today.

Fights started breaking out on the forums and this weird trend rose up of anyone who writes MORE then 50k words a month would have a NaNo ML dox their home address on the forum and first week of December they'd be violently beaten by a mob of angry NaNo trolls who showed up at their house. It happened to 73 members between 2010 to 2013, all 73 of them hospitalized with broken bones, one woman had her face carved off with a broken bottle... they showed up for me November 14, 2013, broke my legs and spine with a golf club, I was paralyzed for 5 month, 18 month learning to get out of the wheelchair, it's now 10 years and one week later and I'm still not able to walk unaided. I'm crippled for the rest of my life, by a NaNo ML and her mod of anti over 50k trolls, because I wrote 50k words in 3 days instead of 30 days.

When asked by news reporters how NaNo was dealing with the hate crimes being done by NaNo MLs, Lindsey Grant publicly, on TV, stated that she fully supported her MLs. Chris Baty did not. Chris Baty said these violent MLs had no business being part of NaNo because they were giving the event a bad name.

Huge fight broke out between Lindsey Grant and Chris Baty, big lawsuit, lots of scandal, all because an ML started going house to house attacking writers in person (73 people were hospitalized by her, one baby was murdered, at least 5 house bombs happened, and the FBI got involved and started showing up at all of us old original members houses!) Chris Baty left because he didn't want to get into Lindsey Grant's drama, and she started this weird non profit thing, that a few years later got investigated because money laundering. The mega drama, scandal, arrests, FBI investigation, house bombs, home invasion attacks, and one murder and multiple suicides are why I stopped doing NaNo.

As the FBI investigation of NaNo employees went on, more drama and fighting started happening and Lindsey Grant started buying more and more shares in the company until she had more shares the founder Chris Baty and kicked him out of his own event. He left, saying she could have the site because it was no longer the event he had started anyways and he wanted no part of it anyway.

I did NaNo for 16 years, was one of the original first 100 members (I'm EelKat Wendy Christine Allen), and won 14 years in a row doing 50k in 3 days instead of 30, but the psycho ML who was attacking everyone showed up at my house, my house was one of the bombed houses, I'm one of the 73 people hospitalized and the 8 month old baby that hot murdered was my son. I've been interviewed by the FBI dozens of time EVERY YEAR for past decade, over the drama shit that the owners of NaNo do, and I want no part of their scum bag fighting. So I left. Haven't done NaNo since 2016.

Without Chris Baty NaNo became more and more about the competition of beating a certain number in a certain time frame, and less about the original goal of creating a daily writing habit.

Last time I did NaNo it was very distasteful over all, the whole arrogant competition to beat out each other vibe that was rocking the forums.

There was no more people trying to inspire each other, no more best buds hanging out to write together, no more let's encourage each other to build daily writing habits. Instead it was all dog eat dog fight fang and claw to the top and kick each other down while the goal was win, win, win, win, WIN!

I hated the punch each other out to get to the top and be king of the hill winner vibe that had taken over NaNo, so I just left.

I'm a professional writer. I had well over a dozen novels published before joining NaNo. Heck, since i switched to self publishing in 2010 I write and publish a 21k word novel EVERY WEEK. I write more then 50k words a week all year long, so there is absolutely no challenge for me in writing 50k in 30days.

NaNo for me was never about reaching some arbitrary numbers in an arbitrary time frame. For me it was about getting together with friends and sharing a fun like minded hobby together.

And guess what? I can do that without NaNo and all its fist fighting, doing, showing up at people's houses offline drama. I hate the drama of the leaders of NaNo.

But, yeah, I agree with you, NaNo has devolved into a garbage feast of write as much garbage as fast as possible, so you can scream I WON! And it's basically meaningless now.

>Did you do that for your other NaNo novel? Actually use it and edit it and polish it into a good book?

That's another thing with NaNo. Lack of anything publishable.

I have published 138 novels since 1978, most of them published in the 1980s long before NaNo existed. I've never had a problem taking my drafts, editing them, and getting them published.

Until NaNo.

Out of the 16 years I did NaNo and the 14 years I won NaNo only five of those NaNoNovels went on to be edited and published.

Why? The pressure of meeting a certain number in a certain amount of days messed up my ability to focus on the story or the characters.

Normally I do not pay attention to word counts. Not while drafting. Not while editing. It just ends where it ends, and the first time I check the word count is when I'm typing up the query and have to tell the publisher what word count the manuscript is. The smooth flow of uninterrupted writing can be seen too.

