There's a couple things that stand out to me about this. One, how did I manage to not only miss, but pass that mile marker by over 3,000 words before noticing? And two, why is that number so important?
I'll chalk up the first to a very stop-and-go writing schedule, being forever busy (quite often on purpose), and the current exploration of both a point of view and genre quite alien to me - but the second? Hmph - your guess is as good as mine.
When I set out on my first novel, I had a number as my goal.
76,944.
For some reason (yes, there is a reason - a quite nerdy one at that), I picked this number and told myself that if I could hit this word count I could consider myself legit - not just a writer, but a writer who could write a novel.
Surprisingly, it really was. As soon as I hit that target, it suddenly felt like the pressure was off. I could turn and twist and refine the story any which way I pleased because half the battle was already fought. (I realize now as the completed manuscript sits at just over 109,000 words that I had no reason to worry about hitting my target.)
Really, in a lot of writing there is a goal word count.
On my college newspaper, a news brief was supposed to be below 250 words, while an article should be between 400 and 800. For work, a well optimized web page has at least 300 words. Flash fiction should be less than 1,000 words. With NaNoWriMo, the bulls-eye sits at 50,000 words (in a month no less!!!).
So again I ask myself, why is the number so important - when I'm writing for me, when I'm writing to write.
Well... why the hell not?
It propels me forward and gives me something to aim for, gives me a point at which I can relax, stop worrying (because of course I'll worry about something so why not let it be something arbitrary), and just write. And isn't that the goal?
Eh, enough counting - it's time to write.
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