Author: Lynn

OMW: Day 69

Lynn

I need 3,237 words today.

Plus some. Because I need to stop the upward creep of my goal and knock it down a bit too.

Extra goal today? Try to maintain at least 500 wph today.

Schedule is off because yeah, I’m just eating breakfast now, so no 7–9 session. However, I don’t really want a break already so I think I’ll just try writing from 9:30–11:30, then break, then try to get back on the schedule at 12.

And I discovered something promising this morning. I woke at daybreak, which is about half an hour or so earlier than sunrise. If I can just get up at daybreak, I’ll be a little behind (but not for long because spring’s on the way and daybreak is coming earlier and earlier every day), but maybe this won’t be as hard for the next few weeks as I was imagining. I just need to get in bed earlier so I don’t want to fall back asleep like I did this morning. :D

11:56 pm: I’m at 181.

I know! But the story is going well, I promise, and I’ve been working. :D This probably comes back to the issue I have where when I finish a story I have to actually be done with it. So as I get closer to the end, I start going back and fixing anything that needs fixing as the end ties things together. A lot of Oh, wouldn’t it be great if I had set this up better… or Shouldn’t I delete that reference because it contradicts this… stuff that I then go back and set up properly or delete. :D I really don’t mind. I do wish I was faster but I really enjoy this so I’m just grateful I’m having fun. I’m so close to finishing this one. It’s so exciting! Now, time to get back to work, it’s 12 pm already!

10:13 pm: I’m at 1,005.

I almost quit at 907 but I thought I’d like to at least finish over 1000 so I could start a streak or something so I pushed on through. I’m glad I did. But now I’ve got to go to sleep so I can wake up bright and early and get back to it. I didn’t have the opportunity today to use any of my free time for writing but I did get my evening hour in, getting a little more than 400 words written during that time! I missed an update somewhere in here but I was just under 600 words when I started my evening hour at about 9 (a little late).

Daylight Saving Time Is Ridiculous

Lynn

Why do we let these people do this to us? Daylight Saving Time is ridiculous. As someone who can only easily get up once the sun’s come up, I think I’d just live on standard time year round and to hell with everyone else. Except I have kids still in school so that’s not exactly feasible. But someday, I tell you! Someday!

OMW: Day 68

Lynn

I need 3,233 words today.

Still creeping up! I’ve got to start meeting or exceeding this goal—and soon.

9:59 am: I’m at 208.

Could definitely be better, but it’s going to wait until after a nap. I need one, then an early lunch, before I settle in. I need a lot of words today. :D

Sunrise was 7 am this morning, after being at about 6 am yesterday. As you can imagine, even though I went to bed early last night, I barely dragged out of bed at 7:40 am Daylight Saving Time. Ugh.

If it were yesterday, I’d have gotten started 26 minutes late. But since it’s today, I got started 1 hour and 26 minutes late. Sigh.

Good news is that I’m not really planning to stick to the schedule today anyway mostly because I want to get as much writing done as I can. I’m really enjoying this short story and I’m having so much fun that I woke up thinking about my story every time I cracked my eyes open. Those days had disappeared over the last few months and I’m so glad to see them back!

1:25 pm: I’m at 765.

I’m also coming up on the last 1,300 words of my short story and I definitely think I’ll make it to the end today. :D I really like it!

5:08 pm: I’m at 1,181.

If I’m going to make it to 3,233 today, I’m going to have to write a lot faster for the rest of the night than I’ve done so far. I really should’ve skipped the B&J margarita thingy with lunch. Now I just want to go to sleep. Also, this is the dark side of going off-schedule. Too little pressure to get somewhere before the next break. On that note, I’m taking a break until 6 pm and then going to write diligently from 6–9.

9:07 pm: I’m at 1,633.

I’m not all that thrilled about that, although I admit I got started about an hour late partially because of some unexpected interruptions. The other part of partially was entirely my own fault. And I actually stopped at 8:34 for a quick break and to update this post and discovered all my websites were down. Got a message off to support  and got distracted (entirely my own fault again) and then it was 9 pm. Gah.

I’m not fond of quitting when the writing’s still going, so I can’t decide if I should or shouldn’t call it a night…

I think I’ll give it until 9:30 but then it’s definitely over. I need to get to sleep on time tonight because I’d like to be on my schedule tomorrow. Although let’s be honest here, with the Daylight Saving time change still fresh, who knows what will happen in the morning. Until this morning, I’d been waking up without an alarm. I don’t see that happening tomorrow.

