Thursday, January 8, 2009

Word Count Is A Tricky Thing

Not only did I start late, but then I got sick. Bleah.

But that's not the biggest conundrum. My biggest conundrum right now is: from where do I start my word count? I'm starting in the middle of a book, so I figured pick a starting word count and build from there.

I did not count on the delete key figuring so prominently in my early efforts.

I'd originally posted a starting count of 26,461. Then I started writing, deleted 1,457 words and finished my day up only 413 words from the starting word count, but actually wrote 1,870 new words that day.

Well, they were all new words, so I think I'm going with that.

'cause I can, that's why. Marianne said the count was NEW words. NEW words.

Which would make my progress so far look like this:


Onward and upward, right?

10 comments:

smellshorsey said...

All new words count, in my opinion. And all new words are good words. (At least until you read them later.)

Keep at it! Whatever you do is progress.

Dru said...

Good showing on your word count.

Ceri Hebert said...

I must agree. It's new words.

And that's really good progress!

Jen said...

Absolutely - new words totally count. I'm glad you're feeling better.

I may delete huge swathes of stuff when I'm done this month, but for now, I'm trying not to go back and hit that delete button until I've gotten it all down on paper - but that's just my experiment for the month.

Amy said...

You guys are so good to me!

Now, if I could just delete extra pounds as easily as I delete extra words....

Ceri Hebert said...

Amy, if you figure out how to do that you'd make a million. But could you share the secret with me?

Keri Mikulski said...

Great stuff. Definitely - every new word counts.

Marianne Arkins said...

Yes they count. Because I said so... lol... you made me feel awfully powerful. Ha. Now everyone should run in terror!

Anonymous said...

They had to be written before they could be deleted -- so they count.

edeevee said...

Word count is indeed a tricky thing. It's why I've avoided using the counting widget. I say, whatever works for you. And, if you are able to write 1870 words in a day -- whether you kept all of them or not -- something definitely seems to be working!