NaNo What Now?

Finding your editing process, revising your NaNoWriMo book and building a writing career through publishing and beyond

Building a Writing Life

start a writing habit, find time to write, discover your process and commit to your writing dreams Non-Fiction

NaNoWriMo Advanced Word Count Calculator (charts, percentages, stats and more!)

by Oct 7, 2020Evergreen, My Writing, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)11 comments

I know that some of you out there are as obsessive as me when it comes to trying to figure out how far along you are in National Novel Writing Month so I decided to share my personal calculator. It’s simple but powerful.

This calculator will work in Open Office, Microsoft Excel or Google Drive, depending on what you use. But it works best in Google Drive since that is what I set it up in (there are also some handy little charts in the Google version the other versions won’t get).

It is very simple to use. All you do is type in your word count each day (or just a running total, if you prefer) and then it calculates your percentage done, number of words until any goals you’ve set, where you should be based on the current date, whether you are on track to hit 50,000 words at the end of the month and more. It’s a pretty useful little tool that gives you a lot more info than most widgets and counters around. It’s also a great way to motivate yourself to stay on track and gather data about your work habits.

If you want to add, share or customize this, please feel free to! I only ask one favor. Please keep my url on the spreadsheet as credit so that I at least get some traffic for my work. Or just link to this page!

How to use the spreadsheet with Google Sheets:

  • Log into your Google Drive account. (If you have a Gmail or Google account, you already have a Google Drive account, you just need to activate it.)
  • Go to the direct link to the calculator.
  • Once there, select “Make a copy” from the File menu. (If you aren’t logged in, you won’t get this option which is why I had you log in first.)
  • Select a file name and click OK. The calculator should now be ready for use in your own Google Drive account.

How to download for use in Excel, Calc or other desktop program:

  • Go to the direct link to the calculator.
  • Once there, select File > Download as… and then select the file type of your choice. I recommend Excel format for maximum compatibility.
  • Because this was designed for Google Drive, you may need to tweak your download version to get it to work perfectly but most of the basic calculations should work fine. You will lose the charts, however, and the colors may look funky.

Any questions? Let me know below and I’ll help you out as best as I can.

If you find this tool useful, thanks are appreciated in the comments as well. Thanks and happy NaNo-ing!

(PS: I update this calculator every year so don’t let the date on this post or the comments fool you. :-))

11 Comments

  1. jeffimig

    the link to download doesn't work… just loads a blank copy of this page. The old page worked and I downloaded the spreadsheet there. I know that'll be 2008 but I'll just suffer

    Thanks… Jeff

    Reply
  2. Hillary

    Sorry about that! Link has been duly corrected!

    Reply
  3. Somekindoffunky

    Posted you on my blog! Have a great day!

    Reply
    • Hillary

      I saw that, thank you very much! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Joanna Neilson

    Thank you, this will be very useful even if I am not doing Nano, to keep up word counts and keeping me writing all year. Excellent gadget, thanks.

    Reply
    • Hillary

      Thank you for stopping by! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Di Jones

    Hi there Hillary, I’m just using your spreadsheet now as I want to see if I can write another novel in a month. Great tool – thank you so much for sharing it!

    Reply
  6. S Stacie

    Exactly what I was looking for! Bless you. 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Hillary DePiano.com » NaNoWriMo Advanced Word Count Calculator (#nanowrimo) - [...] Psst! This calculator has been updated. Get the newest version here. [...]
  2. Hillary DePiano.com » …in which Hillary makes her writing goals for the year even more complex than is necessary. And learns math. - [...] Also, it gives me a chance to make another spreadsheet. I like making spreadsheets. You probably noticed this. [...]
  3. Hillary DePiano.com » So, apparently, I’m on pace with my writing goals. This, of course, makes me feel like I should make a harder goal. - [...] have an addiction to making very complicated writing spreadsheets. You may have noticed this. On the plus side, I…
  4. Hillary DePiano.com » Obsessing over your word count: Nerdy fun with NaNoWriMo numbers - [...] a total nerd about NaNoWriMo. You probably guessed that when you saw my NaNoWriMo Advanced Word Count. (If you…
  5. Hillary's Guide to NaNoWriMo: Table of Contents Mega Post! - Hillary DePiano - […] NaNoWriMo Advanced Word Count Calculator (charts, percentages, stats and more!) […]

Leave a Reply

About the Author

Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.

Books and Plays by Hillary DePiano

Archives

Join my mailing list!

Join my mailing list!

Get the news before anyone else and have the first crack at premieres, sales and other opportunities! 

You have Successfully Subscribed!

%d bloggers like this: