Maintaining that word count

One of the best ways to track how much work you've done in a day, or how much work you need to do, is have a word count.
Some of you may not be aware what a word count is, and that's fine. We all have to start somewhere, right?
A word count is the amount of words that you have written either that day, or the total words that you have written on a project. It is a great way to track the amount of work you are doing.
For example, when I am working on a novel I usually like to get in around two thousand words to five thousand words, depeding on if I am ahead or behind schedule. Also when I have written my word count for the day, I can easily sit back and relax, knowing that I have met my goal for the day.
So what is a good word count for you?
That all depends on what you are trying to accomplish and knowing a little about how you write. If are working on a novel it would be a good idea to start with how many words you want to have by the end of the book. For me, I like to get about a hundred thousand or so words. Usually more in the first draft, but that's for a different time.
Once you know how many words total that you want then divide that by the amount of days you want to work on this project. Don't forget to include days off or days that you know you just can't possibly get any writing done due to some outside situation. Then you will have your word count that you know you need to keep in order to accomplish your project.
Here are a few things that I've picked up along the way, usually the hard way. Don't have too large a word count. I tried this thinking that I would work my but off on one of my novels and ended up getting burnt out and frustrated. So try to keep a reasonable level for you and what you can realistically do. When I was starting out I wrote about a thousand to fifteen-hundred words at one sitting. This was a good number because it got me used to sitting for a length of time, focused on one thing. It also was enough that I was accomplishing a good pile of work by the end of the week, without getting burnt out.
The other point is not to make your word count so low that you are not really getting enough writing accomplished. I did this too and would write for a half hour, meet my word count, and then sluff off the rest of the day. By the end of the week I had little to show for it.
So, to wrap up this little sermon, try out what works best for you, but just try it.
One final word of caution. Don't write just for the sake of meeting your word count for the day, it can affect your writing if you are just putting down words. Be sure to be selective of your words, this is still a wonderful craft and not just a word marathon.
Let me know what you think of this blog and if you have questions or comments, leave them here. I will do my best to write back.