Tag: Progress posts

Posts that track my progress toward my goals.

Word count post for Oct. 9–11, 2016

Lynn

Oct. 9: 3,106
Oct. 10: 0
Oct. 11: 149

Daily average since 9/19: 903

===Notes===

So, I finally finished that book! Then I had to take a day off to read it. Then I did some light edits. Now I’m about to resume writing on another book I want to release this year.

I’m trying to make up for the dry spell that went on for so long, and I have no idea if I’ll be able to do it or not, but I have a goal to end this year with my best annual word count since I started this thing.

 

Word count post for Oct. 6–7, 2016

Lynn

Oct. 6: 2,360
Oct. 7: 1,736

Daily average since 9/19: 882

6 day average: 2,303

===Notes===

Well, I’ve been working much harder than it feels like I’ve should’ve had to work to reach these word counts, but I have noticed a pattern in that usually writing the end of a book is slower for me than the beginning and the middle.

The beginning tends to be where I do my fastest writing, and the end seems to be where I pay for all the liberties I’ve taken early on in the story and have to make it all work. :D

Word count post for Oct. 4–5, 2016

Lynn

Oct. 4: 2,968
Oct. 5: 2,225

Daily average since 9/19: 752 words.

===Notes===

I’m still working on getting better about sticking to my scheduled writing times. I find myself distracted during the blocks of time, and instead of having time for four 50 minute sessions in a four hour period, I’m coming up with two or three, if I’m lucky. :o

This morning I haven’t been that lucky.

For example, this morning: 9 to 1 – I planned for four 50 minute sessions in that period.  I managed two. So I reached half the word count I wanted. But no, not even that, because I averaged 100 words less (or thereabouts) per session than I planned.

This is a huge problem, because what ends up being a few hours of writing takes all day. And because I’m not really on break or relaxing during the time I’m not writing, I exhaust my writing energy. (I manage to make almost all this unproductive time feel like work, don’t ask me how.)

So, priority goal: find some way to stop getting sidetracked during the blocks of time I’ve set aside in my schedule!

Word count post for Oct. 3, 2016

Lynn

1,470 words.

Not as many words as I hoped. (See below.)

Daily average since 9/19: 522 words.

At least it’s still rising, right?

===Notes===

One thing I’ve decided today is that I have to get serious about starting on time in the mornings.

Starting late seems to have a major effect on how well I’m able to stick to the schedule the rest of the day. It also sets me up for a slow start and a low word count.

That’s not what I want.

Today was an excellent example of what starting late does to my day.

What I was aiming for

625 by 8 am
1250 by 9 am
1875 by 10 am
2500 by 11 am
3125 by 1 pm
3750 by 2 pm
4375 by 3 pm
5000 by 4 pm

What actually happened

Session Time in Hours Session Words WPH
0.8333 496 595
0.8333 391 469
0.8333 409 491
0.45 174 387

There’s really only one way to solve this, and that’s to get to bed on time, then get to writing before I let any distractions get in the way.

Of course, my word counts weren’t up to speed either, but that’s likely something I’ll have to address after I get settled into a better routine.

Word count post for Sept. 28, 2016

Lynn

1,101 words.

So. 1,101 words is a far cry from the 6,000 I wanted to reach yesterday. Was 6,000 a realistic goal after such a long dry spell? No. But I don’t really care that much about realistic goals. I’m always just interested in finding a way to overcome the natural tendency I have toward a lack of action. I like writing. I like doing things. But I have a really hard time with the getting started part of just about everything. Unrealistic goals sometimes helps, as long as I don’t let my failures get me down. Sometimes they do, and when that happens, I usually step back, drop the goals, and start over.

Daily average since 9/19: 185 words.

It’ll take a while for my daily average to recover even writing lots of words every day. :D I’ll suffer through it. I’m not resetting the start date for this.

Word count post(s) for Sept. 21–25, 2016

Lynn

0 words.

164 words.

(12) words.

0 words.

778 words.

And that sums that up. This hasn’t been the restart I’ve been hoping for, but last night I seem to have finally started to get somewhere. That 778 words falls in the low word count day* range, but it’s still a massive improvement over zero. :)

Daily average since 9/19: 116 words.

I have a ways to go to reach my new goal of fewer low word count days, but I’m not restarting this one and I’m not giving up on it.

*Scale:
1,000 = low word count day
2,000 = average word count day
3,000 = moderate word count day
4,000 = high word count day
5,000 = record breaking word count day (always, because 5k is such a push for me)

Now, despite today’s late start (jury duty and a lot of other interruptions today), I’m aiming for a moderate word count today.