2608 words today. Vote on my next book at the end of this post. As a refresher, last night I changed up my strategy:
* 2000 word per day quota until Saturday or the end of the novel, whichever is first
*I’m switching to looping every 1000 words so I can focus on getting more out of my writing sessions.
* Every 1000 words, I will also review 2 chapters from the novel.
Basically, I put a governor on my speed so that I can finish the novel with all the revision pre-loaded so I can be done once I type The End.
I definitely could have gotten more words in today for sure. This probably would have been around a 4000-5000 word day otherwise, so I’m still doing well.
I hit my quota of 2000 words today, and actually did a little better at 2608. I have reviewed & done minor revisions of the novel through Chapter 5, so I’m a little ahead of schedule on the review as well.
The novel is sitting at 54.3K words right now, which is a great place to be. No glimmer yet, but the story did take me somewhere I didn’t expect today.
SOME MORE WORDS ON PROGRESS
When we start writing, we want our daily word counts to be consistent, rain or shine. Some authors can do that.
Most can’t. That’s because we have jobs, families, illnesses, and other obligations. Sometimes we can go days, weeks, or months without a single word.
When you learn to accept your true normal, not the normal you wish for, you own your productivity.
Trust me, any day you write 5600 words (no rewriting of those words, like I did yesterday) is a GOOD DAY. But even for someone like me, that’s not sustainable nor is it plausible. I know that, so when I have good days I lean into them, and I try not to sweat the bad days so much. Your career is made in the average.
As I say frequently, if you look at my career and my writing word counts, you would see that somewhere around 10% of my word count days are 0 or very low, like 100-500 words. Another 10% are the mega days, like yesterday’s 5600. But the remaining 80% are somewhere between there. I have more 80% days than 20% days for sure. In fact, the HIGH days cancel out the low days. They counterbalance each other. So yeah, I wrote 5600 words yesterday, but remember that I didn’t write almost all of last week, so in the aggregate, two 5600-word days don’t really move the needle. But a week’s worth of 2500-word days does, especially when you stack them.
So far this year, I have written 6 books. This book will bring me up to 7. My word count for the year is probably somewhere around 200K to 250K words for the year. Last I checked I’m somewhere just north of 2 million words published.
All this, without writing every single day. What matters is showing up, having fun, and to do the best you can do every day.
VOTING BEGINS FOR MY NEXT BOOK
As promised, it’s time to vote for my next book. Do it here: https://forms.gle/qv9TmTUsA5cjep4t6
Voting ends Thursday night and I’ll announce the winner on Friday.
Looking forward to seeing what you all decide…
PROGRESS SO FAR:
Rat City (Chicago Rat Shifter Book 2): 54,304 words.
Writing App Book: 16,900 words. Drafted and needs final touches.
Writing App Tool: 90% complete
Indie Author Confidential Vol. 6: Published.
