If You Want Change, Change It Up!

My most productive writing month ever was July 2014. My boyfriend was on deployment, and I was unemployed. It was basically a glimpse of what life could be like as a full-time writer, and it was awesome—I wrote 24,172 words! (Okay, boyfriend being gone sucked, but it did make for a lot of free time.) It was no surprise that my productivity tapered off as I started a new job in August, but I did still manage to finish and edit novel 7. It was back to normal for juggling writing with a lot of other priorities.

And so it remained. August 2014: 8165 words. September 2014: 1374 words. October 2014: 4124 words. November 2014: 10,286 words. December 2014: 4484 words. January 2015: 5129 words. February 2015: 127 words. March 2015: 9629 words. April 2015: 23,459 words.

Wait, what?

How did I manage my #2 most productive month ever while working full time, spending time with my boyfriend, going back to school for accounting, bonding a pair of stubborn bunnies, and training for a half-marathon? I briefly touched on this in my last post, but now with more data under my belt I want to re-emphasize it.

First of all, I started writing a new manuscript, which obviously is going to boost word count. Writing short stories and editing just don’t produce as much raw new words. Secondly, productivity breeds productivity. Having to actually think about what is most important and how I am going to manage things can lead to a lot more work getting done then when I know I have plenty of time to do it, which I then fritter away. But the biggest source of this productivity surge was a schedule change.

I am not a morning person. Really. Given my way, I’d stay up until 3 AM every night and wake up at my leisure. Sadly, no one seems to want to give me my way in all things. Until I win the lottery or retire or decide to drop off the grid, I am chained in part to the rat race. And it’s exhausting. My day job schedule is approximately 7:30 - 4:30 with a 15-minute commute on each end. It leaves plenty of time in the evenings, but it doesn’t leave plenty of energy in the evenings. I would come home, get through my workout, scrounge some sort of dinner, and collapse into my couch-potato spot until bedtime (about 10:30). I would kick myself for wasting those 2-3 hours. Plenty of time for writing, Nora! You’re just lazy!

Okay, well maybe I am. But I was just expecting too much of myself. So I decided—what if I got my writing done before my soul was sucked away at my day job? Since I can’t stay up all night anyway, does it matter if I have to go to bed at 10 PM instead of 11 PM? Is getting up at 6 AM any worse than getting up at 7 AM? I figured I would give it a try.

And I’m still trying it! Since I started this, I have missed only ONE day of my pre-work writing. No matter how much I hate it when my alarm goes off, no matter how much I think “I can’t do this,” I force my sorry ass out of bed and into my desk chair. And then I write. I focus on time, not output. It works out to ~45 minutes of writing, or usually 900-1000 words. Five days a week. That is easily 20k words a month, not including any bonus sessions I do on weekend. That’s a first draft in four months! Considering the first draft of novel 6 took me, oh, almost two years, I would call that a success. (Novel 7 took much less time, but was also only 42k long in its first draft, so not very comparable.)

Unprecedented pace of writing for me.

I honestly never thought that writing in the morning would work for a night owl like me. But identifying an obstacle (lack of motivation to write after work), implementing a trial solution (getting up earlier to write before work), and observing the results (33k words into novel 8) is never a bad idea. And if it comes to a point that this isn’t working for me, I’ll try something else. But just trying to do the same old thing and berating myself for failing at it was a terrible strategy. Don’t do it!

September 2014 Wrap-Up

October already?!

I can almost believe it, actually, since I was back in my hometown last weekend and saw the fall foliage. Amazing how much of a difference that can make in seeing time pass! San Diego truly is the endless summer, which can make the months and years bleed together. Not that I mind! But it was nice to see the leaves going out in a blaze of glory.

Anyway, aside from traveling to Iowa for a dear friend's wedding, what did September hold for me? Well, my birthday for one. And another month away from my boyfriend, for another. And a wee bit of writing! A rather mixed month, all in all. I only got down 1374 new words over 5 writing days (so 25 non-writing days).

Wordcount goal: 49.1%
Non-writing days goal: 88%
Agents queried: 0
Rejections received: 3 forms, 1 closed due to no response

I didn't quite hit my wordcount goals, but I did hit more of my intangible goals. I finished the readthrough of novel 7, although the plethora of post-it notes has not yet made it into a coherent revision plan. I wrote 3 flash stores and one longer story (though it bordered on flash as well). Not prolific, but not bad for someone struggling to adapt to a new job and an entirely new lifestyle. I certainly won't hold it against myself!