But during NaNo, every hour was checking word counts, thinking about word counts, focusing on word counts, and not paying attention to plot or characters as much as I should have. And damn were these difficult to edit, because the drafts were not flowing with uninterrupted smoothness. There was herby Jerry stuttering and interruptions to the writing on every page. Every time I had stopped to check word counts there was a noticeable hiccup to the story flow. And these blips in the flow just made the draft so messed up that it wasn't worth it to even bother trying to edit it into something publishable.

It was kind of amazing how DISTRACTED I got during NaNo and how much it actually HINDERED my writing quality.

Turns out I write far better without NaNo.

I joined NaNoWriMo in 2004, went on to become the first "overachiever" averaging 200,000 words in 30 days, instead of the average 50,000 words. Since 2006, I have been receiving on average 5,000 to 20,000 emails a week from fellow writers every October, November, and December, emails asking me how I did it and if I could advice them on what to do so they can write 200k instead of 50k in 30 days too.

And while fewer then 1% of the 20k+ daily emails were asking questions, the bulk of them were full of hate, death threats... and in 2013, my son was murdered and I was crippled for the rest of my life, by a woman who claimed she was the local NaNoWriMo ML and said she was sick of me writing too many words.

NaNoWriMo is WHY I do longer have email.

"How long does it take to hit 1667 words? and 50k in one day - is it even possible? I think it depends on the quality you're going for. Rough-and-ready bunch of words on a page and a decent first-draft would likely have quite different time requirements wouldn't they? What do you think?"

Depends on my mood - when I'm angry I can depend on 750 every 10-15 mins, when I'm tired it could take an hour to do 1000 words, but most days I can plan on 750 words for every half hour (I try to take a quick 5 min break every 750 words so my hands and my bum don't wear out from all that typing and sitting)

Also you really don't need to worry about a tiny amount like 1,667 words, because it is actually possible to write the whole 50k in one day if you wanted to.It is possible, it's difficult, but it can be done. I tested it a few years back to see - I can write 750 word every 15 minutes, there are 1440 minutes in a day, which means that in theory if I wrote non stop for 24 hours I would have 72,000 words by the end of the day, but that's extreme for me because I am a very slow one handed typer, at an average of 32 to 37 words a minute or 440 words every 15 mins.

However an expert typist can range 75 to 120 words a minute which is 1,800 words every 15 minutes or 7,200 word per hour or 172,800 words a day. Figure in a 15 minute break each hour, and you got 54,000 words in 10 hours. And as it's possible to go 4 days without sleep (at least for me - I sleep once every 3 days during NaNo) you can keep on typing 24 hours straight for a total of no less than 81,000 words per day.

Here is how standards among typists breaks down:

Secretary jobs often require a typing speed of 75 words per minute (23 minutes for 1667 words or 11.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop)

50 words per minute is considered average for most authors (33 minutes for 1667 words or 16.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop)

30 to 40 is considered average for many non-professional typists (42 to 55 minutes for 1667 words or 21 to 27.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop)

20 to 30 is average for most people who did not take typing lessons (55 to 84 minutes for 1667 words or 27.5 to 42 hours to reach 50k typing none stop )

The world record is 216 words per minute (7 minutes for 1667 words or 3.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop), but that was timed by a group of people timing it, and I'll bet several folks here on NaNo beat that record every year, because I'm always seeing folks reaching 50k shout-outs with in the first 5 hours.

My average tends to be around 37 words per minute most of the year (46 minutes for 1667 words or 11.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop), but seems to be around 42 to 53 during NaNo (31 to 39 minutes for 1667 words or 11.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop), and there have been times when I was doing 75+ words per minute (22 minutes for 1667 words or 11.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop), and my top clocked speed was 1667 words in 19 minutes or 87 words per minute or 11.5 hours to reach 50k typing none stop (which means in theory, I could reach 50k I just 10 hours - less than half a day, if I just keep going once I got in my zone, however in practice I've never been able to reach 50k faster than 3 days.).

When you get in the zone you stop thinking and your fingers just start flying.

Basically, to make this work and be able to type out 50k within the first 3 days, you have to have EVERYTHING (characters, setting, plot, etc) all planned out ahead of time - we're talking months in advance- most folks who do the 50k day thing start planning their outlines in May or June. In about August they start practice speed typing, typing daily for 2 to 4 hour stretches, aiming at 1,000 words every 15mins. By November you know who is who where is where and who'll do what when. Everything is mapped out in your brain, and at exactly Midnight on Day 1 you start typing as fast as you can, not stopping, no breakfast, lunch, or dinner stopping only 5 mins every hour to get a drink and use the toilet then start typing again. Sometime around 9PM or 10PM they should be close to 50k.

