Authorlife: Year-End Word Count Report

The fiscal year is over. As accountants all over the world buckle down to analyze year end financials, I've decided to go over my year end word count. The results tell an interesting tale. Creativity can not be quantified, but productivity can, and today, it is.

My year is 13 months long. Why? Because I'm a fiction/fantasy author and I decree it (and it's convenient for the purposes of this article...).

So my year goes from the beginning of June 2012 to the end of June 2013.

Stats for Jennifer's Fiscal Writing Year

The Guardian Herd, Bk. One (first draft)                     53,464

Rise of Nightwing--Guardian Herd prequel                                    53,489

The Guardian Herd, Bk. two (first draft)                                      54,719

YA Sci-Fi Adventure  (first draft)                                                  69,235  

Blog posts: 57 posts x 500 words average                               28,500

Rewrites and Revisions                                                     Who knows?      

Total Year-End Word Count                                       259,407

This accounting says a lot, and a little. It represents four complete novels and a thriving blog, but it also (technically) indicates I only write 967 words per work day. What is a work day?

Here's the break down.

395 total days in a 13 month year

-112 (weekends)

-10 (two weeks personal time)

-5   (national holidays)

=268 work days

259,407 words divided by 268 days=967 words per work day

Since it takes me 1-3 hours to write 1000 words, these numbers depict a lazy authorlife. I enjoy weekends and holidays off, two-week long vacations, and a one hour work day. Ha!

Sure I can write 1000 words in an hour or two, but it's rarely that simple. Sometimes I'm re-reading previous chapters, tracking down the color of a stallion's feathers, or cleaning up a plot disaster before I move on to the next chapter. And 1000 words written in an hour will be in need of a good edit at some point. I write fast, edit slower.

The reality of the above numbers is this: I work 3 to 4 hours per day as my bare minimum, often logging in 6 to 8. I've been known to write on holidays, weekends, and late at night, but I prefer early mornings. I text myself sentences when I'm socializing with real people, and I blow up my hard drives.

The word count also fails to reveal the physical toll the writing has taken on my body. I've noticed a significant decline in my far-sighted vision, my doctor is testing me for pre-diabetes, and I'm dealing with uncomfortable sciatic numbness. This isn't me!! I am a skinny, fit person who avoids sugar--but I think the lack of regular exercise has caught up to me internally, if not externally.

A good accountant analyzes the numbers and then makes informed decisions about the following year. This is what I've come up with:

I will set regular writing hours.

I will exercise 4 days a week.

I will go to the yoga class at my gym.

I will see an eye doctor.

Will I write less?

No.

The words I count are not beans, they are stories, characters, and worlds. They can't exist without me. This is what the math doesn't show. The word count is not about writing, it's about creating, and I think, next to loving others, creation is a human being's greatest joy.

Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, photo by Karen Perez

My doctor says I don't fit the profile of an early type 2 diabetic. This picture is to prove that health isn't about your weight--it's about your lifestyle. It's being sedentary that hurt me, I know it! I believe adding exercise will quickly reverse things, but the phone call from my doctor acted as a wake up call. Writing is important, but my health is more important--especially to my husband and three kids.

I feel life will only get busier once my books are released, and this is a driving factor for my word count as well, but no matter what, I will be striving for better balance. Balance is key.