100,000 Words
100,000 words is a lot of words. 100,000 words is a daunting number of words to write for anyone.
I've just added up the word count of my two Citadel on the Wilderlands documents and discovered that earlier this week, I hit 100,000 design words. Blimey. I am ebullient.
Having done the maths when I started this design experiment, I always knew/hoped I would get this far, but it still feels like an important milestone.
This is the first time I've deliberately set out to write so many words. Raging Swan Press has several books that crest the 100,000-word barrier, but these are all compilations written by several designers over one or more years. These 100,000 words are all mine. (Depending on how the final project works out, this could be a good thing or a bad thing.)
Hitting 100,000 words also highlights the great wisdom of chunking big projects into smaller, more manageable chunks. I started Citadel on the Wilderlands on 1st November 2022, and I've reached 100,000 by writing at least 500 words every weekday. Some days the 500 words have been easy; some days, it has been like pulling teeth. Some days, I've smashed the words out in half an hour; other days, I've banged my head against the keyboard for an hour or more.
But with a small daily target like this, it has always felt doable; rarely has it gotten in the way of my other projects and plans. It seems that slow and steady wins the race. (An aside: does this mean I am a design tortoise?)
If you are thinking of embarking on a big project, I would absolutely recommend chunking your work. Construct a reasonable timeline given the scope of your project and break down the work into easy but meaningful chunks. Then—and this is critical—start. You’ll be surprised what you can achieve.
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This location is part of my design for Citadel on the Wilderlands. Citadel on the Wilderlands is my love letter to B2 Keep on the Borderlands and B5 Horror on the Hill. I'm writing 500 words every weekday for a year.