Also most of the folks who try the 50k in one day have been doing NaNo for many, many years, and often have careers as full time writers who write huge word counts every day anyways. If you are new to typing it's really NOT recommended that you try a 50k day, because it's like any exercise, and required muscle warm ups and conditioning and practice for months and month, before your finger muscles are going to stand up to that kind of work out.

Know that there have been many newb typists drop out of NaNoWriMo on doctor orders after doing serious carpel damage to their hands during the first few days of NaNoWriMo. Every year there are a ton of threads on the forums saying: "Sorry, I won't be finishing the month my hand is in a cast, I tore a tendon in my thumb, I'm not allowed to type for at least 8 weeks, on doctor's orders.". This is a very serious injury that can cost you the use of your hand so don't take it lightly and don't jump into a 50k in one day goal unless you have spend several months working up to being ready for it. Same way you don't run track without warming up your leg muscles, don't type 50k in one day with out prepping your finger and wrist muscles!

Most years my best one day word count is somewhere between 13k and 17k, but 2 years ago I did 27k in one day and shocked myself because that was nearly double my previous record! My goal this year is to have at least 1 day where I beat that. I'm doing the 50kRDO (50k Ridiculous Day One - a challenge to write 50k on Nov 1st) and the 50kweekend all 4 weekends this year (25k on each Saturday and Sunday).

Hopefully, I will reach 50k on Nov 1st, and 25k each day of the 4 weekends. If I do, I'll end up with 200k, without doing anything typing on the weekdays! And than if I type 15k each day between the weekends, I'll end up with a monthly total of 500k. So I set my goal at 458k and see what happens.

I try this every year and so far have only ever had one actual 50k weekend where I even got close to 50k! LOL!, but I keep trying, someday I'll make it, maybe this year will be the year!) My end goal for total word count this year is to beat my record (238k), so I set my goal at 250k and if I reach that, I'm planning to try for 458k. I aim at 458k every year and every year I end the month between 80k to 238k, but I'm not letting that stop me from continue to set my goal at 458k, because I figure if I keep trying, someday I HAVE to reach it!

And then you must consider that 50k days are not that uncommon. NaNoWriMo was based on the Weekend Novel Contest, which allows you 2 days to write a 100k novel (keeping in mind that 50k is a novella NOT a full length novel) and is not an online contest. but a writing retreat where you actually get together with a live group and all sit together in the same room writing furiously. That contest has been running since the 1960s, currently costs about $300 to enter and has about 2 or 3 dozen winners every year.

But yeah, it's not only possible, but loads of folks do it every year. You just hae to realize that it does take a huge amount of pre-planning, lack of sleep, and being uniterupted by family/friends/pets/phone/TV/etc.

So, don't worry about getting to 1,667 a day, because I am a terribly slow typer (32 words a minute - most typers on NaNo average at least 50 words a minute, and someone with a secretary type training [which I did have, explaining why I can force myself to type this way if I have to] does 75 to 120 words a minute) averaging 32 words a minute - 440 words every 15 mins or 1,760 words every hour and I usually plan on writing 3 times a day (as soon as I wake up, on lunch break, and just before bed) so even a snail's pace typer like me rarely has a day of less than 5,280 words!

I'm one of the top overachievers every year for 6 years in a row, twice I've had the world's top word count, 8 times I've had the top word count for my state, I think a lot has to do with the author and past experience in writing. A new author, who is uncertain about their confidence or publishability, sure, they are going to be more careful and write slower, and try to write what they think publishers want. An experienced published author with a large readership and several years of writing, is going to know ahead of time what fans and publishers expect of him/her and will have no trouble speed typing a first draft that is publishable as is, simply because they have a lot of practice already.

Take myself for example:

I joined NaNoWriMo 2004. Failed. Tried again in 2005. Failed again. 2006, I discovered the Dares Thread and made up for both previous fails with a 183k win, and then won every year since at no less than 200k each year, the past few years reaching 250k. I've set my goal at 275k and 300k a couple of times but so far I always top out at 250k. Joined Script Frenzy the year it started (was that 2006 or 2007? I forget) Failed the first two Screnzies, then became the Screnzy ML and that got me motivated to never lose again. Done Camp NaNoWriMo twice, failed both times. Gee...what a trend...I've failed the first 2 times I've tried each contest! I guess that means I should win the next Camp? LOL!

