Month: October 2015

Jealous of another’s success? Change your perspective

Lynn

Honestly, it’s hard to admit sometimes that I’ve been jealous of other authors’ successes, but lying about it doesn’t really help, so I admit freely that there have been days where I just didn’t understand why some writers were more successful than me. It didn’t feel fair, and boy did those feelings hurt.

I’ve always been uncomfortable with those kinds of feelings. I don’t think jealousy is healthy and although I think it’s a normal feeling, I don’t like it and I’ve never wanted to be the kind of person who is okay with feeling that way.

Then one day, I had one of those moments of clarity where I realized something about my view of the world and how that was contributing to those feelings and it wasn’t because I was spending time in the wrong places, reading the wrong kinds of success stories, or anything like that.

Let me start with this: I don’t buy lottery tickets.

It actually does play into what this epiphany was about.

I’ve never thought I was a lucky person. Yet I’ve always believed luck plays a huge role in how a person’s life goes.

What it came down to was that if I believed luck had such a big role in whether or not I became as successful as some other author having great success, and I believed that I was an unlucky person, that meant I had pretty much already given up hope that I could ever reach the levels of success I want to reach.

Let me add this: I’ve always thought a person can learn just about anything if the person is driven enough to learn it.

I don’t necessarily believe anybody can do anything, because there are real world limitations, but there’s always hope that those limitations won’t stop them from learning something about what they want to learn, or even that they’ll find a way around that limitation and learn something in a whole new way.

I’ve also always believed that there’s always somebody out there who can do anything I and you and everyone else can do and do it better. Always.

All this came together in that moment while I was washing dishes (a favorite thinking spot for me) and made me realize that a change to my perspective could overcome every struggle I’ve ever had with these feelings of jealousy and envy, take away the unhappiness they were always causing me, and give me back my optimism.

All I had to do was admit that the authors doing better than me are more skilled writers than me. This kind of change in perspective probably only works for people like me, but for me, it has been a life-changing epiphany.

I mean, as long as I’m alive, I can keep learning, improving my skills, and becoming better at what I do. Even when I’m seventy-five years old, there’s the possibility that I’ll have a break through and become the kind of writer I’ve always wanted to be before I reach eighty!

And I don’t mind imagining that every successful writer is just better at writing than me. I don’t mind at all, because I can accept that there’s always somebody better. And I’ve never been one to be jealous of another person’s skills, simply because I believe that skills can be learned.

Hope is really the answer to most feelings of jealousy and envy, but it can be difficult to see that sometimes. I didn’t even realize a lot of these feelings were coming about because of an unacknowledged lack of hope. I mean, I didn’t sit around telling myself I was unlucky and that I had almost no chance of reaching the levels of success that some of my fellow authors have reached, because so much of success is dependent on luck and I had none.

But that’s exactly what I think I was doing.

And a change in perspective was all it took to give myself hope.

If you have feelings of jealousy and envy you can’t seem to get past, stop and think about how you see the world. Do you believe success is dependent on luck or skill? Then change your perspective and see if that helps you overcome those feelings.

 

Breaking my one-day word count record—attempt #3

Lynn

Success!

I’m writing this in Evernote today so I can have the accountability without the WIFI. ;) I need accountability.

FYI: This turned out to be one long log! TMI warning!

8:02 am—

Starting with a 50 minute timed session of writing. Playlist is playing. Book doc is open. And yes, I’m still working in Word 2016 although I had to zoom in to 110% so the font issues don’t annoy me so much. I’m not that unhappy with the zoomed text. I still like Word 2007 better! :D

8:59 am update—

I wrote 497 words in 50 minutes. That’s a pace of 596 WPH. So still a little slow but better than yesterday for sure! Going for a quick break and then I’ll get back to it.

Okay, here’s an example of breaks and what happens. I got up at exactly 9 am, peed, went to the kitchen, made coffee, peed, refilled the soap dispenser in the bathroom, moved my computer from the desk to the living room, peed, poured the coffee into a cup, and got comfortable on the couch. It was then exactly 9:15.