As October dawns, I have big plans. BIG BIG plans that I won't go into here. But suffice to say that I am becoming even more serious about my writing career (something that is already my number 2 priority). More about that later. As for writing goals--I want to continue to produce my weekly flash stories (expect to see a new #FlashFridayFootage this week!), so I plan on 4 in October. I'd like to do at least 1 longer story for an anthology I have in mind. And I am going to attack the second draft of novel 7! The revision plan should be drawn up by the end of this week, and revisions will commence immediately. I am still SO excited about this novel and cannot wait for someone besides me to read it--so I need to get it written!

Because novel 7 is a bit stunted in its current form (barely over 40k words), I'll be adding a LOT. I hope to finish the revision by the end of November (no NaNoWriMo for me this year, sadly), and I need to get to at least 65k. Which means I better get close to 13k down this month. That sounds like a lot now that I write it out...

Anyway, between all of that, I am looking at a wordcount goal of 14,300 words! That would be a productive but not record-breaking month for me, so I think it is completely possible. That works out to less than 500 words a day! I could do that on my lunch break. So my goal is 14,300 words with no more than 10 non-writing days.

Bring on the pumpkin spice and the writing! Let's do this, October!

August 2014 Wrap-Up

Only a couple days behind!

August was A Month. I don't quite have words to describe the whirlwind of emotions and ideas and everything. There will probably be a very introspective post next week--breaking the chain of all my previous light-hearted posts...

But for today, let's talk August numbers!

I knew August was going to be low-key after my crazy productivity in June and July. I did achieve my goal of finishing novel 7's first draft! It's a short lil thing, only 42k, but it's there for me to work on now. I intended to fill my "cooling off" period by writing shorts and editing novel 6. I did do some editing, but no shorts, and there just wasn't a lot of new words in August. But that's okay! Not every month needs to be a 25k month. Especially not ones where I am moving apartments and starting a new job at the same time. Plus traveling. And, you know, life.

Between all that, I came up with 8165 new words over 9 writing days (so 22 non-writing days).

Wordcount goal: 85.1%
Non-writing days goal: 31.8%
Agents queried: 9
Contests entered: 1
Rejections received: 3 forms, 1 personalized, 5 closed due to no response

All in all, I am happy with August. Did I meet my metrics goals? No. But that was more because my metrics weren't set right than anything else. I did spend plenty of time working on my writing, editing and reading about the writing craft and submitting to #PitchWars and all that good stuff. I'm headed into September with my head held high!

So what does September hold? Editing, mostly! Yay! I have already broken out the purple pen and the post-its, and novel 6 will yield to my crushingly awesome editorial skills. My goal is to have my quick read through and notes done and my revision pass in hand by the end of the month. That may not sound like a lot, but it most definitely is! I would still like to do some work on short fiction, so I hope to write one flash fiction story a week (I have to for #FlashFridayFootage!) and one longer short story over the course of the month. Which means I would need at the very least 2800 words, so goal is set! I would say I could do that in 8 writing days, so let's put the non-writing days goal at no more than 22. Again, this doesn't sound like a lot (because it's not!), because the focus is editing, which I don't have metrics for. Mostly becayse I'm not sure how to enter blood, sweat, and tears into Excel.

And on I go!

I'm just glad my kitchen doesn't look like this anymore!

July 2014 Wrap-Up (Post #100!)

Update: I just remembered that this was 100th post! I was going to do something special, but this is what I did instead. Yay for the longevity of my writing blog, and here's to another 100 posts! :cheers:

First off, let me say that I know it's Friday, but there isn't a #FlashFridayFootage this week. With my parents in town plus 3 job interviews and trying to get writing done, I didn't have a chance to make a video! But rest assured, it will be back in full swing next Friday!

Now, for July: WOOOOO!

Yup, July was as great as June. Better than June. It was thoroughly awesome and everything I had hoped it would be when I did my June wrap-up. That is not a very common occurrence, so I am fully enjoying the feeling.

Remember how June was my most productive month ever at 15,385? Well, let's just say that record no longer stands. In July I wrote 24,172 words with 8 non-writing days.

Most of those went towards novel 7 (which is turning out to be more like novella 1). I am still having so much fun with this project and think it definitely has amazing potential. Usually at this point I am already hating what I am writing, so it's refreshing to still be excited about it!

As for novel 6, it hasn't had quite such a good run of it. I spent most of the month trying to re-work the query to get my response percentage up, and I'm still not quite happy with it. I submitted to the #NewAgent contest run by Michelle Hauck and had great fun, even if mine didn't make it past the screening. I gathered some new beta feedback, and am ready to push forward with another round of queries as well as #PitchWars in August! Lots of great stuff to look forward to.

