As a former freelance writer, I would obsess over word count like a marathon runner counting steps. It wasn’t just important; hit that magic number, and the heavens would open, blessing me with more pageviews, satisfied editors, and maybe a check with an extra zero. Or so I thought. But does word count really matter, or is it just another way to keep us writers up at night?
Over the years, this debate has given me countless headaches. Word count feels like it should be the least of our worries when we’re supposed to be crafting messages so intense they’ll inspire humanity to new heights.Yet, most of the time I’d stare at the bottom of the page, whispering to myself, “Just a few more words…” It’s oddly satisfying to see those numbers go up, proof that I’ve filled enough space to justify whatever nonsense I’m peddling.
But when you start worshipping the word count god, you lose sight of what really matters—like saying something worth reading.We got the classic quality versus quantity dilemma, only with writers, we’re just a little more neurotic about it. Words are supposed to be among humanity’s most powerful tools. They’re supposed to move mountains, make people cry, inspire revolutions. But it’s not the number of words that does the job; it’s choosing the right words. Some of history’s most famous quotes are barely a sentence long. So why are we padding essays with empty fluff to reach some arbitrary goal? It’s so counterproductive to raise writers on this awful advice.
I’m not saying we should throw the word counts entirely out the window. There are times when it matters. If you’re writing an academic paper or a client report, you’d better hit those numbers or risk the wrath of professors and clients alike. I spent my college years and freelance days playing a delicate balancing act: cramming ideas into word quotas without sounding like a used car salesperson. Was it fun? Let’s just say I’d rather do my own taxes.
Eventually, I hit a breaking point. Pretty much everything I was writing ended up relegated to the “back burner” folder. You know that black hole of half-baked ideas and 250-word musings that I swore I’d get back to someday. I almost never did. Too long, word count ruled me like some tyrannical calorie counter, making me obsess over whether I’d “written enough.” Did I really need an extra paragraph? Was that contrived anecdote necessary? Who knew? It became like trying to hit a daily step count while sitting in bed.
Then came the early 2010s, when I stumbled upon a website that paid you to write anything. There was no word count required. So, I posted dozens of short, quirky pieces, made a few bucks, and even met some interesting people.Did I think this would be the future of my viral content creation career? Of course! Yeah, it wasn’t. That site went belly-up in record time, but it did teach me that shorter pieces are perfectly fine if you make them count. I’ll admit, though, even then, I found myself unable to write less than 200 words on anything. Old habits die hard.
For a while, I tried to conquer my word count addiction with a stint in SEO. I became one of those “Certified Inbound Marketing Specialists” by HubSpot. I learned the gospel of “write every day for Google to notice you.” One of the keys to that dogma was that everything you published had to be 1,500 words or more. Google allegedly loves “cornerstone content,” and anything shorter simply won’t do, I was told. Just find something meaningful to write about every single day and make it keyword-stuffed enough to be irresistible to search engines. It’s like telling a novelist they need to write a bestseller every morning with their coffee. Yeah, that’s not sustainable, guvnor.
What nobody tells you is that Google doesn’t care about word count. Google’s only interested in whether your words answer a question people care about. Yet SEO “experts” preach that more is more, because why not turn your blog into a bottomless well of random aimlessness?
After too many attempts to balance word count, SEO, and my fragile spirit, I decided on a simpler goal: write at least 500 words a day, quality be damned. Writing can’t be about churning out publishable content; you just got to keep your writing muscles strong. On good days, those 500 words might even turn into something worth reading. On bad days they’re just words on a screen, as disposable as yesterday’s junk mail. But at least you had your daily workout.
Setting a daily word goal keeps me from falling into the trap of writing nothing at all. Even if I don’t know what I’m writing about, or I’m too tired to make sense, I get something on the page.Occasionally, those “somethings” turn into an idea worth chasing down.
So, word count only matters as much as you let it. You can write 500 words or 5,000, and the volume won’t matter a bit if they don’t connect with anyone, not even yourself. I’m no longer counting words like calories, and my writing feels a lot healthier because of it.
~ Amelia Desertsong