Fast Fiction

If you know me, you know that I’ve been obsessively documenting things for years. The whole NaNoWriMo thing fits very well with that. And for those of you just joining the NaNoWriMo program, you’ll find out that I’ve been conducting an experiment for the past two years.

I have this theory that for each of us exist the perfect writing conditions. And if I keep track of my writing, I might actually stumble across the formula by trial and error. To that end, I’ve been tracking my word count while writing in 15 minute increments. In the bigger scheme of things, I’ve been keeping track of my wordcount on a daily level and here’s how I’ve done over the past four years for each day of November:
...........2001…......2002…......2003…......2004
1…......3,032….....1,423….......850….........0
2…......3,034….....3,221….....3,276….........0
3…......3,034….....6,159….....3,276….........0
4…......3,034….....6,159….....3,276….........0
5…......3,034….....7,988….....4,009….........0
6…......4,853….....7,988….....4,009….........0
7…......7,699….....7,988….....4,009…....10,076
8…......7,699…....10,271….....7,031…....10,076
9…......7,699…....11,017…....11,536…....10,076
10….....9,371…....12,604…....11,536…....10,076
11….....9,371…....16,340…....11,536…....11,862
12….....9,371…....16,340…....14,069…....11,862
13….....9,371…....16,340…....14,069…....11,862
14….....9,371…....16,705…....14,069…....16,855
15…....12,096…....20,071…....23,954…....16,855
16…....14,824…....23,726…....27,099…....16,855
17…....16,754…....25,280…....27,099…....16,855
18…....16,754…....30,672…....27,099…....16,855
19…....21,030…....30,672…....28,857…....16,855
20…....25,076…....33,239…....31,733…....26,115
21…....25,076…....33,239…....31,733…....31,161
22…....25,076…....34,891…....31,733…....31,161
23…....25,076…....34,891…....31,733…....31,161
24…....35,025…....35,482…....34,512…....35,175
25…....40,388…....35,482…....34,512…....35,175
26…....42,589…....35,482…....34,512…....35,175
27…....42,589…....35,482…....34,512…....42,108
28…....48,512…....37,277…....38,247…....49,006
29…....50,046…....47,286…....47,330…....50,236
30…....51,426…....56,789…....50,455…....50,236
If nothing else, this chart shows that I never start well, I’m always behind in the middle and I always finish. Beyond that, the only thing that I’ve found has made me write is the desperate pursuit of documenting my obsessive wordcount obsession.