Wordcount goal: 104.0%
Non-writing days goal: 125%
Agents queried: 1
Rejections received: 10 forms, 8 closed due to no response

I honestly never knew I could write almost 25k words in a month. It would have been even more, but the first week of July was my boyfriend's last week prior to deployment, and this past week with all the other non-writing stuff it has been a little hectic. A reminder of what it is going to be like when I go back to a full time day job, but hopefully I can still find the energy and motivation to keep trucking with my writing goals. I have accomplished so much over the past 2 months, I don't want to stop now!

So for August, my goal is to finish this first draft of novel 7. Since it is painfully short so far, I estimate another 7000 words should do it. Then I'll let it sit until September. I also want to write some short stories as well as do a light revision of novel 6 before #PitchWars (which starts on August 18!). I have some ideas about novel 8, but I don't think that is going to be an August project for me. Between novel 6 and novel 7, plus toying with resurrecting novel 1, I do not need to add another project right now!

Since I will be doing a bit less original writing in August, I've revised my wordcount goals downwards. However I do still intend to be spending an equivalent amount of time, if not more, working on writing. I should really come up with some metric for editing/revisions. What can I say, I am just a metric-motivated person! So in the first week or two, while I'm finishing novel 7's draft, I'll still aim for 750 words a day. Once that wraps up, it'll drop down to 100 words per day. That puts me at a total goal of 9,600 words! Since I plan to be doing lots of writing work, I'll set my non-writing days goal at 7. One week off throughout the month should be easily doable.

With a good June and July under my belt, I am feeling more and more like a "real" writer and very ready to improve my craft and move to the next level!

June 2014 Wrap-Up

It's been a while since I've done a monthly summary post. When I'm not producing a new MS, it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. But since I started a new novel this month, well, here I go!

June was a great month for me in writing. I wrote what I felt to be a kick-ass query. I participated in and "won" #SFFpit. I sent out a ton of queries. I had a plot idea, outlined it, and started writing novel 7. I joined the amazing Absolute Write forums. Being without a day job is undoubtedly good news for my writing. It really makes me want to be able to pursue being a novelist full time. Alas, I don't have the savings for that. So the job hunt continues.

I didn't set any concrete goals for June, except to start the querying process, but if I had I think I would have met them all! Here are the nuts and bolts of June 2014:

Words written: 15,385 (!)*
Non-writing days: 16
Agents queried: 33
Rejections received: 8 forms, 1 from a partial request
Publishers queried: 2
Rejections received: 1 personalized

*This makes June 2014 the most productive month I have ever had for wordcount. At least going back to the inception of my tracker spreadsheet, 2011. That includes an attempt at NaNoWriMo!

With such an excellent June on the books, I just know July is going to be even better. Those June words mostly resulted from a 14 day writing streak on novel 7. I've blogged before about the importance of momentum, and I clearly have it. The streak was broken due to a Disneyland trip yesterday, but tonight it begins again!

So, the goal for July is 750 words a day, for a daunting total of 23,250 words. Also no more than 10 non-writing days! I think that is completely achievable. We'll see!

August...September...October...damn...2013?? Wrap-Up

Okay, so...yeah. It's been forever. I know. I set up a repeating to-do on Todoist for a blog post, and every day I get a reminder telling me how overdue I am. I am now up to 102 days overdue. Oops.

In my defense (and because, fuck, no one reads this anyway), I had a lot of shit going on. After 1.5 years of 3000 mile long distance, my boyfriend and I moved in together here in San Diego. I had to find an apartment for the two of us, and then I flew out there to help him with the drive here. Then moving in. Considering I just put my artwork up on the walls two weeks ago, a blog post was not so high on my list. Not to mention holidays, weddings, and a vacation to Kaua'i to ring in the New Year.

Not pictured: Me thinking about writing. At all.

So, having been so long absent from the detailings of drafting and editing and gnashing my teeth, what has the result been?

Well. I did finally finish the first draft of novel 6. Huzzah! That was my goal back in July, but I didn't actually finish until October. Still, that was the goal I set last January for the year, so it's a pretty big deal to me. Also, it meant that I had November free to start something new. Yup, I attempted NaNoWriMo 2013! I failed, by a lot. Total words was only 12,256. All in all, that's a horrible NaNo but a great normal month, so I think it was a successful experiment. Unfortunately, I was also attempting to pants. I am not a pantser, and I realize now what a mistake that was. It means that my work on that idea has come to giant halt, because the story is just all over the place, and I have no idea what the next step is.