Genre wise, I typically do a multi blend mix of horror, romance, sci-fi, a bit of fantasy, a lot of gore and splatter punk, and some random erotica/porn that shows up whenever I can't think of anything to write so I just start tossing characters in bed together for no reason. Technically what I write is called Dark Satire Gorn, but NaNo doesn't have that category so I usually change my novel genre setting every few days to reflect whatever the topic of the day is. ;)

Thanks to ancient dares from I think 2005, every NaNo I have ever done features the following: a demon possessed shovel that causes everyone who picks it up to go on a mindless killing spree, characters obsessed with eating shrimp dinners, vampires allergic to rancid yak butter, and the past 3 years have seen the addition of glittering vampires: vampires who wear pink sequined tuxedos!

Last year the Dare thread had me including talking pudding and herds of rampant penguins running down Main St, the year before that is was vampire chickens and alien abductions thwarted by pizza. Wow does it all come out a mess! But a fun mess. What will the Dares Thread have me writing this year?

Most NaNoers look at my style and shudder in horror saying: "But that stuff isn't publishable! No one is going to read that kind of insanity. Readers want serious writing." Do they? Are you sure? Okay, maybe some readers do, sure, but are they YOUR readers? If I tried to write a straight faced serious novel, I'd lose thousands of readers. Why? Because that's not my style, my fans know that's not my style, and what's more, they wouldn't be my fans if that was my style, because it's not the style THEY want to read.

Sure I'm an underground writer published in tiny Indie presses. Nope, I have never aimed at the mainstream or the big publishers. That's not my audience. Know your audience. Who are your readers? What do they read?

My readers? They want something that reads like Rocky Horror Picture Show dropped into Alice in Wonderland and whisked away on the USSEnterprise. No that mad capped horror fun feast in space in not a high demand style, no you won't get rich with it, no I'm not saying you have to write what I write. What I am saying is every writer is different, and every writer is going to have a unique set of readership, so every writer has a different audience to focus on.

That said, I'm also a NaNo Rebel. I DON'T WRITE NOVELS! I never have, not once in 18 contests!

For NaNo instead of writing a novel in 30 days, I typically write a couple of short stories a day, each ranging from 750 to 5,000 words, usually, based totally on the Dares Thread - I grab a dare, write a short story about it, grab another dare, write another short story, and so on, often using about 200 - 300 dares each November.

For Script Frenzy I write 10 ten page short plays instead of one 100 page one, again with the Dares Thread as my guide. As insane as my writing may get however, my goal for NaNo is always publication.

My 2008 NaNo autobiography was published as a book, as was my 2007 non-fiction NaNo "On Being Homeless" and most all of my short stories have been published in one form or another in a wide range of various places. The autobio (a 700 page book when published) and the non-fiction (a 250 page book when published) are the only 2 serious things I've ever written for NaNo, both drawing on real life experiences and written in 1st person diary format. Everything else (18 OLL contests worth of them) has been written by use of the Dares Thread, with no prior plotting or planning.

People always ask what I do for character creation in my stories, seeing as I use the Dares (and not pre planned plots) to write during NaNo (which is the secret to my super high word counts - no plot planning, just following the instructions of the next Dare on the list = lots and lots of saved time - every minute spent worrying about plot is a minute you are not writing!). So, I'll answer that part now so you don't have to ask.

Okay, I was a published author long before NaNo was ever thought of. I have a full time career as a writer, so I write on average 10,000 words a day about 250 days a year, for many years long before I joined NaNo, so the only difference between my November writing and the rest of the year, is my November writing is not preplanned and is allowed to run wild plot wise. In other words, if I wasn't doing NaNo I'd still be writing 250k word this month anyways, just like last month and the month before, and so on.

My first story, Friends Are Forever, a Tale of The Twighlight Manor, came out in 1978. Between then and 1994 I proceeded to write 200+ short stories, all inspired by the first one. In other words I write a long running serial, which currently contains about 75 fully developed characters, each having been used as a main character in their own story at least once.

The Twighlight Manor Series follows a single family through many generations starting in 1313 and ending in 2525.

The Twighlight Manor Series is not written in chronological order, meaning I could write about the members living in the 1600's today and the ones in the current era tomorrow than the ones in the 1800's the next day. The family are aliens who crash landed on earth. Folklores like Faeries and haunted houses are treated as real, so fantasy and horror creatures, though rare, can logically be in the stories.

