How to Write a Book: Daily Word Count Plan (With Maths)

"Write a book" is a goal too big to start on a Tuesday morning. "Write 900 words before breakfast" is not. The maths below turns one into the other.

The formula

Daily word count = total words / (writing days x (1 - buffer))

Where writing days are the days you actually plan to write, between now and the end of the drafting period.

Worked examples

A 50,000-word draft in 30 days (a common November challenge)

• 30 days, writing every day. With a 10 percent buffer, plan for 27 days.
• 50,000 / 27 is about 1,850 words a day. Heavy, but this is the pace of challenges of this kind.

A 60,000-word draft in 100 days, five days a week

• 100 days is about 14 weeks, so about 71 writing days. With a 10 percent buffer, 64.
• 60,000 / 64 is about 940 words a day.

An 80,000-word novel in six months, four days a week

• Six months is about 26 weeks, so about 104 writing days. With a buffer, 93.
• 80,000 / 93 is about 860 words a day.

You can check these with the free Goal Breakdown Calculator: enter the total, the dates, your rest days and a buffer.

How long does 900 words take?

Many writers produce somewhere between 500 and 1,000 words an hour when drafting, but speed varies enormously with the project and the person. Time yourself for a week to find your own number, and use that to decide how long the daily slot should be.

Plan the whole project

Drafting is only one phase. A realistic plan also reserves:

• Revision time: at least a few weeks after the draft, ideally after a break from the text.
• Buffer weeks for illness, work and life.
• A rest day each week, so the habit survives.

Protect the writing slot

The biggest threat to a word count is not writer's block; it is other work looking more urgent. Choose a fixed daily slot, ideally in your highest-energy hours, and treat it like an appointment. Write first and leave editing for later, so you are not polishing chapter one forever.

Before you stop each day, write down the next sentence or scene. It makes tomorrow's start much easier.

Track it

A simple visible tally of words per day keeps you honest. The 30-day habit tracker is useful for a drafting challenge: one habit, "write the daily count".

If your days are crowded, PlanBot can place the writing block in your day first and rebuild the rest around it, and it keeps your streak with streak freeze for a day you cannot write. It is free on Android with 3 AI plans per day.