It’s now 9:18. This comes to 18 minutes break for 50 minutes writing. We’ll see how the rest of the day goes.

I have a hard deadline this afternoon of 4 pm because of an obligation I have, so today needs to go well if I want to break that word count record. :)

10:13 am update—

I’m now up to 1,051. That’s another 554 words in another 50 minute session, bringing my pace up to 631 WPH. My spreadsheet tells me I’ve completed 1.6667 hours of writing and need another 6.592 hours to reach my goal at that pace. :o

I can do it. The story is going well now, and I’m thrilled to be able to say that.

Now, off to take a quick break before I start again. I might go with a 60 minute session next. Let’s see how long this break runs.

Alright. I’m back and it’s 10:26, so that’s .  .  . 13 minutes. Wow. I did nothing but pee and heat my coffee in the microwave for 25 seconds, text my kid a message about when he needed to be home, and text my sister about my word count. Short texts too. I didn’t even wait for a response before I put my phone back into airplane mode.

If I can stay writing for the entire session and not need to stop for peeing, longer sessions would seem to be the best way for me to cut the breaks back. My goal is 25%, so for every 18 minute break I have I should be writing 18/.25=72x.75=54 minutes. Of course, the 13 minute break goes just fine with a 45-50 minute writing session.

But longer sessions might only be a good idea if I can do them without needing to stop in the middle of them. That’s where I’ll run into problems.

It’s now 10:39 am. Time to get back to writing. I’m not going to count the extra 13 minutes against myself since I’m trying to figure out something here. :)

11:34 am update—

Can’t wait to stop at 60 minutes! I’m dying here. :D Pee break necessary!

Okay, whew. Peed, knocked down a spider web on my front porch, which I stepped out on to get a breath of fresh air and a moment of sunshine, then made a fresh cup of mint tea, peed again, and I’m back. It’s 11:45. So, an 11 minute break for a 54 minute writing session. That’s acceptable.

I got another 692 words to put me at 1,743 and my pace is now 679 WPH, which is an acceptable average. :D

Now, back to writing. ;) I’m going to try 60 minutes again. If this one doesn’t work out, I’m going back to 50 minutes and will just have to focus on keeping breaks as short as possible.

12:52 pm update—

I made it 60 minutes, but I can say confidently that I wouldn’t have made it more than 5 minutes more. I wrote 686 words this time, putting me at 2,429 words. My pace is now 681 WPH.

I need a lunch break now, and I’m going to really hope my break doesn’t slow me down once I come back to writing. I usually break for lunch at 12, but I forgot about that when I started this last session and when my phone alarm went off to remind me, I decided I could wait. I wasn’t that hungry at the time, although I definitely am now! :)

Be back soon. When I return I think I’ll go back to 50 min. Just less chance all around of needing to stop early for a break.

2:04 pm update—

Okay, I have no idea how lunch went long. The clock doesn’t lie though and it’s obviously been just over an hour since I stopped.  Tomorrow I think I’ll set a timer for 45 minutes and see if I can shorten that.

I feel good that I’m restarting at almost the halfway point to breaking my word count record. I have 2,779 words to go to break it, but I’d like to break my record by at least 100 words.

So far, my spreadsheet shows I’ve written for 3.56 hours today and that I need to write for another 4.08 to finish. I can do that. Although not by 4 pm, unless I suddenly double my WPH. Possible but not probable. I do believe I’ll have another 2 hours tonight to write also, although without WIFI I can’t exactly check my calendar. :D

Anyway, time to get to it. I only have enough time for 2 more 50 minute sessions if I start right now!

3:10 pm update—

Not tired yet. The story is going GREAT. :) I hate that I have to stop in less than an hour! I have this horrible fear I won’t recapture the magic when I get back.

