I read 2,000-10,000 after it was recommended by one of the other members of my critique group (Kendrick E. Knight, who writes delightful science fiction available on amazon).  I couldn’t claim to be writing anything like 2,000 words to start with and was interested in seeing how this woman increased her productivity so impressively.

One of the things I most appreciated about Ms. Aaron’s book was that instead of saying “do it this way,” she suggests that writers figure out what works for them and then do that.  Lots of authors are productive in the mornings (she’s not); others do well late at night.  Some need quiet; some need music.  Some write most fluidly in coffee shops; others need to be alone and unplugged.  Ms. Aaron suggests keeping track of some hard data for a period of time, and then using that data to empirically figure out what works–for you.  Because it might not be the same thing that works for her, or a critique partner or the leader of a writing workshop.

I’m not as sure about some of the other advice in this book For example, Ms. Aaron insists that planning at least a bit before writing something in full speeds up the process.  I’ve tried it a few times, and am not convinced.  She also insists that speeding things up doesn’t reduce the quality of her writing at all, but there’s a certain lack of polish to her book that makes me think she might be fooling herself on this point.

On the whole, though, I feel 2,000-10,000 was well worth the couple of bucks and couple of hours I spent on it.  It has made me think about what works for me, and that has increased my output, if only marginally.