That said, when I grab a dare out of the Dare Thread, I ask myself, which character would do this? Which character should this happen to? Etc, and then instantly drop that character into the dare and start writing. In other words, in order for you to do what I do and try to write 250k in 30 days, you really need to be working with a setting and characters that are well established far, far before November starts, so you don't have to do any kind of character or setting creation at all, you just grab random plots and start writing. If you spend Nov creating characters and settings, you'll never reach the mega high word counts. So, now you know, so you don't have to ask. O. K. ?

All that said, I very much write off the top of my head by the seat of my pants, nearly always writing at minimum 7,500 word a day and almost never edit any of it, these are being published AS THEY ARE these mad capped "rough drafts" are given a once over to check for spelling errors and then sent off to the publisher as is, and published without any changes at all.

Granted as I said I've been writing for near on 40 years and have been published for more than 30 years and have a large steady fan following always ready to buy everything I put out, so maybe it's harder for NaNoer with less experience to write high speed first drafts that are publishable from the get go. But to say it can't be done at all, that's a big no-no because I'm living proof that it can be done and is done often, year after year.

So, my point is, every writer is different. Some are going to write slow, others fast, others at mid speed. Some are going to write for an audience, others for themselves only. Some will be writing stuff that needs extensive editing others will publish it as it came out with no editing at all, and in the end, none of this is really going to affect the speed of typing, because your typing speed is what it is, regardless of errors and need for editing (both of which have to do with experience as a writer, not speed of typing).

Yeah, for some folks it's about speed and word count, and sure folks will look at what I just said and say of me, she's all about speed and word count. Nope. Actually, I'm not, because like I said, I also typed up 150k words last month and will do it again next month too.

Why?

Because that's what pays the bills. I am a full time professional career based writer and 150k words a month is just my normal average speed of writing. I can easily toss up 50k in a weekend if I wanted to, and I often do toss up 50k in a weekend several times a year, thus NaNo's 50k is not a challenge for me at all, writing 50k for me is just more of the same old same old and I'm in NaNo to give myself a challenge.

For me 50k is simple, 150k is typical, 200k is hard but still in my normal range, 250k is me pushing my limits, so 250k is my personal NaNo goal, because it drives me to step outside of my personal comfort zone and try to type just a little bit more than I normally would.

So, to say that 50k in a day is all about speed and word count may not be true for everyone here, because you don't know what they do for writing the rest of the year. NaNo is about challenging yourself.

If you don't write at all, then just reaching 10k in 30 days may be your goal, to heck with reaching 50k.

See? There are folks who just want to see if they can do it, and NaNo is a great way to test yourself.

And besides, not every one's goal is to get published. If your goal is not about publishing than there is no reason to worry about overall readability. Sure, my goal is publishability, and I personally would not be able to write 50k in one day and then publish it as is. I'm pretty certain I can do 50k in a day, based on what I've done in the past, however, as I said the most I've done in one day was 23k and in the end, that was an unpublishable load of crap. I discovered, yes I can write at speeds to make it to 50k, but I write crap when I write at that speed, so reaching 50k suddenly was no longer an important goal for me. Yes I can do it if I had to, but was it worth it? I decided that for me, I'd rather stick with less words per day and have it be publishable in the end, because if there's one thing I hate, it's editing! I know if I don't write it right the first time, I'm not going to go back and edit it, thus it will never get published, and then means that I just wasted my time writing those words, because to me it's pointless to write something if no one will ever read it.

My point is, NaNo is about personal goals. Do what you need to do, to reach your own goals, and don't worry about other writers' goals and motivations, don't worry about proving yourself to anyone here on NaNo, just prove yourself to yourself alone and be happy with that. That's my way of thinking, at least.

Besides anyone who does it to "show off" or "look good on the forums" will quickly be shot down by dozens and dozens of hate filled NaNoMails calling them every bad name under the sun, accusing them of cheating and lying, etc, etc, etc, so they'll learn fast that there's no glory in reaching 50k in a day or 100k in 30 days or 250k in 30 days or whatever their end count is. They'll end up feeling really bad about their win, if they only did it to prove themselves to others. If they did it for personal reasons then no amount of hate mail will rain on their parade. You got to do it for yourself.

But people can and do write 50,000 words in a single day and they do it often.

Consider this:

It takes 20mins to type 1667 words.

20mins x 30days is 600mins.

600mins / 60mins = 10hours to reach 50k.

If you sat down and typed non-stop you could finish your entire NaNo"Novel" in just 10 hours. Less than half a day.

Less than half a day.

You can write 50,000 words in fewer than 12 hours.

"I think it depends on the quality you're going for. Rough-and-ready bunch of words on a page and a decent first-draft would likely have quite different time requirements."

