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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

One hundred words a day

Typewriter

I’ve always thought that writing a family history book seemed a daunting task - probably because it is a daunting task. I’ve tried to make a start a few times in the past but always floundered, overwhelmed by the scope of the project.

The trouble with that is, I would really like to write a more substantial family history document that I can share!

It occurred to me that although writing a whole book, even a short one, sounds like hard work… writing 100 words doesn’t sound so bad. One hundred words is hardly anything. You could do it every day without breaking a sweat!

So, that’s what I’m doing. I’m writing (at least) 100 words each day. Sometimes I will write more than that, which is great, but all that I have promised myself is the manageable target of 100 words a day.

Tonight I have written 277 words taking my total to 1,100 words so I am giving myself a pat on the back for overachieving on my 100 word goal!

3 comments:

  1. How many days/words are you aiming for?
    Will it get harder as you go slo g or will it become a habit? I wonder.

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    1. I'm aiming for 10,000 words and then will reassess. I hope it will become a habit not a slog! I'm not trying for 100 beautiful and eloquent words each day, just 100 words that add to the story. My hope is to end up with a first draft which will then need more work and editing - but I'll think about that part later!

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  2. A wise approach Shelley. It is doable, and not fussing about the first draft is the way to go. I didn't even stop to find the correct dates...just got the story down and filled in the xxx I'd used for the gaps. My tip also is not to delete sentences and trash them... You may want them elsewhere...unless they're rubbish. I kept a file called discards until I was satisfied they were no use.

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