Anyway, I wrote 664 words in 50 minutes, putting me at 3,093 for the day. My pace is currently 703 WPH. My spreadsheet says I’ll need to write for another 3 hours to reach my goal of breaking my word count record. :)

I think I have time for one more 50 minute session.

4:08 pm update—

I’ve run out of time! I’ve had to stop at 40 minutes at 3,699 words. My WPH shot up with this last session, so I’m very happy with my progress! My pace is 730 WPH now, and the spreadsheet says I need to write for 2.06 more hours.

We’ll see if I get time to do that tonight and beat this record of mine!

8:02 pm update—

Got home at 7, but the one thing I forgot when I said I could probably get 2 more hours of writing time tonight was dinner time. Because of that I’m getting started later than I wanted to. I try to quit at 9 every night, but it’s a Friday so I might just stay up and get this record broken. I think I can do it.

I’ll see how this first session goes and decide then. If my WPH is tracking near what I got earlier today, then I’m willing to stick it out and go to bed later. If it’s too low, I’ll push for my 4,521 words and quit there, because I plan to write a lot of words again tomorrow and I won’t be up for that if I stay up really late tonight. That kind of thing tends to have a snowball effect on my productivity.

Since my intent is to train myself to write 4,521 on every work day I can, I need to be able to do it while sticking to my normal evening routine. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life staying up too late trying to hit that word count. :)

Also, my fingernails grew today. Or maybe I’m more dehydrated now after 3 hours in the car and the pads of my fingers have shrunk away from my nails. Who knows. This morning, they weren’t a problem, but right now, they’re driving me crazy. Time for clipping. Then I’ll get started on that first 50 minute session.

Alrighty! Got that taken care of. Time to get started.

9:19 pm update—

I’m getting tired. It didn’t slow me down much though, although I do feel like I’m making more typos than I was and having to correct myself. I wrote for 50 minutes, 667 words, and my pace now averages 740 WPH. So although I wasn’t as fast as I was in the session before this one (at 909 WPH), I was still faster than in any of the rest, coming in at 800 WPH exactly.

I do think I’ll continue. Tonight might just be the night. :D

My spreadsheet says it’ll take me another 1.137 hours to finish. That’s 69 minutes. So . . . I’m going to set my timer for 60 minutes and try really, really hard to write at least 942 WPH! That would put me 100 words above my record and I wouldn’t have to go into another session. ;)

Anyway, need a quick break first because my legs are going numb and I’m very thristy.

Back from break and it’s now 9:40 pm. Somehow my break has taken me 21 minutes! I can’t explain it, because I didn’t do anything during my break except pee, guzzle a cup of water, make a fresh cup of herbal mint tea, and shake out my legs while I waited the 2 minutes it takes to boil the water.

Honestly, I think I’m just tired and I’ve slowed down. I mean, I’m seriously tired. I’ve started yawning a lot, because 6 am comes early and that’s what time I get up every day. I’ve had a couple of days this week where I just didn’t get enough sleep and although I got more the last two nights, I’m not caught up by any means. I’ll get to sleep in tomorrow morning, so maybe I’ll catch up finally. ;)

Honest to goodness, I just want to go to bed! Fighting that feeling and getting back to my book . . . right . . . now.

10:56 pm update—

How’s this for irony: I finished my 60 minute session and I’m sitting at 5,108 words. Exactly 100 words fewer than my record.

I’m not going to bother with a break because if I take one right now, I might not come back. I’m so tired I think I could fall asleep right here. I’m setting a 15 minute timer and hoping I can knock out 200 words so I can call this thing! :D

11:21 pm update—

It’s done! I have written 5,221 words today. I didn’t end up with an extra 100 words but it’s close enough! I’ve now set a new one-day word count record for myself, and boy am I tired.

Too bad all these words weren’t fiction. This is one long log!

I’m not even going to read through this to see if I went too far over the TMI line. Just too tired! :)

I’ll be back tomorrow to try for my daily goal of 4,521 words.

Now goodnight!