2013 had some ups and downs for me, and it ended on a long down for productivity, but since it was the year I finished novel 6, I am going to count it as an overall success.

Total in 2013, I wrote 69,969 words. I wrote those words over 90 writing days. Last January, I said I thought it would take me another 70k to finish the draft (I was about 13k off due to some words being for different projects, but close), and I hoped to have 86 writing days. So suck it, 2013. You tried to defeat me, but I did it!!

Looking forward into 2014, I hope to average at least 100 words every day, with 40k as my goal for the year. I hope to write at least 129 days this year (a 50% increase over last year's goal). And, most importantly, I want to sell or be close to selling novel 6 by the end of year. I plan to be done with my re-writing and editing by the end of April, and I think that gives me some time to get some serious eyes on it and some offers. Is 2014 going to be the year? We shall see...

July 2013 Wrap-Up

August is here! That means summer is on the wane, the nights are again growing longer, and we are all a little frantic in enjoying the few weeks of it left. Of course, I am lucky enough to live somewhere that winter is barely distinguishable from summer, but still, those short days and cooler temps get to me!

But I'm excited about August. Not only is it going to bring me and boyfriend to the same city (and the same apartment!) after 14 long, long months, but I am also taking 15 days of vacation! I am going to see my hometown and my family for the first time in a couple years. Should be a good time. And, of course, August is going to bring the curtain down on the first draft of novel 6.

Yeah, I know. That was my goal for July. There is really no excuse for me not getting it done, except for the fact that I struggle a lot with endings. I've only got the last chapter left, though, so August for sure! I am really excited.

Although I didn't hit my goal for July, I still put down 8,129 words. It wasn't a bad month as a whole, since I also find a new apartment, made some huge strides towards a work qualification, and enjoyed summer while it is here.

August is going to be a busy non-writing month for me. The big move and the vacation aren't going to leave a lot of writing time! So my goal is pretty simple: finish this damn draft! Specifically, I hope to finish the draft during the first week of August. Then I can put it aside for a while before going back to edit with a vengeance. I've had a lot of ideas for novel 7 percolating, so I am going to start outlining and brainstorming for that as soon as I finish up this draft. Also going to keep my other blog going after I resurrected it from a long dormancy. So I'm not giving myself any specific wordcount or writing days goals.

Now I'm off to power through these last three scenes!

Percentage of goal met: 62.5%

June 2013 Wrap-Up

Another month has come and gone! I don't know how it happens so fast. They seem so long when they are happening and then BAM. Gone.

Between the training team and ORSE, June was just as bad for writing as I was afraid. With my little retreat, however, I was able to make up some ground and finish the month a bit ahead of schedule. While it was spread over fewer days than I planned (I had 22 non-writing days in June), I did come up with 9,684 new words for my novel.

That means that going in July, I have a new goal. Not a wordcount (although I'll use wordcount to track it, since it is easiest), not a writing days goal (although again, I'll track that just to see). No, my goal for July is as straightforward as it will be difficult: to finish this draft of novel 6.

That's right. It has been over a year in the making now, and it is time to tie it up! According to my outline, I have 2.5 chapters to go. That will probably end up being about 10k words, which is totally doable in a month. Especially a month that I will be in-port with a relatively light workload at my actual job.

Percentage of wordcount goal met: 129.1%
Percentage of writing days goal met: 81.8%

May 2013 Wrap-Up

The good thing about setting low goals is you can meet them!

Actually, sarcasm aside, that is an important part of goal-setting. According to the (admittedly rather annoying) SMART acronym, goals should be Attainable. Which was what I tried to do for May, since I knew it was going to be a busy month.

And it was! I spent about half the month out to sea, and the other half I had the normal multitude of demands on my time. So I am not too disappointed in myself for what I got done this month. I more than met my goals, and since the majority of it was accomplished in the last week of the month, I feel like I have a good momentum going into June.

For May, I ended up putting down 6930 new words (almost 2 whole chapters!) with 19 non-writing days.

June is also a busy month for me. I will be underway for 2 weeks, and those weeks include a training team visit and our annual ORSE inspection. But since I was able to get stuff done despite scheduling issues in May, I want to up the ante a little for June. I think 250 words a day and no more than 18 non-writing days is a SMART goal!

