Day: February 3, 2014

One Million Words—Day 34

Lynn

Today I’m going to try 45 minute writing sessions, at least 5 of them. I want to get my minimum daily count of 2,950 (what I need to reach one million words at year end—976,350 words / 331 days = 2,950) and then maybe get a few extra words in there. I’m not sure 5 sessions will be enough, but that’s what I’m starting with.

It’s 9:08 am and I’m off to get started.

Session #1: 34 minutes, 96 new words. Mostly I got stuck changing up the last page of the last scene I wrote, because something was off, but I don’t know what. I’m still not real happy with it. So, my wph is going to be way down today. I can already say that 5 sessions aren’t going to be nearly enough unless I have a fabulous breakthrough.

Session #2: 24 minutes, 93 new words. Mostly I’m still stuck on the same last page of the same scene, although after adding 189 words total to the page, it’s more like I’m stuck on the last page and a half. Seriously thinking about deleting the entire last two to three pages and starting over. Usually if things are going this slow, that’s about my only choice, because something definitely isn’t working—the hazards of making it up as I go, I guess. :D Ah, well. :D It’s still fun, in a twisted sort of way.

I had a longer than it should’ve been break and now I’m about to start another session.

My next session never really got going, although I did toy with some alternate ideas for the scene. In the end, I came out 1 word down. :D

So, yeah. Not a great writing day! Tomorrow will be better.

*Also I’m tracking my time today for everything and I’m going to keep tracking it for the whole week so I can start really focusing on how much time I’m spending doing things besides writing. I have a feeling it’s going to be an eye-opener and a bit of a slap in the face. :D Ah, well. Time tracking is ridiculous, I know. But sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

One Million Words—Month 1 Summary

Lynn

So, the end of month 1 in the One Million Words challenge for 2014 brought low numbers and sad faces all around. I ended January at 23,650.

Wed, 1/1/14 1,192 1,192
Thu, 1/2/14 5,194 4,002
Fri, 1/3/14 8,550 3,356
Sat, 1/4/14 8,720 170
Sun, 1/5/14 8,792 72
Mon, 1/6/14 9,233 441
Tue, 1/7/14 9,220 (13)
Wed, 1/8/14 10,655 1,435
Thu, 1/9/14 10,839 184
Fri, 1/10/14 11,787 948
Sat, 1/11/14 12,150 363
Sun, 1/12/14 14,847 2,697
Mon, 1/13/14 15,259 412
Tue, 1/14/14 18,011 2,752
Wed, 1/15/14 18,234 223
Thu, 1/16/14 19,603 1,369
Fri, 1/17/14 20,096 493
Sat, 1/18/14 20,461 365
Sun, 1/19/14 20,461 0
Mon, 1/20/14 20,461 0
Tue, 1/21/14 20,461 0
Wed, 1/22/14 20,461 0
Thu, 1/23/14 20,461 0
Fri, 1/24/14 20,461 0
Sat, 1/25/14 20,737 276
Sun, 1/26/14 23,650 2,913
Mon, 1/27/14 23,650 0
Tue, 1/28/14 23,650 0
Wed, 1/29/14 23,650 0
Thu, 1/30/14 23,650 0
Fri, 1/31/14 23,650 0

I’m in the middle of a post about hours vs. words that I haven’t finished. I abandoned it when I realized I was supposed to be doing something else and never got back to it, something that’s very typical for me. :D Anyway, it does a good job of summing up why the time goals aren’t working for me. And since I actually want to get a lot of books written this year and at least one million words of fiction, I can’t keep hoping things will turn around. Since I can’t make myself write to a time goal, I’m just going to have to go back to writing to a word count goal, regardless of my theories about time goals being better. I still think they are, but if they don’t motivate me to write, they’re useless.

I don’t know if I want to try to make up the 59,683 I’m behind all in one month (I’m not even sure that’s possible for me) or if I want to just adjust to the new daily goal of 2,950. I’m thinking it might be best for me to go for the 2,950 and try to get in some extra on a couple days a week. Maybe aim for at least two 4,000 word days every week.

Well, I’m back to tracking my time again, and my timer says I’ve been on the internet for 28 minutes. Time to go do some writing!