Here are today’s numbers, all laid out for you. Or me, in case I want to see them again (I don’t archive daily detail like this anywhere; I only track a daily total).

Minutes Words Session WPH
50 497 497 596
50 1,051 554 665
54 1,743 692 769
60 2,429 686 686
50 3,093 664 797
40 3,699 606 909
50 4,366 667 800
60 5,108 742 742
15 5,221 113 452
429 Total minutes -0.017803 Hours to finish
5,221 Total words
730 Total WPH 7.15 Hours completed

Breaking my one-day word count record—attempt #2

Lynn

I’m not even going to make excuses for why I’m starting my writing late today. I don’t have a schedule, so there’s no reason I have to start at a particular time, but I know I’m starting late because I intended to start earlier. I procrastinated. That’s really all there is to say.

Also, I’m waiting on a cup of coffee to finish brewing. Yes, regular coffee. I ground up almost 3 tablespoons of coffee beans for just under 9 ounces of water for my french press. I’ll be high as a kite here in about half an hour. I will likely regret it then, but right now all I can think about is how down I feel and how unwilling I am to miss writing again today because of that.

Yesterday was a good day, so I really don’t understand the abrupt mood swing. I’m taking measures to mitigate it, before it has time to set in and depress my spirits and keep me from following through on my plans. :)

Today is to be attempt #2 to break my one-day word count record of 5,208 words.

Time to get started.

3:02 pm update—

I have no idea what’s going on, but I haven’t been writing. Not fiction, that is. I think this is a good bit of evidence in favor of staying away from coffee. It’s not a cure for whatever ails me. I did vacuum my carpets and hardwood though. :o

Now, I’m going to start writing on my book, and although I don’t expect to have a lot success with the attempt to break my record, it’s not actually out of the realm of possibility yet, so I’m not writing it off as done. See you soon with an update! :)

9:07 pm update—

This is one of those are you kidding updates where I confess to having written only 128 words this evening.

Don’t ask why. I don’t even know.

And I feel lucky I got those.

I’ll have to try again tomorrow. For now? I’m shutting off my WIFI tonight and I won’t be turning it back on until after I’ve written my word count or it’s dinnertime. Whichever comes first. (I started to say lunch time, but let’s be real: if I turn WIFI back on during lunch, I’ll spend a bunch of time catching up my online reading and I’ll be lucky to get back to work afterwards at all. So, dinnertime it is.)

How I’m building my new pen name: Four months in

Lynn

You might want to read the first post about the pen name book before you read this one because I’m not going to rehash what I’ve already said, just talk about what’s happened since the two week mark.

I haven’t gotten the next book out yet. Fact is, if you read this blog you’ll already know my production is not where I want it. I’m hopeful I’ll get the next book out in December, but it means I need to be successful in getting my word count up!

If I don’t improve my speed to publication for this series, this experiment isn’t going to teach me anything I haven’t already learned from my main pen name books. That’s because I’ve ended up not experimenting with price like I had originally intended.

I did a Kindle Countdown deal with the pen name book in mid-September and that led to a few more sales, but at reduced prices. I had it priced $ .99 for one day only and set to go up in $1 increments until it was full price again.

I’ve had some additional sales at full price too (full price being $6.99). I was getting a few reads here and there but it had really tapered off, and then for some reason on the 15th of this month, the book started to get very regular reads.

What I’m hoping this means is that this series could do well if I got more books out. I don’t know though. My experience to date with my main pen name has been that if a book doesn’t sell well right off, it won’t take off just because I’m releasing more books. They sell more, don’t get me wrong, but none of the series that didn’t start off strong suddenly sell great just because I’ve published more books in those series.

I’d love to have this series with the new pen name behave differently. :D The other view is a bit disheartening when it comes to series I love but feel I shouldn’t spend much time on because it won’t pay off in the long run.

