I can see why they're giving dirty looks. It's jealousy, my guy. You're essentially telling them "ye i can write a mil & more per year". What kind of prose are you using that even ALLOWS YOU to hit productivity levels this high? Are you writing in your fucken sleep? This isn't a callout this is genuine fascination I don't even know this is possible until I saw your post and decided to investigate.
for real, how'd you do it
There are several parts to that:
1. I've been at this for some time.
I started writing daily in early 2012. I didn't have a specific word goal I tried to hit just
anything having been written was alright even if it was just a paragraph or two. That got me in the habit and also helped with typing faster. Then, in November 2013 I took part in the NaNo for the first time just to see if I could do it. I could and saw that I made a shitton more progress on my projects so I put that as the new goal I wanted to hit each month and continued. Over the years, I adjusted it up to 75k first and then to 100k in 2018 which is where I am now.
I won't go higher than that even though I could theoretically hit 200k a month. I'd just likely get burnout from that, lol. That's just something I'd do in a month where I don't have to do anything else and really want to make some additional progress to prepare for something big.
2. I don't type anymore.
I could originally type about 1-1.5k words an hour (comfortably) before but I injured my hands (by writing too much, ironically). So to not give myself a permanent disability, I switched to a speech-to-text program so now I am basically just talking at my effing laptop and the program writes for me. Since I can talk a mile-an-hour, I can write
much more. I also need to edit more but I think I still win some time at least. That's the only thing I actually still need my hands for btw so it's a great help.
3. My whole life revolves around writing.
Like, friends? 90% writers I'll talk about writer-ly things with. Hobbies? Often chosen based on writing goals. Like, if I wanna play a new game, I might browse steam based on the kind of setting I want to put a novel in, go for awesome graphics to use places in-game as inspiration for how to build my worlds or describe things, or I might look for specific types of games or game mechanics that I wanna write a story about. Same with books. I'm building a small library with things that can be used as background knowledge for stories and give myself half an hour a day to just read those. It's a good way to take my mind off actual writing but still doing something
for writing that I can use down the road.
Heck, even my other job can be used as research material. In fact, it's providing me with so much (useless) super random information that I have more story ideas queued than I could possibly ever write no matter the word count I have.
Because of things like this, I don't need to sit down and do as much research in the middle of actual writing. I still have those times but they're fewer. If I have a story planned where I know I have some knowledge gaps on a specific part, I try to do as much of the research as I can
beforehand. Nothing gets me out of writing faster than having to take breaks in-between. Like, I'm writing a cooking novel over on Patreon right now but I can't cook (well) so I had to do a lot before to make up for my shortcomings. I also try to make sure to try the recipes before they appear in the story so I know what to take note of. It doesn't always work but it does help a lot when it does since it saves time when I actually need it. So, basically, good planning beforehand and using whatever I do to be ready when the time comes.
4. I actually sit down and do it.
Procrastination is the word count killer #1. And I'll be honest: I procrastinate like everyone else. But I do actually sit down every day to write. And I bought a fucking app where I measure the time I spend on shit that does some statistics wizardry for me. So I know exactly how many hours I actually spent on what and can cut down on procrastination if it gets too much and put in some additional hours.
Speaking of statistics: I also have a spreadsheet where I note down my word count of the day for each day which calculates the number of words written in a month, how far off it is from the word count goal I should have by that time, and also how much I need to write daily going forward to hit the goal by the end of the month. So pretty much the same as what the NaNo website does. That's one of the big takeaways I had from my participation: I need that kind of thing at the side to keep an overview on the situation.
My spreadsheet also does yearly statistics of how much more I need to do to get to my overall goal, btw, something that the NaNo website doesn't offer since you only get it for the actual NaNo and the camps. Anyway, for me, this type of thing is a huge motivation boost. Like, just 500 words behind schedule? Better sit down and write those now. Actually a bit ahead? Great, let's do some more, then I gain a free day down the line and don't have to worry at the end of the month! It's a way of holding myself accountable which I need because otherwise, I'd feel like I did more than I actually did, and procrastinate more.
The same goes for having a posting schedule: I am currently doing 7 regular projects (not a smart decision btw but I was super sick in April so one project got stalled for too long and wasn't done before I had to start the new one). One has daily updates, two have three updates a week, another two have updates two times a week, and the last two (one of which is the one that came in new so I'll switch to twice a week as soon as the other is over sometime this month) have one update a week right now.
So I know for each given day which chapters I gotta write and edit. I usually have some leeway thanks to stockpiling a bit so I can push things around slightly but I seldom don't do them at all. (Although I admit to wiping the slate clean if I need a break for my mental health.) For this, I also have a spreadsheet (printed this time) where I physically cross off the chapters I finished writing. It helps with visualizing things (huge help for me as well) and also holding myself accountable.
Also, with several projects, I can write something else first if I get stuck in one of them. And the word counts add up. Like, my word counts per chapter vary with the projects. The long projects (300+ chapters) usually have shorter chapters (around 1k) while the shorter projects (20-30 chapters) have about 4k-5k words chapters. Anything in-between varies a bit depending on themes and such. But anyway, it adds up: Three short chapters a day are already about 3k to 3.5k, so enough to reach a day's word count goal. One middle and one short chapter are the same, as is one long chapter. The variation also helps me with keeping things fresh so motivation doesn't run out.
5. A big portion is luck (even bad luck).
Not gonna lie, some of this is just being lucky or unlucky and drawing my conclusions. Like, I got my master's degree handed in early 2020, had a job interview scheduled, and then ... the world went up in flames. So guess I'm self-employed now. That means I make much less money than I should have but I have much more time for writing than I would have as well.
It works for me, mostly because I don't have a partner or children that I am responsible for so as long as I can pay for my own shit, it's enough. And it's nice because I can focus about half my energy on writing. So, I can usually spend several hours a day writing, editing, translating (I translate my own stuff), and doing some ahead-of-time research. I do realize that's somewhat of a privilege compared to people with a job that requires 8 hours from them or a family that needs to be taken care of. Comes with its downsides as well (Weekend? What's a weekend? Also never heard of the term "vacation".) but it sure as heck gives me enough time to sit down writing.
So, yeah, that's how I hit 100k a month. Be lucky in your unluckiness, don't have a life but a strange obsession with statistics and you're good to go.
My output for the past 3 months have hovered usually under 20k each or about 4 chaps a month.
