Chapter 21

【PS: Thanks to the 6 people who gave rewards for the nostalgia of that year, especially the 588 from "诉尽平生云水心" (Sujin Ping Sheng Yun Shui Xin). Thanks also to "念破虚空" (Nianpo Xuhuo) and "一笑几多愁" (Yixiao Jimodu) for their rewards. It's only been four or five days since the book started, and the enthusiasm of my fellow readers has been a great encouragement. Thank you all! Also, check the update times in the author's information section, and follow that from now on~】

Now, "The Little Soldier's History" has less than 60,000 words, with 853 people on the collection list, and it ranks eighth on the new book potential weekly chart. Every day, many enthusiastic readers discuss the plot in the book review section or cheer on the author.

Once the website's recommendations come in, more people will add it to their collections, and the rankings will improve. He will get more publicity opportunities, and his performance will get better and better. Once he meets the standards for publication on Qidian, he can start earning royalties.

Tong Yan is reluctant to let go of the current favorable situation. Moreover, if he earns money, his parents won't have to work so hard. They wake up early and come home late every day to sell buns. Even his nephew Liu Ming feels sorry for them, so how could he, as a son, remain indifferent? With the royalties, he can even send his sister to the city's No. 1 High School, where the learning environment and teaching quality far surpass those of the county high school.

This is what Tong Yan truly feels, and he has revealed everything to his cousin without any reservation. Liu Ming is moved, "Brother, you're a good guy. Your uncle and aunt haven't raised you in vain. I support you, but how can you find time to write a novel while ensuring your studies?"

No matter how much Liu Ming supports and looks forward to Tong Yan's success, studies still come first. After all, being a web novelist isn't a respectable profession today, and it's not very stable.

"I think the first thing is to improve my typing speed!" Tong Yan says. Due to the serial nature of web novels, it's crucial to maintain consistent updates with a sufficient number of words each day.

Tong Yan has seen big-name writers like Xuehong update 20,000 words a day, and Tang San, who boasts at the end of chapters that he can write 4,000 to 5,000 words per hour.

Look at these people; how can someone like Tong Yan, who can only write 1,200 words per hour at his best, compete! And that's when his thoughts are flowing smoothly, and there are no distractions, fully focused. On average, he writes less than 1,000 words per hour, and even dedicating his entire day, he can only write two 3,000-word chapters.

Liu Ming finds this reasonable, "If you type faster, you'll spend less time, and the impact on your studies will be less. But I can't help you; I type much slower than you."

Since the computer was bought, Tong Yan has been the primary user, so Liu Ming's typing skills are still at the two-finger stage. The gap between him and Tong Yan is like the gap between Tong Yan and Xuehong and Tang San.

Tong Yan's fingers tap the different keys on the keyboard, "I feel I'm almost at the point where I can type without looking. Next, I'll force myself to adapt to blind typing and not look at the keyboard. This will definitely improve my speed. I think it's just a matter of practice; the more I practice, the faster I'll get."

Tong Yan has set a plan for himself. The next step is to limit his typing speed to 1,500 words per hour, gradually increasing it. By the time school starts, he aims to reach 2,000 words per hour, which might allow him to make a living from web novels.

Tong Yan has tested his typing speed with a stopwatch; he can type up to 80 words per minute, which should be 4,800 words per hour. Even if he cuts that in half, it's still 2,400 words, but he has never reached that speed, so there's definitely room for improvement.

"Even if your typing speed is fast enough, you don't have a computer. How will you write the novel and ensure uninterrupted updates?"

Tong Yan sighs helplessly, "That's the hardest problem!"

Thinking about how he barely wrote any words yesterday due to running contracts, and his backlog is almost depleted, leaving only one chapter, Tong Yan has no choice but to start writing. The big problem can only be dealt with later.