  US UK AU IN  
Earnings
2015 07 68.71 14.79 6.96
2015 08 30.50 3.28  277.61
2015 09 61.71 1.29
Total Earnings 160.92  19.37 6.96  277.61
Sales
2015 07 11 2 1 14
2015 08 1 1 2
2015 09 28 28
Total Sales 40 2 1 1 44
KENP Reads
2015 07 4,681 2,301 6,982
2015 08 4,988 984 5,972
2015 09 6,733 386 7,119
Total Reads 16,402 3,671     20,073

So far in October, I’ve had 2 full price sales and about 7,000 pages read. There’s been absolutely nothing except for that unadvertised Kindle Countdown deal to keep the momentum for this book going, so I guess I’ve been very lucky that it hasn’t dropped to 0 all around. :D

I’ll save the next update for after I get the second book in the series out. Currently the plan is still to go three books at least before I make any judgments about this series.

Breaking my one-day word count record—attempt #1

Lynn

I’d call today attempt #2, but yesterday, I never even really got started. I spent the day on other things.

I’m starting later than I’d hoped, but of course, knowing I wanted to do this today, I spent all of last night in and out of crazy dreams and woke up feeling like I hadn’t slept a wink. How typical of me. :o ← I am not actually surprised. :D

I’m not really planning to use the timers today, not at this moment anyway, so I guess I should just get to it. I think I’ll update as the day goes on to mark my progress.

9:39 am → Just getting started.

10:58 am → 280 words. I’m working through the crap that’s been holding me up for the last month so I guess I’m lucky I’ve gotten this much.

12:07 pm → Uh, I’m supposed to have more words? This was not an interruption, it was a complete derail! I was reading forum posts and just realized (phone alarm) that it’s been an entire hour since I stopped writing for a quick break. Holy crap! Lunch at my desk today. :o

1:16 pm → Returned from lunch, and did not eat at my desk after all.

Ha! And as soon as I pressed play on my music, Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing started up. I’m going to take that as a sign, because I’ve been feeling pretty bummed this morning. :D

I have to wonder if I’m running a temperature today. I keep getting chilled and the heat is set at 72°. Oh well, moving on anyway. Back to my book.

WIFI off.

2:30 pm → I finally deleted all the things I needed to delete, leaving behind just a few straggling lines that I’d like to save if I can. That’s put me down -1714 words. For once, I’m going to ignore that and figure up my actual writing today separately. I’ll figure my net words once I’m ready to call it a day. Only 4,918 to go. :o

4:11 pm → 626 words. Only 4,582 to go. :o Holy crap. I really have no explanation.

7:36 pm → Just getting back to it after stopping at 4:11. I’ve got one hour to get as many words as I can and then I have to call it a night because of an obligation I have tomorrow.

I can say with confidence that there’s 0% chance I’ll break my record today. I’m bummed but I admit I haven’t felt well today so maybe I’ll do a lot better on Thursday when I try again.

I’ll post my end of day word count later. Right now I want to try to take advantage of what time I’ve got left. :) Night!

What is a reasonable daily word count goal?

Lynn

I had to spend some time researching this, because the fact is, I have no idea how to set reasonable goals for myself. In the end, I didn’t find much helpful information out there and that’s probably because the answer depends on who’s asking the question.

In trying to nail down a reasonable goal for myself, I’m looking at a few different things.

  1. How many hours I have available to write. (Lots.)
  2. How much of my time is lost to breaks. (So, so much. Too much.)
  3. How much I can reasonably write in that time. (Not so much if past is a predictor of future performance—but does it have to be?)

I’ve decided that studying the past and looking at averages isn’t a good idea for me. I mean, the whole purpose of this is to give me a number I can aim for each day, but a number that’s not out of my reach. Something that I can legitimately expect from myself, not a number that is a hoped for but not often attained goal. I want this reasonable number to be something that will force me to face facts. Am I putting enough effort into my daily writing?

So, if I answer with as much honesty as I can squeeze out of myself, this is what I come up with.