I disagree with this as well, I'm one of the top overachievers every year for 6 years in a row, twice I've had the world's top word count, 8 times I've had the top word count for my state, I think a lot has to do with the author and past experience in writing.

A new author, who is uncertain about their confidence or publishability, sure, they are going to be more careful and write slower, and try to write what they think publishers want.

An experienced published author with a large readership and several years of writing, is going to know ahead of time what fans and publishers expect of him/her and will have no trouble speed typing a first draft that is publishable as is, simply because they have a lot of practice already.

Have you seen either of these women who crippled me and murdered by son?
If so please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer @ 207-774-9322
The Kendra woman claimed to be the local NaNoWriMo ML.

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If you have any information, about the group of 70+ people who ganged up on me and murdered my infant son,

please call FBI Portland Office @ 207-774-9322

ask for Agent Andy Drewer.


November 14, 2013 10PM @ Southern Maine Community College Art Studio Bug-Light Parking Lot: 3 strangers armed with golf clubs, attacked me from behind while I was loading bags into the backseat of my car. They were a blond woman 60s-ish whom the others called "Claire", a natural red-haired woman also 60sish who called herself "Kendra", and a bald man, football player-body-type-build in his 30sish. I was 8 months pregnant. They murdered my baby, ruptured 3 discs in my spine, shattered 3 vertebra, broke my pelvis, hips, and knees. I was paralyzed for 5 months and was 18 months relearning to walk. The nerve damage has left me with limited use of my hands, legs, bladder, and intestines.

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April 10, 2015 1PM at 146 Portland Ave Old Orchard Beach Maine a gang of estimated 74 people, some of them wearing ku klux klan robes, invaded my farm, used a Blow Brothers sewage truck to pump 500+gallons of sewage into my motorhome flooding it to over the kitchen counters deep, ripped out all the cabinets and built in furniture, while 14 men armed with guns, held my family down on the ice and snow, with guns to our heads, and used cinder block bricks and a metal pole with metal wire loops to beat and behead 10 of my 12 foster children (the youngest age 4, the oldest age 16). May 15, 2015 they returned and nailed their heads to my front door. The 3 people of the November 14, 2013 attack were among the group.

September 12, 2015, 9AM a dozen+ of these same people arrived again in my driveway at 146, this time chanting: "Too gay for the family friendly town of Old Orchard Beach. Kill of be killed. Remember Saco Shaw's, Transgender Murder Store, kill the transvestites before they kill us all", one white haired man in a dark green pick up truck was leading the herd, while waving a rifle over his head and shooting at me and my pink motorhome, he shot several holes through my neighbour's shed. The crowd was accusing me of being a male-to-female "transgender terrorist" (the thought I was Muslim because I wear Catholic veiling).

June 26, 2016, the same 2 women of the first 2 attacks, arrived at my Scarborough WalMart workplace, and in a near repeat of the first attack, again while I was leaned over the back seat of my car putting bags in, this time they attacked with a chopping cart, re-injuring my spine, hip, and pelvis that was not yet fully healed from the first attack. The blond "Claire" woman was screaming "That's EelKat, she tried to kill my husband!" while the redhead screamed "I'm Kendra Silvermander it's my turn the shine!" They sped away in a early2000s-vintage gold Volvo SUV station wagon. This attack left me permanently crippled, and bedridden from 2016 until May 2022.

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I do not know who these people are. I never saw them before these attacks, and I've not seen them outside of these attacks. The Old Orchard Beach and Biddeford Police and the FBI are seeking information leading to their identity and arrest.

There are more details, on the other sign, on the other window, on the other side of the car.



NEVER FORGET:


On Christmas Day December 2023, my son would have celebrated his 10th birthday... but...


...On November 14, 2013, my unborn son was murdered by CHRISTIANS who mistook me, a straight 8 month pregnant woman, for a gay man, and attacked me with golf clubs, in The SMCC parking lot at 10PM while I was putting bags in my car.

And THAT is WHY I painted this car... so you would come closer, to see the art, and read about my son's murder, so that you can spread awareness, and prevent what happened to me, from happening to anyone else.

Your hatred defines you, and you are NOT a Christian and are NOT doing Jesus' work if you are actively trying to hurt people.

Is MURDERING PEOPLE REALLY what your God teaches?

I am not only a Christian; I am an ordained minister, and a devote practitioner of Folk Catholicism. Because JESUS TAUGHT all women to cover their heads, I wear a veil, exactly as the Catholic Church teaches us to do. I was wearing a veil the day my son was murdered, the day I was crippled. The attackers, while beating me with a golf club, not only falsely accused me of being a gay man, but they also accused me of being what they termed "a Muslim terrorist", because I wear a veil. These so called Christians knew so little about what their Jesus taught, that they didn't know Jesus commanded woman to wear veils.

