How many words have you written - ever?

1. 83

   theraggededgeposted 7 years ago

   I don't know how many I've ever written, of course, but I've got two Scrivener projects where all my published writing for the last four years is stashed. And Scrivener keeps wordcounts for everything.
   
   One is my blog, HubPages and miscellaneous work for people.
   The other is for my main client's two websites and associated blogs.
   
   The first has 241,000 words and the second has over 500,000 words.
   
   There could be some unpublished lists of ideas in there, but I'd say 99% is all published material.
   
   I wish I was JK Rowling
   
   Do you know how many words you've written over the years?

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   1. 74

      kenneth averyposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      theraggededge -- probably in the area of 300,000 and that is the best estimate that I could give.

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2. 67

   lobobrandonposted 7 years ago

   A rough estimate of around 400,000 considering my Elance technical writing time, the websites I've written content for, HP (some hubs are now deleted) and other stuff, some guest posts which don't count for much. But add at least another 100,000 for academic stuff that is published in journals/university libraries right up to my master's degree.
   
   I have a feeling it's more than this though.

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3. 82

   Bills Placeposted 7 years ago

   Since I own and operate a content writing company, this is an interesting, but challenging question!
   
   I rarely take a day off from typing, considering some days I may only write 1,000 words, while other times (like last month) I was doing up to 7,000 words a day. I can average between 30,000 - 100,000 words/month.
   
   Based on these estimates, and that I've been writing steady (full time) over the past 4 years: a lot!
   
   Based on an average of 2,000 words/day, about 2,900,000 million words in the last 4 years.

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4. 78

   Rupert Taylorposted 7 years ago

   I've been on HubPages for two years. I have 310 Hubs each is a minimum of 1,000 words. So that's 310,000 minimum.
   
   I still write elsewhere and average about 600 words a day, although not on Saturdays or Sundays. So that's about 156,000 words a year. I've been writing professionally since I was 24, that's 51 years ago. So, 51 times 156,000 that's 7,956,000 words. Add HubPages, and we're well over eight million words - and every last one a gem. I wonder how many times I've been paid for writing "the" and "a" ?

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5. 67

   Jessie L Watsonposted 7 years ago

   I wish I had a way to find out. Some people are more succinct in their communication than others. I am a long-writer. It takes me many words to explain something simple. Typically I gnaw around the edges of a topic for a while before I get right down to the bone. So, if I've written 100,000 words in my lifetime then 30,000 of them were probably unnecessary haha.

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6. 99

   Rochelle Frankposted 7 years ago

   No idea, really, but I remember my 11th grade English teacher saying that you have to write at least a million words of garbage before you are a writer.  I think I may have  risen above the garbage a bit, but may still be in the medium levels of the landfill.

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   1. 93

      Jean Bakulaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Great answer, lol. I've written enough to have carpal tunnel syndrome and a drawer full of wrist/arm braces!

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      1. 99

         Rochelle Frankposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Oucch! Maybe you should  try using a dictation application for  first drafts ???..  to give your hands a rest. You have to edit a lot, but it is kind of fun.
         I appreciate your response... always love to get an "lol".

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