10:25 pm: I’m at 1,872.

Yeah. So I didn’t quit when I was supposed to. And I really can’t believe it took me that long to get another 200ish words! What’s crazy is I know I was zoning on this because that hour went by in a blink and I loved every minute of it, but man, if this is my zone speed, I better not plan on being a prolific author unless I want to spend 16 hours a day at the computer.

But I’m calling it now. I’ve got to get to bed. I can tell you now, though, that the schedule is off for the morning 7–9 session. Ain’t no way I’m getting up before 7 am. :D

OMW: Day 67

Lynn

I need 3,225 words today.

Which, wow, considering that I didn’t maIke my goal last night, isn’t too bad. But 2 separate events today mean I’m going to lose at least 6 hours of potential writing time so I’ve got to be diligent with my time today. Off I go to write!

9:23 am: I’m at 653.

All of those words are on my short story, which is up to 5,749 words. Next goal? 1,500 by 11. Then I gotta do other stuff for a while. :D So I better get cracking.

11:21 am: I’m at 785.

I really wanted to be further along before I had to stop. Ah well. Better than 0!

4:17 pm: Ha. 6 hours of missed writing time was too optimistic. 1 event out of the way and I’ve already lost my entire 12–4 block plus some. I have just about an hour and a half I can use as writing time before the next interruption. I’m off to make good use of my time!

9:29 pm: I’m at 834.

I spent too much time messing around with what I’d already written and barely managed any new words before I had to go. Now that I’m back … I’m giving up! Tired and falling asleep at the keyboard. Just not enough time after getting home from the second event of the day and I was tired before I went.

OMW: Day 66

Lynn

I need 3,222 words today.

My daily writing quota is still creeping up because I keep failing to make my minimum each day. I’m hoping to get a handle on this soon. But I’ve had to admit my novella was definitely the problem with my lack of motivation to write. The switch to working on the short story yesterday showed me that, and I woke up fired up and ready to write again today. I’m definitely going to have to finish that novella soon but I needed this break!

I’m enjoying writing that short story and since my self-imposed deadline for it was 3/31, I don’t feel that bad going ahead on it while the writing’s going well.

Ah, and I’ve just realized I can’t call this Finish the Book—Day 7 because although I’ve been writing, I haven’t been writing on my novella.

1:24 pm: I’m at 1,126.

Next goal? 3,000 by 4 pm. Let’s see if I can make it. 1 … 2 … 3 … Go!

3:50 pm: I’m at 1,986.

So yeah, not quite 3,000. But I have to pause the writing until about 6 pm at which point I’ll pick it up again because I have time for extra writing time tonight!

Yikes! It’s way past 6 pm because I got caught up in catching up on a forum I participate on. I’ve still got a good hour and a half before I have to hit the sack to get up at 6:15 in the morning so let’s see what I can accomplish. :D

10:41 pm: I’m at 2,414.

Better than yesterday—not anywhere close to where I want to be. It’s a win! :D

Finish the Book—Day 6

Lynn

I need 3,219 words today. I’m sitting down with my hot cup of tea right now and getting to work.

Dear God, I really hope I can do this without embarrassing myself again. Seriously. I’ve got to break out of this funk before I go broke. :D

Update #1: I wrote til 9:15 am from about 8:13 am. My pace could be a lot better. I didn’t actually feel like I was moving that slow, but I spent way too much time going through my previous two pages trying to solidify where the heck I’m going with this scene. I’m at 194 words.

Update #2: I went back to writing at about 12:15 pm and switched to a short story I have going because I wasn’t happy with my progress on my novella. Then I had to stop because I got a headache and needed an aspirin. I took some time to try to nap away the headache, or at least let the aspirin kick in, and now I’m about to get back to it. I hate that I lost the time, but I don’t get headaches often, so I’m okay with having took the time to rest. My head feels a lot better and I feel refreshed. So that’s great. But I have a looong way to go to get to 3,219. Next goal? Write faster! I’m at 516 words.