  1. I have to explain this answer. Writing is both a work and leisure activity for me. What that means is that I’m just as happy doing it as any other leisure activity, as a general rule. Not to say there aren’t times when I’d rather be doing something else, but it’s at least as important to me as anything else I relax with. So, when I take out sleep time, personal hygiene activities, and chores (the least I can possibly get away with because life is short and I hate chores and I’m actually fairly efficient at getting them done quickly) I end up with about 14 hours.
    24 − 8.25 − 1 − .5 = 14.25
    It’s too much to expect myself to spend all this time writing, but it’s a place to start.
  2. I take a lot of breaks. I have reasons for some of those breaks because I like my tea and I have a particular bladder condition that means my days are filled with a lot of pee breaks. If this is TMI for you, you might not want to read my blog because I don’t have a lot of respect for the TMI rule. :D Let’s say I can learn to limit these (change is hard but not impossible). ;) Let’s say I can cut down to 25% of my time lost to breaks. Right now I swear sometimes it’s closer to 50%, but that’s because I’m terribly bad at letting myself start things during my breaks that almost always take longer than I expect. Let’s say I can stop that. So, 25% of writing time is not going to be used for writing.
  3. My overall WPH average is currently 524 words. More recently, that average has gone up to 641 words per hour. I’m going to use 641, just because I want to.
    14.25 × 75% × 641 = 6,850
    But answer #1 says I can’t use 14.25 hours. It’s just not realistic. I mean, when am I going to cook, eat, yell at my kids :D, and all the other stuff that inevitably needs to be done every day? So I did a few more calculations. Say it’s reasonable to write during only 50% of that 14.25 hours.
    7.125 × 75% × 641 = 3,425
    On the other hand, say it’s reasonable to write during 66% of that 14.25 hours, still leaving almost 5 hours for stuff besides those allowances I’ve already made.
    9.405 × 75% × 641 = 4,521
    I can cut this last one back to a very conservative 525 WPH pace, and I still come up with 3,703 words. That’s a good check figure. It falls somewhere in between my two main results and shows that even if I have a day where my pace slows down, I should still expect something that falls within the range I’ve calculated. Of course, I could keep tweaking these numbers and pretty much make them spit out any result I want. I’m not going to do that. This calculation uses reasonable assumptions and I’m sticking with it.

And there you have it. I should be expecting myself to reach at least something approaching these numbers every day that I write. Just looking at that makes me feel like a complete and total slacker, because I’m nowhere near those numbers on a regular basis.

All that said, I have no intention of using these calculations to create another schedule for myself or set a time-based writing goal. All I wanted to know was what a reasonable daily word count is for me, as a full time writer. It’s a lot more than I thought it would be.

It’s also a little bit inspiring. ;) I can do this.

Time to break my one-day word count record

Lynn

I need to write a lot of words today. It’s imperative I complete this book I’m working on sooner rather than later because I’ve been saying it would be ready soon for much longer than soon can justify. :o

On that note, I think I’ll make today an attempt to break my one-day word count record of 5,208 words. I’ve still not broken that record and I set that record back in August 2013. The last time I reached 5,000 was July 30, 2014. (Ouch! 2015 has definitely not been a stellar writing year for me.) If I don’t break that record today, then I’ll try again tomorrow. And the day after. I’m going to keep trying to break that record until I do. I’ve really dropped the ball this year and it’s time I picked it back up.

I think the schedule became a crutch for all of my excuses. It’s not that I think it was bad for me. But if I’m not going to follow it and write when I’m supposed to, it just lets me make excuses to not keep trying after my scheduled work day is over. Because my problem is almost always getting started. If it takes me all day to get started, stopping just after I do isn’t helping me. I thought the schedule would help me retrain myself to get started sooner. That’s not how it’s worked out.

Okay, I need just a few minutes to get set, and then I’m starting my timer for some timed writing sessions, and I’m going to spend the rest of the day trying to break that record.

