I read a book once.

I know you are very surprised at that. But this book talked about learning to write more in a day. While I don’t write as much (not even close!) as this author does, I was able to up my word count on a regular basis. It’s nothing earth shattering or anything like that, but I thought I’d share it in case some of you wanted to try it.

First you need a notebook.

Finally you can use that new notebook that you picked up that was just too cute or pretty to leave in the store. 🙂 I am just using up old partly used notebooks from a cousin’s school years. I know, boring.

Second, you need pen or pencil.

You can use whatever color you want. I’m boring. I just use black most of the time.

Third, you need a scrap of paper.

I usually use a full sheet of paper that has one side written or printed on and fold it in half.

Now you are ready to get started.

---

When you are about to start writing, open your notebook and on the side write the date, then the time you are starting to write. On the scrap of paper write down your current word count.

Write.

When you are done writing for the time being, write down your end time, check with your current word count and the number you wrote down on the scrap of paper and find out how many words you wrote. (Calculator may be helpful here.) Write your total in the notebook after your time. If you write more than once during the day, record the next time too with your word count. Make sure you total your word count at the end of the day.

It will look something like this:
5-17-22 4:15 – 5:27 = 974 ********* 7:05 – 8:10 = 1,032 = {2,006}

Doing this each time I wrote helped me find out when in the day I wrote the best. My optimal time slot is from around 4 to 8 PM. No, I don’t write continually during that time, but I might write for an hour and then take a thirty minute break before writing again. At the end of the day I will write my day’s total in my mini calendar.

I originally started doing this to find out when I wrote best, but I loved being able to see how much I wrote in my different writing times and being able to easily keep track of how many words I’ve written in a day. So I’ve kept it going. I don’t end up keeping the pages in the notebooks, but I do keep my day’s totals.

So there you have it.

Do you have a way to keep track of your daily word count? Do you know when in the day you write best? Do you have any tips on keeping track of your daily word count?