Percentage of wordcount goal met: 111.8%
Percentage of writing days goal met: 105.3%

April 2013 Wrap-Up

I was so full of excuses about how busy March was (and they were real!), but I have nothing to explain April. Okay, work was a little crazy. But mostly I was just "not in the mood," which makes me so mad at myself. If I ever want to be a "real writer," I can't let it depend on something as capricious as my moods. Twelve years since I wrote my first manuscript and have I learned anything?

Anyway.

April started out promising. I wrote 6 of the first 7 days, hitting way above my goal for wordcount, and then it all fell away. Seriously. After that first week, I only wrote one other day. Which means I had 23 non-writing days and only a total of 3921 words. Still, that was another chapter. Getting closer!

May is going to be crazy with underway and everything, so I am not going to put too much pressure on myself. I've revised my daily wordcount goal down to 200 and my writing days up to 20 non-writing days. And anything more than that will just be a happy bonus!

Percentage of wordcount goal met: 42.2%
Percentage of writing days goal met: 60.9%

March 2013 Wrap-Up

Phew! What a long and crazy month. Seriously, it felt like at least two months. I honestly kept thinking that I had forgotten to pay my rent because I was so sure that it was April.

It was a pretty busy month, too. This month I ran my half marathon, took a few days to visit my boyfriend (♥), took my P/1 exam for SOA/CAS, and that's all on top of my normal routine! With all that going on, there were quite a few days when I just didn't have a chance to write. Which is why I am so proud of myself for the fact that I met my March goal!

Cruising by the water!

Well, not completely. My goal was no more than 14 non-writing days, and I had 18. But I think that, given what I had going on, that was pretty reasonable. And I did (barely) hit my word count goal! The goal was 9300, and today I edged over to 9302. I put up almost 4k words this weekend, and I am feeling pretty good about it.

April should be a little quieter. No boyfriend time (sadface!), no races, and no exams. And some underway time. So I should have no problem hitting my April goals. I'm giving myself an extra 10 words a day (which puts me at 9300 again, since April is a day shorter) and trying for no more than 14 non-writing days again. Good luck to me!


Percentage of wordcount goal met: 100.0%
Percentage of writing days goal met: 77.8%

February 2013 Wrap-Up

February is over already? Yikes!

But although the month was a bit of a crazy one for me, I managed to make it a pretty good writing one as well. My goal was both a word count (5900) and a number of non-writing days (not more than 14). I met both of those goals!!

Okay, so maybe I didn't have an epic breakthrough or anything. My final total for the month was 6655 words and 13 non-writing days.

But I set my goals for a reason, and meeting them makes it a successful month. No point in worrying about whether I could have met them more--I can always up the ante for next month!

Which is what I'm doing. February was 210 words a day, March will be 300. It doesn't sound like  a big difference, but it brings my goal for March up to 9300, which is not an insignificant amount (about 2 chapters). I'm also angling for not more than 14 non-writing days again, but where that was 50% for February, it's only 45% of March. So slightly increasing the pressure on myself. I'm currently sitting at almost 50k for Novel 6, which means about halfway. I will finish it this year!

Percentage of wordcount goal met: 112.8%

Percentage of writing days goal met: 107.7%

Submissions: 1 (Short Story 2), resulted in form rejection

January 2013 Wrap-Up

Not a bad start to the year. I ended up at 7128, or 109.0% of my goal, which makes me pretty happy. I had 21 days of no writing, which makes me less happy, but taking into account my vacation at the beginning of the month, it’s not bad.

My goal for February, short month that it is, is a fairly modest 5908. I think perhaps I need to start evaluating my writing goals in terms of days actually spent written. So in terms of that, my goal is to have only 14 non-writing days. One of those things that sounds easier than it is? Possibly. But it’s also possible that I could smash my goals! I like to think on the bright side at least some of the time!

November 2012 Wrap-Up

I'm a little late on this, but I have a good reason! My boyfriend was in town last weekend, and it was the first time I'd seen him in almost four months! Needless to say, I had much better—much!—things to do than write a blog post. Alas, my boyfriend is gone again (22 days until we meet again, boo!), and so here I am again.

November was a really good month for me. My goal was 10k. Not a NaNo, but a good chunk of writing nonetheless. If I could do that every month, I'd have a novel every year!

I was right on track to make, if not exceed, my goal for the month, but the last week derailed. I spent a lot of time trying to get everything just right for my boyfriend's visit. Yes, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I didn't get everything done, but we still had an almost perfect weekend, so I don't consider the effort wasted!

So, my final tally of words written in November: 8754.