Now, the protagonist Song Hu's personal combat skills have greatly improved, and his wealth has increased due to a lucky find in an adventure where he tricked the heroine. He then formed a ragtag army of a hundred people and occupied a small territory on a chaotic planet called "Bandit Star." As for his romantic life, since he tricked the heroine, there's no development for now. Tong Yan has a clear plan for the next plot developments, and his fingers don't stop.

Tong Yan is now forcing himself to type without looking at the keyboard, so the speed is a bit slow at first, but it becomes smoother as he goes. He believes that in a few days, he will be able to type by instinct.

At the same time, Tong Yan has set a limit of 1,000 words per hour, so he must be more focused and concentrated. The plot must be written in one go, and even if there are typos or inappropriate words, he must keep typing and correct them later. He thinks this will be faster.

Sure enough, after an hour, Tong Yan looked and saw he had typed 1,450 words, exceeding his previous best speed. He was just a step away from his initial goal of 1,500 words. Since he wasn't fully proficient in blind typing, he had to stop several times to think about the position of certain keys, but he refused to look at the keyboard. If he could eliminate these unnecessary pauses, writing 2,000 words per hour would be no problem, and it could even be faster. However, the proofreading stage would involve more work, with more errors and gaps, but it would still be a very efficient typing method.

Tong Yan became more confident and typed 1,600 words in the second hour, but his brain was very tired afterward, and he had to rest for a few minutes before continuing.

As Tong Yan gradually figured out some tricks, his typing became smoother, and he wrote over 4,000 words in the morning. This was definitely the most efficient writing session of his life! He was very confident about reaching 2,000 words per hour.

With this speed, Tong Yan had more than enough time to write the two daily chapters, and his backlog gradually increased.

By Friday, Tong Yan had already learned from the backend that his book would appear on the "Strong Recommendation" list in the "Science Fiction" category starting Sunday afternoon (Note: I don't know if this recommendation existed in 2005).

This recommendation is on the "Science Fiction" secondary page and the right side of any science fiction novel's page, with ten novels listed, including "The Little Soldier's History."

Additionally, his editor, Watermelon, left a message on QQ reminding Tong Yan that he could now apply for the Sanjiang Pavilion recommendation, an independent recommendation to supplement the strong recommendations. It aims to discover potential new books, and authors can apply themselves. The editor's opinion doesn't matter; it's entirely up to the Sanjiang Pavilion editor's preferences. This list is above the weekly click chart and has very good promotional effects.

Naturally, Tong Yan applied for this recommendation. Editor Watermelon wanted to chat with Tong Yan about his novel and, if they got along, about his studies, but Tong Yan rarely logs into QQ and leaves immediately when he does, leaving Watermelon with no outlet for his enthusiasm.

By Sunday afternoon, Tong Yan's "The Little Soldier's History" appeared on the "Strong Recommendation" list. This recommendation isn't particularly good because, on Qidian, science fiction is a smaller category compared to urban and fantasy, so the traffic for science fiction works is lower, and the recommendation effect is not as good as other categories.

However, something is better than nothing. "The Little Soldier's History" had good performance even without recommendations, and with the added boost, it will surely do even better.

On the new book potential weekly chart, "The Little Soldier's History" ranks sixth, with 1,120 collections, 17,870 total clicks, and 2,195 total recommendations. The data shows that "The Little Soldier's History" has the potential to become a minor hit. As long as Tong Yan persists in diligent updates, the subsequent plot is exciting, and the website's packaging and promotion are appropriate, it could potentially replace the discontinued "The Little Soldier's Legend" and become a new flag in the StarCraft category.

Getting a recommendation on Qidian also means the summer vacation is about to end, and Tong Yan will return to school next week. In the remaining seven days, he almost worked himself to the bone, writing. He can now type blind and has a speed of over 2,000 words per hour. Even with some time spent on summer homework, he can write over 10,000 words a day, but the update volume hasn't increased. He sticks to the two 3,000-word chapters, and the extra parts he keeps saving until the night before school starts...

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