Word Census – The Weekend Assignment that Wasn’t

Happy belated New Year!

In case you are wondering what happened to the Weekend Assignment that was supposed to post on Friday, this is it. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day disappeared without a trace of writing at my house and my scheduled blog post seems to have vanished right along with it. Let’s be honest here, how many of us were likely to do any kind of assignment over New Year’s weekend? Put your hand down. Don’t even pretend like you were the one person who was going to do it. Nope. I don’t believe you.

Now it is Monday and here we are. Maybe you made a resolution over the weekend related to your writing. I’m going to ask you to make another one. Yes. You. Don’t look so surprised. It’s not like it’s a pop quiz or anything. Although, it does start with a question.

How many words do you write in a year?

Out of curiosity last year, and because I have a group of fellow writers who keep track of interesting details like that, I started keeping track. I didn’t start keeping accurate records until July, so I still don’t know how many words I wrote for the entire year, but I can tell you that between July and December my cumulative total was 105,132.

So, here is my challenge for you. Resolve to find out how much you are writing this year. It’s that simple. I keep my numbers and projects in a big spreadsheet, but your system can be anything that works for you. A notebook, post-its — whatever.

Decide what counts in your word census. For example, I count the words I write in my research notes and queries right along with the words I write in stories, articles and blog posts. Whatever words you think belong, count them so you can see how much writing you are actually doing.

Start keeping track and do it today. That’s it. That’s the assignment.

Happy Writing!