YESTERDAY 16 WRITERS met on the Fear of Writing blog for the purpose of challenging ourselves to try to write 10,000 words in a day.
The numbers and creative breakthroughs generated by this day were phenomenal.
For instance, one writer who had to be at her job all day still managed to rack up 6,723 words. Another writer broke the sound barrier (or something on that level!) by producing an astonishing 15, 410.
But beyond word count were riches that cannot be reduced to statistics. ‘Bean’ had always wanted to write a book about her Boston Terrier, but he passed away before she could do it. Yesterday she broke the 10K barrier writing about her beloved Mikey Dog.
Freelance writer Patti Stafford earns her daily bread from non-fiction writing—so she was thrilled at the opportunity to reconnect with fiction writing. And Patti was so moved by the depth of camaraderie, she’s decided to start a forum where writers can connect in between 10K Days.
Saundra_M ran around town helping her daughter with various home-buying and moving crises (it’s an interstate move and son-in-law was away on a biz trip)—and then had to emergency-water 50 plants that had wilted in the Texas heat. But she still managed to write 3,050 words and found a new level of creative freedom while working on her novel.
Below is a list (in alphabetical order by last name) of writers who’ve reported their final word count. We all agreed that the spirit of the day was the ultimate reward—so everyone was a winner, no matter how many words they wrote!
Al from Oz – 10,250
Bean – 10,174
Down the Rabbit Hole – 8,030
Maria – 3,000
Barb D. – 3,091
Lois Eighmy – 15,410
Jennifer “Jimmy” Hanson – 6,723
Mindy Lawrence – 5,000
Saundra_M – 3,050
Beth Morrow – 10,642
Susan Smith – 4,878
Patti Stafford – 3,500
Milli Thornton – 6,319
J.R. Turner – 10,179
TOTAL WORD COUNT FOR THE DAY:
100,246
The total word count is probably higher than this—not everyone who participated posted their check-ins.
I believe the ultimate feeling to take away from a 10K Day is this: how much it proves that we’re capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF US!
Milli Thornton
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Milli Thornton is the author of Fear of Writing: for writers & closet writers. She is owner of the Fear of Writing Online Course, where her mission is to put the fun back into writing. Milli blogs at Screenwriting in the Boonies and Milliver’s Travels and coaches writers individually at Writer’s Muse.
Rock on! Congrats to everyone again!! I'll be up and about for the next one, guarranteed! ^_~
Sorry, in case no one knows, this is Jimmy! ^__^
Awesome! 😀 We wrote over 100,000 words yesterday! We challenged ourselves and we worked hard and succeeded…no matter how many words we wrote. Congrats, again, to everyone who participated. You Rock! *dance*
Lois
Yay! I broke the sound barrier! 😀
Lois
At the risk of plagiarising our Milli: As well. I extend my most sincere congrats to everyone who has broken the 10K barrier! and especially those who took the plunge whether or not you reached 10k – every word is a winner.
As we say in Oz: "Bewdy. Youse mob are fair dinkum writers (add 'eh!' if you're a Queenslander …or Canayjun)
See y'all next month.
Well done to everyone and thank you so much Milli for organising such a fab day! I'd love to do this more often (did someone say something about once a month? :)). One thing is certain after Thursday's efforts; I have no excuse not to knock out a more modest daily word count in future!
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What an impressive record for the 10K event. Congratulations to all. Milli, I am sure that in addition to your own accomplishment during the 10k event, that you wrote again that many words encouraging motivating the other participants. The camaraderie for that day had to be exceptional.