Not bad! My most productive month of the year so far. I am pleased, and hopefully December will live up to the standard I just set. I'm slightly behind already, but I'll have plenty of time to catch up. I have no plans for the holidays, until the very end of the month when I'm headed to Costa Rica.

My goal for December is 5400 words. Should be an easy target! It would be great to finish off the year on a high note. Just worked through some plotting kinks for the next section of the novel, so I am ready to go on a bender until I have a few more chapters under my belt!

October 2012 Wrap-Up

I haven't done a monthly wrap-up in ages. I've had a very good reason--I haven't had enough progress to be wrapped up in anything other than a very depressing package. But I think I have finally gained some traction on a new project, Novel #6. Of course it will be only my fourth completed novel but there is hope, someday, that some of the others might get finished.

There were a few wrenches thrown into the works, with being carted halfway around the world and changing 12 time zones at once, etc. Trying to get back into the swing of things now that I am back home, and I've found that my time for writing seems to somehow have disappeared. Work, work out, make dinner, take care of the random things that pop up in life, and then it's pretty much time to rinse and repeat. But I am positive I can make more time as things get settled!

So, for all this talk of progress, it might seem a little low. Words written in October: 5864. But keep in mind that is about 22% of the total words I have written this year. And my second most productive month. (September was a whopping 7474!)

With another few thousand words under my belt, I am feeling good about getting more down. My goal for November is to double my October production. That's right--10k! It may not sound like much, but it feels like my own mini NaNoWriMo.

And, best of all, I think these are good words that I've written. I am really excited about this project. I've let my alpha read the first chapter, and it's just a first draft, but he said that it feels polished and like a "real book." Of course, he is my boyfriend, so perhaps not an unbiased opinion, but he usually is honest with me so I'll trust him on this one too. Just hope the rest of the chapters live up to it!

February 2012 Wrap-Up

Okay, another month is come and gone. This one is a little shorter than most (although longer than usual!), so less time for getting all the things done that I want!

But while I won't expose myself by admitting my small numbers for the month, I will go ahead and say that I feel good about getting the wheels rolling again.

By the end of March, I plan to be done with an edit of my Novel 1. DONE. I mean it. And to finish up and polish up and attempt to shop a short story I'm almost done with.

Yes I can!

May 2011 Wrap-Up

I don't even know if it is worth it to post a monthly recap. It can be summed up in this: nothing.

I would post something optimistic about June, but my heart wouldn't be in it. At this point, I just hope I can get any words.

Words written: 988.

Yup. Less than 1k words in an entire month during which I wasn't even working. I fail. I feel really pessimistic about my writing future right now.

April 2011 Wrap-Up

Well, April didn't turn out quite like I was expecting. I had oodles of freetime, there were times when I literally spent an hour lying in bed staring at the ceiling. And yet still--no words. No nothing.

Guess going through a separation (and soon divorce) doesn't encourage those creative juices! So my total was dismal. I think that Novel 4 is done-for. It's excruciating to write, I think it's coming out boring and affected, and I haven't got any excitement to even finish it. I won't think of it as a waste of 17k words, though! I like to think that I've learned and improved from it.

On the bright side, I dug back into Novel 1, and I still think it has promise! Want to finish this overhaul and then will be querying seriously.

Words written: 2,008.

March 2011 Wrap-Up

About the only good thing that can be said for March was that it was better than February.

Words written: 4,765.

Then again, I knew this month would be rough with moving and everything. April, on the other hand, should be a treasure trove! Of course, I'm sitting at zero right now--but that is about to change as soon as I finish this blog post!

I will be finishing up my move this week, and then I am going to have bundles of free time. And hopefully the determination to actually use that free time productively! My goal is 15,000 words. That's only 500 a day, so this isn't a big step up in terms of goals for the year, but it will be such a huge improvement over the past few months that I'll be thrilled!

February 2011 Wrap-Up

I know, I know, I'm way overdue! In my defense, I started deployment a week before the end of February, and although I'm back now (yay for PCS orders), it threw a major wrench in my schedule. Also I went through a huge debacle in my marriage--which, thankfully, seems to be back on track. So maybe now I can get back to writing! Because these totals for February--well, they're shocking.

Words written: 1,486.

Yikes. I know! And so far for March I'm doing even worse. But like I said--life has been throwing me a few curves! I am ready to knuckle down and get some work done. Especially as I have oodles of free time until May.

And on the bright side, I did get a re-read of draft 2 of Novel 1 done, made some notes, and am ready to attack draft 3!