How many words?

I’ve been thinking about daily writing goals. There seem to be so many different approaches:

  • write for a minimum of xx minutes
  • write a minimum of xx words
  • the words can be draft
  • the words must be polished

I like this quote by Arthur Hailey…

I set myself 600 words a day as a minimum output, regardless of the weather, my state of mind or if I’m sick or well. There must be 600 finished words–not almost right words.

I like his philosophy – you write regardless of anything. I even like the idea the words should be finished words. For someone like me with a strong desire to edit, it would save time the next day and let me move on.

I’m just not sure that I agree they should be finished finished. I think reasonably finished would work for me, Enough that I’m not tempted to go back and edit.

I’m going to give this a shot and see if it does work for me. 500 words is a doable number.

What is your daily writing goal?