(Hm. See that post right above this one? Yeah, that one. I did, unfortunately spend a big majority of my writing time today figuring all that stuff out. :D I feel more hopeful than I have in a while about my writing production, but the little time I had tonight didn’t net me very many words. Definitely nowhere near what I needed to break my record. So . . . I’ll be giving it another go tomorrow. Wish me luck!)

Today’s word count: 104 words.

Big ouch.

Maybe, maybe, maybe!

Lynn

I want to start sticking to my plans more often. It might help if I made more reasonable plans, but I don’t seem to know how to do that, or to know what reasonable for me is.

The problem with reasonable, and me, is that some days 3,000 words as a goal is reasonable. Some days, it’s impossible.

I don’t even know why.

I’ve been trying to use averages, but averages aren’t working well. My averages are based on numbers that vary wildly. If those daily numbers more often ranged toward the average, it would be easier to say that I should aim for my average.

Maybe my mistake is not aiming for my highest word counts every day but being accepting of the days where it just doesn’t happen. That’s about the only way at the moment that I see myself ever reaching and maintaining a higher daily average word count.

But that kind of daily goal generates a lot of pressure and it’s too easy for me to forget that it’s okay if I don’t make it there every day. I have a faulty memory when it comes to that kind of thing.

Still, it’s about the only option I haven’t tried recently and nothing else is working.

I want that higher word count.

Maybe I should abandon the use of averages altogether. Maybe I should start aiming for a weekly or monthly number of words and my daily goal is a multiple of that. Then if I don’t reach my daily goals, at the end of the month, I still have a real chance of reaching those numbers despite falling short on a day to day basis.

Maybe, maybe, maybe!

All these maybes are starting to make me crazy.

 

New plan

Lynn

This year has turned out to be my lowest word count year since I started publishing in 2012. I’m not happy about that. I want to turn that around and I still have time.

I am a natural procrastinator. I tend to have to work with my rhythms or I crash and burn. I’ve had to admit my schedule has not been working. I mean, it’s kept my monthly word count a little more consistent, but my overall word count is down. By a lot. I have really counted on those few high intensity work days to kind of make up for the low times and the schedule put a stop to those 16 hr days. Sounds more balanced but it’s been really bad for my word count!

On that note, here’s the plan for the rest of the year: Use timers to try to get enough writing done each day to reach and maintain a daily average of 2,995 words. That’s really the sum total of my plan. :)

A challenge for Friday

Lynn

Today’s challenge is to try to write for 4 to 5 hours to get 2,995 words.

So far, at 10:59 am, I’m not proving to myself that “no schedule” is a great idea. Then again, I wasn’t doing anything during my scheduled writing time lately either!

I will update as soon as I get ready to write my first session or when I finish it. :D

(Well, bummer. That was a failed exercise.)

Trying to like Word 2016 or Excel 2016

Lynn

I much prefer Word 2007 to Word 2016, and that preference goes for Excel too. In fact, I will candidly say I hate the newer versions of all the Microsoft Office products. Really hate them.

However, I also hate to see myself sticking with something just because I don’t like change. Because of that, I’m challenging myself to use only the new versions for the next week. If after that, I want to return to the 2007 versions, then I’ll do so with no regrets. :D

Here’s what I don’t like about the 2016 versions (was also applicable to the 2013 versions). I’ve had them on my computer since early September, but just haven’t been able to bring myself to use them much at all.

  • Fonts look terrible on my computer in the new versions.
  • Menus and borders in the new versions take up more space. In a side by side comparison of the same document, I get fewer lines of my spreadsheet visible in Excel 2016 and fewer lines of text in Word 2016. That’s without the ribbon visible. I didn’t check how it looked with the ribbon because that’s not how I typically work.
  • The style set icons are so much less readable than the simple list from Word 2007.
  • The flat icons and colors of the menu are not appealing to me. In fact, I find them very busy and hard to identify when I’m skimming the menu. They all blend together.
  • It takes at least 1 extra click to get to my recent and pinned documents list than it does in Word 2007 or Excel 2007. I just discovered that this isn’t actually true if I set up my quick access toolbar with the “open” icon on there. That takes me directly to the pinned doc list. It only makes me feel like it’s taking more clicks because it’s a page and not a menu that comes up, but the number of clicks is the same.

