10K 1Day (how did I do that again?)

Hello folks! Kell here. At the beginning of July, I wrote 10,000 words in one day (10k 1Day). I wanted to do this several times this month, but so far I’ve only accomplished it once.

Still, that’s good as I have never written 10k in a 1 day except during NaNoWriMo (the main event not Camp). Camp actually tends to be a little slower for me. So this was a big accomplishment for me!

And I want to tell you how I did it, so let’s get right into it.

10K 1Day

The Set Up

Day -1

Tomorrow, July 1st 2019, I am going to attempt to write 10,000 words a day for a straight 7 days. This will complete my novel, Love Once Lost.

I wrote these words in an almost-brand-new notebook. It felt a little crazy as I wrote it, but I was determined. I thought I could do it.

I have previously written that many words, but not in a row. So … let’s see how I do! I haven’t told anyone, and I won’t. Going to try to sleep tonight, get up early, and get started.

Signing out, 8:32, Kelly Garrett

And that was it.

Disclaimer: I didn’t get 10k 1Day for 7 Days

Of course I didn’t! That’s ridiculous.

Now, there were some other contributing factors other than “you can’t write that much that many days in a row.” I think I could, given the right circumstances.

However, that week I was starting a new job (a second job), my home has been super crazy and not a super safe place to be, I didn’t have my laptop (it was at Dell for repairs), I was writing on my Kindle (with a keyboard), and overall, I wasn’t super enthusiastic for this story after a certain point.

All that contributed.

But I did get 10k 1Day!

Day 1

5:21 — up! Less tired than one would think. Not even getting coffee for now. Kindle set up, playlist [link] set up (on my phone), and all ready to begin Love Once Lost!

And so, I wrote. I did a lot of word sprints with friends (my Chatter Box Girls cabin for the win) and didn’t stop for anything but to grab coffee later on and stretch once or twice.

7:40 — 3,000 words written! Only 7,000 to go. I also got dressed and made up and all. I’m sprinting with friends until 8:45-ish, depending.

So that’s right, about 3,000 words in two hours! I think the early morning + the excitement of starting a new story contributed.

9:40 — just shy of 4,000 words written, a videocall, and all ready for work @ 10 AM! Here we go …

And I was off to my day job.

Home Again, Home Again

1:57 — got off work just after 12 (12:20), got DQ (Dairy Queen), came home around 1:40, took break, and here we are at 2 PM!

I am still just shy of 4,000, but I have to make at least 5k by 3. 3 is my next and last (for the day) videocall. After 3, I’ll be writing the final 4k (God-willing). We’ll see how it goes!

So yes, having a slow day at work definitely helped. I was just there for a little over two hours before they sent me home.

When I got home, there was some family here (my other sister and her kiddos), but I just ignored them. 😝 Look, guys, if you get a good enough relationship with your nieces and nephew, you can tell them to buzz off any time, and they’ll still love you.

(That’s horrible advice; ignore it.)

2:42 — Just hit 5,036 words. Drinking water right now — the green glass w/ ice.

(I don’t know why I was writing down so much random stuff. I’m not even sharing it all!)

Today I have had a cup of coffee, a $5 lunch minus the sundae, and … no, that’s it. Whoops.

(So not eating makes you write harder? I don’t know.)

I’m kinda tired and took out my contacts and replaced them with glasses. It’s :50, and I’m prepping for my call. I’ll probably get ready to go up now.

3:38 — coffee, the rest of my water glass, and Claire playing “Despicable Me 2” in the background. Time for 1,000 more words! Before 4:30. 3:42 now. GOING!

So I wrote …

4:42 — Finally made it to 6,051 words. Only 4k to go. I’m taking a very brief break. Need to finish up this scene.

Minute Sprints?

5:09 — Words have slowed to a stop, and I’m not sure how to power through. Starting to time myself for a minute to see if that gives me a quick boost.

So I set the timer on my phone for a minute. And I wrote.

1st – 69

2nd – 93

3rd – 85

4th – 65

5th – 74

6th – 64

7th – 93

8th – 77

9th – 79

10th – 63

And that gets me to 7,020 at 5:28!

Worked for me, anyways.

Finished coffee. Kindle down to 20% so forced break. Kindle shut down. Phone at 40% but it’ll have to wait! Going to clean up my area somewhat!

I do all my writing on the couch with my device against the arm, and the table next to it got kinda cluttered.

Just 3,000 to go! At my current rate that could be 2-3 hours of work.

Whoops?

6:55 — When I turned on my Kindle, low and behold, all my apps have decided to uninstall, of course log me out, and generally cause mayhem!

Before trying to log in I had dinner (hot dog). Now have a glass of water. Apps mostly in place though my kindle far from charged. Still at 33%! Why, Kindle! Whyyyy!!!

The one good thing is fresh organization and reevaluation of apps, but I didn’t really need that to be honest.

So it took a bit to reorganize that.

7:05 — Apps updated but Kindle low enough on batteries to warrant a shut down. Might try writing on my phone.

(At this point I didn’t think to hook up my Kindle with an extension cord – that came later in the month.)

7:13 — I’m going to break to read. Writing on phone is just a waste of time!

So yeah, not a day without tragedies.

The Final Push

8:40 — Finally enough charge to write!

9:20 — But I didn’t. Doing some 5-minute sprints.

9:32 — 7.2k. And grabbing a bath real quick!

9:40 — Ready for bed — I mean, for writing! 7.2 to 10.0 … I hope!

10:09 — 8,431 words? So close yet so far!

10:24 — 9,130! Sooooo close!

10:44 — DONE! 10,075 words written today! And time for bed.

So yeah! That worked! I was so glad.

Total Writing Time

As best I can tell, I wrote 5:20-7:20 (2 hours), 2:00-2:40 (40 minutes), 3:45-4:45 (1 hour), 5:00-5:30 (30 minutes), and 8:40-10:40 (2 hours).

So about 6 hours and 10 minutes if I’m doing my math right! 10k in 370 minutes. (Basically, write 30 words a minute for 6 hours, and you’re more than golden.)

Takeaway

Writing 10,000 words in a day is totally possible. I’m not sure yet if it’s sustainable, but with practice and the ability to write a lot in periodic short periods of time, you can do it.

The main thing is having a huge amount of time that you can literally just devote to writing. If you have that time, and you don’t let yourself do anything else, you’re halfway there.

So yes, I’m not at 65,000 words for the month with a few more days to go! I’ll let you know later how far I get. I still have quite a number of scenes left in Love Once Lost, so we’ll see if I finish it!

TTFN!

~Kellyn Roth~

p.s.

How much have you ever read in one day? Do you ever challenge yourself to write more? What are your thoughts on this kind of challenge?

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