Why 1,667 Words a Day is the Wrong Strategy for NaNo

If you've done NaNoWriMo even once, you know the standard daily word count is 1,667 words per day, which is roughly three pages. Most people I know stick with this strategy every year but aim for more words each day to get ahead. But this daily word count doesn't work for me. I'm a sprint from the gate but run out of steam halfway through kind of person. In my first few NaNo's, I would meet the 1,667 word count for the first two weeks or so, but then I'd run out of steam. By day 20, I almost always gave up because I was so far behind it seemed impossible to catch up. So this past year I decided to just go ham from the start, write as much as I possibly could each day and see how far ahead I could get. I started the first week averaging 5,000 words a day. This allowed me to hit 50,000 words with 10 days to spare. Then I only needed to hit 200-300 words per day at the end. If you're like me and tend to run out of steam towards the end of the month and find it terribly hard to finish - or have never finished NaNo - here's my tried-and-true strategy to win NaNo:

This post has links to resources I have tried and found useful. None of them are affiliated with this blog and I do not gain monetarily from the links provided.

If you run out of steam in the middle or end, then increasing your word count at the start and slowly decreasing that number as the month progresses might work for you. And if we're really twinning, you might be bad at math like me. Trying to figure out how to divide up 50,000 words over 30 days while starting with more at the start and less at the end would make my poor single-brain cell implode. Instead, I use a word count tracking website, such as Pacemaker, to create a customizable plan and keep track of each day's progress.

I love Pacemaker because it has so many amazing tools for free. There is a paid version that gives you the ability to track more than one project at a time, but if you're only using it for NaNo, there's really no reason to pay (unless you're feeling extra generous). Pacemaker allows you to create a plan that can start off strong and taper off, put the largest effort in the middle, start off small and work up to larger amounts, and so much more. It'll even update the following day's plans as you increase your word count. So if you do more than your daily goal, the whole plan will update itself to accommodate. And if you fall behind, Pacemaker will divide up your extra words and spread them out over the remaining days.

No more banging your head on your keyboard in frustration as you have to manually figure out the best way to catch up to your word count when you take a day to binge-watch Netflix instead of writing. (Don't feel bad, we all have our guilty pleasures.) And, of course, this works for people who start out slow and need to build up steam or those who need really heavy spurts in the middle. It also allows you to block off specific dates, like holidays, when you know you won't be writing. (I mean, who wants to spend hours writing on Thanksgiving when they can be consuming copious amounts of food instead?)

There are other word count tracking softwares out there like the NaNoWriMo website itself, 4thewords, campfire, and many more. Some of these require payment while some are free or offer a free, basic version. You can even find and print out NaNo word count trackers online or make your own. There are a million options out there to try. The best part of NaNo, in my humble opinion, is the opportunity to try something entirely new and different than usual to see if it will work. You don't have to stick with the "traditional" way of doing things just because more people do it. Don't be afraid to experiment during NaNo, you never know what will be the key that gets you to the finish line.

Good luck fellow writer,

-G.E. McKnight