8 weeks

Write 500 words a day in 8 weeks

40 minutes a day, 6 days a week

Six days a week for eight weeks is 48 sessions and about 24,000 words. That is a novella, a substantial report, or sixteen newsletters. The rest day is not slack — it is the thing that keeps week five from ending the whole project.

The difference between this and a thirty-day sprint is that here you are building towards a finished draft, which means the plan has to survive the middle. Weeks four and five are where the words feel worthless and the project feels stupid. Everyone hits that. This plan names it, schedules a lighter week around it, and keeps a hard wall between drafting and editing so you never spend a session polishing something you will later cut.

The protocol

  1. Week 1

    Pick the project, not just the habit

    • Decide what the 24,000 words are for. A vague habit dies in week four; a draft with an ending does not.
    • Same time, same place, 40-minute timer, six days a week. Choose the rest day now and take it whether or not you want it.
    • Write 3,000 words this week. No editing, no reading back, no backspacing.
  2. Week 2

    Make the blank page never blank

    • Stop each session mid-sentence, with the next move obvious. This one trick removes most of the daily starting friction.
    • Keep a 'to look up' list in a separate file. Every time you want to research, add a line and keep writing.
    • Cumulative: 6,000 words.
  3. Weeks 3–4

    The first structural read

    • At the end of week 3, read all 9,000 words once. No fixing. Write down only the shape: what is working, what is missing.
    • Adjust the plan for the remaining words, not the words already written.
    • Week 4 usually feels the worst. It is not a signal to change project. Cumulative: 12,000 words.
  4. Week 5

    Lighter week, same streak

    • Drop to 300 words a day for six days. It still counts, and it stops the burnout that ends most eight-week attempts.
    • Use the spare 20 minutes to clear the 'to look up' list. Research day is not a day off.
    • Cumulative: about 14,000 words.
  5. Week 6

    Back to full pace, aimed at the ending

    • Back to 500 a day. Write the ending this week even if the middle is unfinished. Knowing the destination speeds up everything before it.
    • If the daily words are consistently taking over an hour, you are editing while drafting. Cover the screen if you have to.
    • Cumulative: 17,000 words.
  6. Week 7

    Fill the holes

    • Stop writing forward. Spend the sessions writing the scenes, sections, or arguments you skipped.
    • Still 500 a day, still timed. Filling holes counts as drafting.
    • Cumulative: about 20,000 words and a draft with no gaps in it.
  7. Week 8

    Finish the draft, then edit

    • Get to the end. A finished bad draft is worth more than a beautiful half.
    • Spend the last three sessions editing, which is a different job with a different rhythm — expect to remove around 15% of the words.
    • Send it to one person. Then decide whether the next eight weeks are a second draft or a new project.

How you'll know it's working

  • You stop asking whether you feel like writing and just start the timer.
  • The words come out in roughly the order you want them, most days.
  • Week five arrives, the project feels worthless, and you write anyway.

When you miss a day

The sixth day is already the rest day, so a missed session simply moves into it rather than becoming a hole. Miss a whole week and the draft lands a week later — the deadline moves, the project does not.

How Mosey helps

You don't have to hold the plan in your head.

Reading a protocol is the easy part. Mosey turns this one into scheduled days, adjusts it when your week falls apart, and keeps the streak alive while it does.

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Life happened on Wednesday. I trimmed Thursday down — the plan still lands on time.

Questions

Why six days and not seven?

Because eight weeks is long enough for burnout to be a real risk, and a scheduled day off stops you from needing an unscheduled one. Streaks with no rest day break badly rather than bending.

Can I edit as I go?

Not during the session. Drafting and editing use different modes and switching between them is what turns 40 minutes into two hours. Week 8 is for editing.

What if my project turns out to be wrong?

Change it, but not in week four — that is the slump talking. If it still feels wrong in week six, switch and keep the daily count. The habit is the asset.

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