Professional Writer Says Set A Sustainable Pace

I can write ten articles a day.

On average, my articles consist of 500 words, so this means I can write 5,000 words per day.

The average non-fiction book is 50,000 words, or ten days of productivity.

There's only one problem with this math: For me, it's an unsustainable pace.

I don't LIKE writing that much, despite the fact that I can do it. It makes me feel like that vintage ?I Love Lucy? episode where she is trying to keep up with a pastry conveyor belt that is speeding out of control.

In a word, this pace makes a mess, if not of what you're writing, then of you!

If I bang out ten articles, the next day I'll pay a price. I won't want to get near a keyboard.

So, with one down day, at least, all of that intensive output will be halved. Across two days, I'll average five articles.

So, isn't it better to set a more modest pace and to craft one or two items a day, and leave it, happily, at that?

Yes and no.

One of my biggest best-selling books took the least amount of time to write: about three weeks, as I recall. I labored over the manuscript night and day, but it was a labor of love.

In my very soul I felt it was going to be a best-seller and it nearly wrote itself; I was nearly bursting with it.

Not to heed that WRITE IT NOW impulse would have been foolish, and I doubt the text would have had the enthusiasm it contained the way it came out.

But that's an exception, especially for a professional writer.

The pro needs to steadily produce, and it's better to do it at a slower pace, if you can.

That may make the process a little less exciting or harrowing, but it will get consistent results.

Just one thing: Always hit your minimum target; otherwise this concept will boomerang.