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I used to be a 'write whenever inspired' writer. Took forever to get stuff done. Then I resolved to do 2K a day "even if it's sh*#" was my motto. Then I saw this WD article by this hoity toity highbrow writer who said she took 8 years to write her novel. Then I saw this WD cover story (May/June 2015) on Susan Mallery and she'd written over 150 books. I thought, that's for me.
She wrote 20 pages a day. I've always been more comfortable with word count so I equated that with 5K a day. (Which in the past I would have thought was insane. The most I'd ever written in a day was 4100 and I was spent when I was done.) So I gave it a shot. (I figured I'd have a novel in 10 days.)
Well, let me just say it was fascinating. In many ways it was easier and more fun to write the 5K than the 2K. Why? Because if I wanted to hit my 5K goal I had to get after it! No pondering. No wondering if it was all that good. Just doing it. And it was cool seeing what was coming out of me at that rate. No outline. I started with just a bare bones idea.
I met my goal for 6 consecutive days. (I don't write on weekends.) So I had 30K. Then I had to take a break and assess what I had and make sure I had a story there. Turns out I did.
Now, if I write another book in the same genre I will do it differently (in terms of the story) but I do not regret the experiment I did. I ended up only adding 17K more for a total of 47K. I really like the story too.
And I'm totally committed to the 5K/day for the next one.
FWIW I'd say try it. At least for one day. You might like it. And the goal of a novel in 10 days is great incentive.
And as for revising, I don't see any difference whatsoever in the length of time it's taken to revise the stuff written at the 5K/day pace. In fact, it seemed a little cleaner than the slower stuff.
And yeah, like a few of you, I thought 5K/day writing would be manic crap, but what I found was that it opened up my subconscious and it was cool seeing what came out of me doing it that way.
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