How To Write 66,795 words in One Year
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007
I just found a new blogging platform called Word Count Journal, perfectly timed for many of our New Year’s resolutions (”I will write more in 2007″ — see how easy that was? And six words, too).
The big idea is a little one: you write one word your first day, two words the second, three words the third … one year later, you’ve written 66,795 words (more words than many books). The site allows for photos with each entry and either public or private access. And you don’t actually have to follow the daily word count rules. But I think the word-by-word, day-by-day notion’s a great one. It’s also absolutely in line with the best advice I’ve ever received about getting big things done.
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.
Elephant>>Flickr>>Creative Commons>>Savinca
Elephant advice>>Doc Milsten
Have you heard of tiny Melinda Mae,
Who ate a monstrous whale?
She thought she could,
She said she would,
So she started right in at the tail.
And everyone said, ‘You’re much too small,’
But that didn’t bother Melinda at all.
She took little bites and she chewed very slow,
Just like a good girl should…
…And in eighty-nine years she ate that whale
Because she said she would!