Writing Word Counts
My current individual "word" stats are listed below. Happy counting!
NOVEMBER 2024
11/15/24: 49,464 (HS; final edit)
11/11/24: 1,262 (LOI)
11/09/24: 1,961 (LOI)
11/06/24: 2,936 (LOI)
11/03/24: 2,017 (LOI)
CURRENTLY WORKING ON:
*KEY: "HS" = Hearts in Sorrow by Deborah O'Toole writing as Deidre Dalton (in editing process), and "LOI" = Limb of Iniquity by Deborah O'Toole writing as Deidre Dalton.
Other books in the works: Celtic Fragments (sequel to Celtic Remnants), and Spirit of the Ossuary (sequel to The Crypt Artist).
About Writing Word Counts
If I wasn't an author, I'd probably be a statistician. It's just in my nature to organize and track data of all kinds, especially information pertinent to my writing and all else related. I'm a Virgo, which might explain the tendency.
Since May 2010, I've kept track of my writing word counts. The process was inspired by the Inkygirl Wordcount Challenge. I try not to put pressure on myself in order to keep the creative juices flowing, and always forgive myself if I fall short of the challenge.
Someone once asked me if it was time-consuming to track daily word counts, inferring it was an unnecessary task. However, the process takes mere seconds when using Microsoft Word. I can track entire documents, words as I type them or specific selections (such as paragraphs and sentences) with the click of a mouse.
For instance, the above paragraph contains fifty-three words. In Microsoft Word, simply select the text to be counted and glance at the status bar at the bottom of the page. If it's a large document but you only want to count specific text, the status bar will read "53/650" (text selected as opposed to the word count of the entire document). It's quick, easy and painless. Therefore, not time-consuming in the least.
Writers who plan to submit their work to traditional publishers typically have to provide a manuscript word count anyway, so keeping track from the get-go is a good idea.