I am crippled for the rest of my life, and my son is DEAD, because HATERS were "doing Jesus' work" and getting rid of what they THOUGHT was a gay man in a dress.

Ask yourself this: is murdering people REALLY what Jesus would do? Is hating LGBTQAI+ people REALLY what Jesus would do?

I don't think so. Jesus taught to love EVERYONE. And if YOU hate the LGBTQAI+ community, then you have no clue what it means to be Christian and are giving Christians a bad name. And you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

There are more details on the other sign, on the other side of the car... read it too... because there was more then one attack, the group was more then 70 people, and the FBI is looking for this group of 70+ murderers who murdered my son.

If you have any information about the group of 70+ people who ganged up on me and murdered my infant son,

please call FBI Portland Office @ 207-774-9322

ask for Agent Andy Drewer.


More Info @ eelkat.com

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November 14, 2023 was the 10 year anniversary of the November 14, 2013 murder of my 8 month old infant son, at BugLight Lighthouse Art Studio of Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, Maine. If you have any information about who his killer is, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

NEVER FORGET:

My Son Was Murdered, The Killer Walks Free, Your Child Could Be Next!

The Claire who murdered my son, and the Kendra who helped her, looked and dressed like this:

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If you have any information about the identity of these murderers, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

Claire's hair is EXTRAORDINARILY UNIQUE, and that is why the FB is looking for anyone who had a friend or relative, November 2013, who had THIS hair style: a chin length razor straight page boy with TWO wide bands of colour: light blond, and dark brownish blond, each band 2 to 3 inches wide, forming a remarkably distinctive zebra stripe look, of 10 to 12 alternating bars of colour. It was NOT a wig. She was close enough to me to tell it was her real hair. It appeared the darker bands were her natural hair colour and the light bands were an attempt to bleach it. She had HEAVY wrinkles on her face, and very dry flaky skin of extremely pale white, she looked to be a smoker based on the formation of the wrinkles/texture of skin/and over all bad teeth. She looked to be around 60 to 65 years old, meaning now in 2023 she'd be 70 to 75 years old. The 2nd time she attacked, in July 2016 at Scarborough WalMart she had a very unnatural purple red burgundy tint to her hair, same cut, no longer striped, but not dying in a while as there was a inch or o of VERY GREY natural blond color at the roots; the 3rd time she attacked in 2018, when she was in the hall of my apartment at 27 High Street in Biddeford, her hair was dyed a bright purple red, that looked like a burgundy red hair dye that had reacted badly to chemicals so had a weird unintended purple tint to a dark natural red. She showed up at the 409 Main Street apartment in 2021, hiding behind the dumpster after attempting to break into the laundry room, her hair was a fades orange red dye, same hair cut that time.

HE is my son's murderer, SHE is the one who crippled me

SHE is the one the FBI is looking for.

Never forget, November 14, 2023 was the 10 year anniversary of the November 14, 2013 murder of my 8 month old infant son, at BugLight Lighthouse Art Studio of Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, Maine. If you have any information about who his killer is, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

If you have any information about the identity of these murderers, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

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NEVER FORGET! Never forget the horror inflicted on my family by the murder of my son! Never forget the reasons behind his murder! Education for us females is a costly struggle. And it shouldn't be. We should not have to suffer torture or death as punishment for basic human rights! Join the fight, for we demand not just homes, freedom, and literacy but the recognition of our shared humanity! My baby's death is a call to arms against the injustice we endure.

If you have any information about the identity of these murderers, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

Eye of the GrigoriIf you ever made fun of or had any part in the destruction of my farm, and the illegal selling of half of my land to Colliard, you shall lose your land.

And I'm tired of your questions. I find answering them to be a waste of my time. Please leave me alone.

I'm grappling with the devastating loss of my son, a victim of homicide, and my main concern is identifying those responsible. If you are unable to offer information valuable to the arrest of my son's murderer, please refrain from contacting me. Please be considerate of my need for privacy and desist from any further attempts to contact me. Unmasking the perpetrator behind my son's death is a critical objective. I don't consider your small talk important, and I'd rather not hear it any longer. Your bullying and harassment during our mourning period are not appreciated; we kindly request that you refrain from such actions.

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

tent2.JPGIf you ever made fun of or had any part in my being homeless since 2006 - YES, I AM still homeless in 2023, you shall become homeless.