I do, however, really like the way the search function for Word 2016 works now, by moving into a sidebar and allowing me to see the list of results. That’s the reason I’m giving myself the challenge to use the 2016 versions for a week. If not for that, I probably would have just said forget it and stuck with 2007 anyway.

Challenges for the win

Lynn

I wrote “the year of the schedule is sputtering to an end” and immediately thought about my “no more zero word days” challenge and how it’s still pushing me to write something every day even when I really, really don’t want to.

Last night was absolutely painful getting the words down. I was tired after spending more than 5 hours rearranging my living room furniture. I still wasn’t happy at the end of the night. This morning I worked out the kinks and I’ve got something I can live with for a while, I think. I didn’t have anything to add to my current scene. In fact, I came close for the second (or third) time this week to deleting the last 2000 words. I do, in fact, think that’s what I’m going to do today. It’s time to admit the story is stalled because I went somewhere with it that I don’t like and that just isn’t working for me. It’s time to get rid of that and start over.

And yet, I continue to write something each day on one of my books in progress so I can keep my streak alive.

It’s definitely something to work with.

The year of the schedule is sputtering to an end

Lynn

At what point do I just admit the schedule isn’t working and give it up? I don’t know if I’m there yet but I’m getting close.

Ah. Maybe it’s already time.

The schedule really isn’t working anymore.

In all honesty, I can’t say if it ever worked past those first few good weeks. Even then, my progress was scattered. It’s probable that the boost in productivity came about because of a random surge in creativity or with the excitement of trying something new. I like newness.

I have books to write and the schedule isn’t getting them written. Today, facing this, I am sad.

Uh . . . what plan?

Lynn

Today I had planned to get started precisely at 9 am. It’s now 10:29 and I’ve been reading fiction instead and wondering why I can’t seem to get started this morning. I have a plot problem I can’t figure out. I feel a bit too tired to wrap my head around it this morning.

Wrong attitude, I know.

But I’d really rather be reading and napping. Yes, already. I’m tired after a crazy night chasing down a bad battery in one of my home’s smoke detectors. In the middle of the night. Up the stairs and down the stairs, with the stepladder. More than once. More than four times, in fact. I did use the word crazy. ;D

I think I’ll take the morning off and tackle this plot issue after my lunch break at 1 pm sharp. Until then, I think I’m going to sit back with a good book.

Oh, and no more WiFi during writing time! It’s seriously not working for me to have it on.

Breaking my ban

Lynn

Fact is, it’s going to be a while at my current pace before I have three 2k word days in a row.

Last three days?

946
1,392
1,302

I’m sitting at 232 this morning, after 60 minutes of timed writing and an early start. I’m getting back to it and hoping I can move faster now. I discovered a continuity error in my book that spanned almost four chapters and I had to decide which version to go with and then fix it all. At least I netted 232 words.

My plan today has been to write from 7:30 to 12, trying to reach 2995 words before noon. I’m . . . not so sure I’m going to make it, but I’m not giving up until there’s no hope at all (in other words, at noon).

 

Just a quick post to reorient myself

Lynn

I’ve been gone (vacation) and now I’m back, and although I didn’t get three 2k days in a row yet, I wanted to post a quick update to say I’m about to give it a shot, starting today. I’m hoping I’ll be back in 3 days and can post a better update. I have a ton of writing to do to catch up in October and I need to get started ASAP.

Also, my daily No More Zero Word Days streak is still alive. Yay! Vacation didn’t kill it, although I’m almost certain I had one day with just a bit less than 50 words, but since I was on vacation and wrote anyway, I’m counting it—even though I wouldn’t count it if I’d been home. I’m about to input all those words and update my daily word count spreadsheet and figure out just what I accomplished while I was gone.