How Much Can I Write Between 1 November And 31 December?

How much you can write between now and the end of the year depends entirely on whether you write every day, are single, an introvert, have your groceries delivered and have no plans for Christmas Day or any evening or weekend before December 31. Here are 4 Tips For Writing Over The Festive Season.

How Much Can I Write Between 1 November And 31 December?

If that describes you, and you don’t have a day job, the sky is the limit! If you wrote five thousand words a day you could have 305 000 words under your belt. However, the chances of that happening are slim.

Let’s be realistic. 5000 words a day, while doable, is a LOT of words. Even if you are a strict, dedicated plotter with every chapter and every scene mapped out, we all know that plot, characters, and even knowing how to spell ‘honey’ can run away from the writer. Yes, I completely forgot how to spell honey the other day. Eventually, I had to google ‘stuff bees make’. I was tempted to go with treacle but that, in the context of my story, was nonsense.

On average, writers are people who have day jobs, families, friends, work events, shopping, cooking, and present wrapping which they need to tackle. And if you think plots and characters have joined forces to disrupt the writers calm by taking an all expenses paid jaunt to visit the nether regions of forgetfulness, just wait until you’re looking for the Sellotape for the millionth time while surrounded by glitzy and crinkly paper.

Then there’s the humans you live among who will need attention. You may even have planned an adventure with them of the kind that involves long road trips.

So, when do you write?

4 Tips For Writing Over The Festive Season

1. Get Up Before The Lark – or the hadeda, depending on where you live. This is easy for some people. The clear light of early mornings, the birds celebrating the sun rise, or cursing in terrifying screeches – the aforementioned hadeda – it can be a great time to write. Your brain is fresh, uncluttered. And boosted with a cup of tea or coffee you could bang out a thousand or so words.
2. Keep Your Tablet Within Reach – if you have a tablet that’s synced to your laptop or desktop. Of course, if you don’t have a tablet, keep a notebook handy. The value of a tablet is it doesn’t take up much space and you can write pretty much anywhere. The chances of getting 500 words down in one go is a possibility. 
3. Send Everyone To The Zoo. Make time for yourself, if you can. And try not to be distracted by the fact that you need to stir the Christmas Pudding. Write as if your life depended on it. 
4. Stay Up Later Than Everyone Else. This can be hard over Christmas. Especially when there’s re-runs of The Muppet Christmas Carol to watch, and the kids don’t have school in the morning, and someone, probably you, made enough orange-flavoured Millionaires Shortbread to feed a battalion which said kids are determined to devour in one go. But if you can manage it, night sessions could be a great time to write. Unlike early morning writing sessions which are limited by the impending rise of the family, or the cat – I have a very demanding cat – you will have a goodly number of hours before you in which to craft your masterpiece. 

Bearing All That In Mind

If you can write 800 words in the morning, 500 words during the day, and 1200 at night, you will have 2500 words done in one day. Don’t count on writing every day. Life happens. And it happens in vast amounts over November and December. You may write 2500 words in a week, or 20 000 in two months.

A Word Of Advice

It’s Christmas. Relax. Take time away from your book. Let it percolate in the back of your mind – but keep a notebook handy for any inspiration that hits while you’re enjoying the third helping of turkey and roast potatoes. Family, friends, experiences, are more important. Make memories. Make your own life stories. We’ll write again in 2025. And it’ll be great!

The Last Word

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by Elaine Dodge. Elaine is the author of The Harcourts of Canada series and The Device Hunter. Elaine trained as a graphic designer, then worked in design, advertising, and broadcast television. She now creates content, mostly in written form, for clients across the globe, but would much rather be drafting her books and short stories.

More Posts From Elaine

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2. Sweating The Small Stuff – Focusing On Details To Make Your Character More Real And Rounded
3. Books That Predicted The Future
4. Personality Disorders You Can Inflict On Your Characters – Narcissistic Personality Disorder
5. Personality Disorders You Can Inflict On Your Characters – OCD Personality Disorder
6. Who Is Mary Sue & Why Don’t Readers Like Her?
7. Personality Disorders You Can Inflict On Your Characters – Paranoid Personality Disorder
8. The Best Group Of Fictional Characters In The ‘Verse
9. Happy Ever After Is A Choice Not A Given
10. The Last Month Left To Write
11. How To Use Creatures To Create Characters
12. Viewpoint In Romance

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