one way to think about it:

(defun count-chars1-1000 ()
  (let* ((sum 0)
	 (lst (loop for i from 1 to 1000
		 for num = (delete #\- (delete #\Space (format nil "~R" i)))
		 collect num
		 do (incf sum (length num)))))
    (print lst)
    sum))