My son lost his life to murder, and my focus is on ensuring justice prevails. I would appreciate it if you could abstain from contacting me unless you hold information crucial to the arrest of my son's killer. I request that you honor my privacy and discontinue any efforts to engage with me. It is of great importance to determine who is accountable for my son's murder. Your inconsequential gossip is of little importance, and I'd appreciate if you stopped sharing it. We do not welcome your bullying and harassment during our time of mourning; we seek solace and request your absence.

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

eelkats_house_before_after.jpgIf you ever made fun of or had any part in the backhoe driving over my house, you shall lose your house.

A criminal act took my son's life, and I am actively pursuing leads to bring the perpetrator to justice. Contact me only if you can provide pertinent information that would assist in the arrest of my son's murderer. I kindly ask for your understanding in giving me the privacy I require and refraining from contact. Identifying the culprit in my son's death is a matter of paramount importance. I find your trivial conversations unimportant, and I prefer not to hear them anymore. Your bullying and harassment during our mourning period are not appreciated; we kindly request that you refrain from such actions.

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

home again the return of the goldeneagle dodge 330If you ever made fun of or had any part in my car being cut in half, you shall lose your car.

I'm mourning the murder of my son and actively seeking information that will lead to the apprehension of the killer. I prefer not to be contacted unless you have information that could help in the arrest of the person responsible for my son's death. Please understand my need for personal space and avoid any further intrusion into my privacy. The crucial task at hand is to find out who is responsible for my son's demise. Your insignificant rumors carry no weight with me, and I'd rather not hear them again. We find your actions of bullying and harassing my family during this time of mourning to be unwelcome; kindly leave us be.

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

volvo-art-car-eelkat-Dazzling-Razzbury-3-artist-wendy-c-allen-painting3.pngIf you ever made fun of or had any part in my becoming crippled, you shall lose your health.

My son was taken from me through an act of murder, and my efforts are directed toward finding and arresting the perpetrator. Please avoid reaching out to me unless you possess information that could aid in the apprehension of my son's killer. I would appreciate it if you could respect my privacy and refrain from reaching out. It holds immense importance to uncover the person behind my son's murder. Your minor gossip doesn't matter to me, and I don't want to hear it any longer. The bullying and harassment directed at my family during our time of mourning are not desired; we ask for respect and distance.

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

If you ever made fun of or had any part in the murder of my son, your child shall die an equally horrible death. If you haven't got a child to lose, it will be a brother or sister or parents or spouse or whomever you love the most, and that you should know it was this curse which you brought upon yourself that killed them, they will die on exactly the 7 year anniversary of the very first time, you mocked the death of my child.

The loss of my son to murder is a painful reality, and my primary goal is to find those responsible for this tragedy. If you lack valuable information leading to the arrest of my son's murderer, I kindly request that you do not contact me. Kindly grant me the privacy I seek by refraining from any further attempts at contact. Discovering the identity of my son's killer is a task of great significance. I don't place value on your trivial gossip, and I don't want to be bothered with it anymore. Your bullying and harassment during our time of mourning are not appreciated; we ask for peace and solitude.

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

Evil men go out of their way to try to drive a person to suicide.

Are you an evil man?

Are you sure you're not?

How many people have YOUR hate filled words killed?

Next time you go to do a mean thing to a fellow human, stop and really think about the consequences of your actions.

Did you ever notice how every one has a story to tell about me, yet not one of them ever speaks the truth?

What lies has YOUR gossiping tongue spread about me?

Did you know...

October 16, 2006, bomb blew up my house because of YOUR lies.

August 8, 2013, the house which replaced the one the bomb blew up, was driven over by a backhoe.

November 14, 2013, my 8 month old infant son was murdered because of your lies.

November 14, 2013, I was beaten up, paralized for 5 months, spent 18 weeks relearning to walk, I'm now crippled for the rest of my life, because of YOUR lies.

Are you proud of what you have done?

Enjoy your eternity in Hell. You earned it. You've certainly worked hard for it.

~EelKat


If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322

I am bereaved by the murder of my son and am determined to bring the perpetrator to justice. Only contact me if you possess information that is helpful in leading to the arrest of my son's killer. I ask for your consideration in respecting my need for privacy and leaving me alone. It is vital to establish who is responsible for the death of my son. Your petty chatter is of no consequence, and I would appreciate not hearing it again. Your actions of bullying and harassing my family during this time of mourning are not valued; please withdraw.

If you have any information about any of these events, please call FBI Agent Andy Drewer at 207-774-9322