Update #3: I wrote from about 3:20 pm to 6 pm. I’m taking a short break for food before digging back in and sticking with it until 8, so there’ll be one more update for sure. But all my writing this time has been on the short story, not my novella, but … I did want this short done before 3/31 so hey, it’s a win, right? :D My pace is still so far off my average that I have to wonder if my creative brain froze during all that unusual cold weather we had! :O I’m at 1,456 words.

Update #4: I forgot to put in my last update last night but here it is now. I made it to 2,319 words.

Not quite as many as I needed but a lot more than I’ve been getting and the most in nearly two weeks. So, I’m calling the day a win. :D

 

Finish the Book—Day 5

Lynn

I took the original day 5 and 6 off. I’m just skipping them entirely and counting today as day 5, although I’m not sure I should. I mean, it’s already 4:28 pm and I haven’t written a thing other than this and I’m really not in a place where I can start right now so it’ll be at least a few hours before I can. Why do I do this to myself?

This is one of those days that started out with me being determined—determined, I tell you—to get things off to a great start and then … just not doing it. I have absolutely no explanation for why, other than that I just didn’t want to sit down and write.* I feel really bad about that now.

I need a better way to handle these setbacks. I’m sure not getting anywhere when I let them derail me for the entire day—or days, as the case may be! :o I’d rather not waste any more energy on guilt. So.

Here’s an idea. I think I’m going to have to accept that some days I’m just not going to stick to the schedule and that it’s okay to work outside my schedule on those days without that meaning my entire schedule is broken and needs fixed. Just try to do the schedule as often as possible, but if I screw up and don’t, then just concentrate on getting my word counts for the day any way I can. Because in the end, getting new words as often as possible is what really matters the most.

So. Now I have to make an effort to remember this thought every day so I can quit letting guilt sabotage me.

I need 3,208 words today. How close can I get to that considering the day I’ve had so far? It’s going to be interesting to see if I have any grit left at all. Sometimes I feel like I left it all back in 2013!

7–9: 0
12–4: 0
8–9: 0

Time deficit: 420 minutes

Pace: n/a

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get to the writing. It’s 9:48 pm and if I don’t go to bed, getting up for an early start tomorrow would be out of the question. However, tomorrow I’m not going to be a different person than I was today, so I think I need a plan. Off to figure one out.

*I read another one of my books instead, the last of the series I’m supposed to pick up after I finish this one and the next one, but which could end up being my next book anyway. I feel much more drawn to that next story. Or maybe I’ll just try working on two books at once for a while to try to pump up my word counts. Less likely to get stuck when I allow myself more freedom.

Love the New Schedule; Of Course There’s a Problem

Lynn

I’m still not getting started most mornings like I should and I’m consistently missing my 8–9 session.

High impulsiveness is a big part of this problem, I think. I always intend to get started right away in the mornings, but when it’s actually time, there’s just one more thing I need to finish up first before I can sit down and get to it.

I bailed on yesterday’s writing, and I skipped today deliberately. My kids were home from school again because of school admin days or some such thing, but I already know I can write with them around at least well enough to finish a book so I’m not sure why I took the time off. I shouldn’t have, but I did anyway.

It’s 8:41 pm and I’m writing this instead of writing fiction. Yeah. Not sure what I was thinking when I started this considering it was almost exactly 8 at the time. I can’t even believe it’s been 41 minutes and yet, objectively, I know it has been. Just how many paragraphs have I written and deleted to have only gotten a word count for this post of 189 in 41 minutes?!

Way too many!

I’m thinking of how I can mitigate these issues so I don’t start feeling like my schedule isn’t working for me. Just because I like it doesn’t mean it works and that would be a terrible shame considering exactly how much I do like it!

Tomorrow I need to make every effort to stick to the schedule and squeeze all the writing time out of it I can. It’ll be good for morale. ;) Maybe I can start a success spiral—and show some grit. Practice focusing.

Sounds like a plan!

Ghostery and Google Adsense Don’t Like Each Other

Lynn

So, I’ve had this problem for a couple of months where I can’t login to my adsense account and since I actually got a payment recently I thought it might be time to figure out what’s wrong.

I tried a couple of things that didn’t work and then had the idea that maybe I should try Firefox instead of Chrome, and it worked right away. I looked at Chrome and thought about what might be different, and noticed my Ghostery icon in the top bar. So I disabled the Google Analytics blocking and Adsense loaded right up on Chrome.

Problem solved. Now I just have to remember to unblock Google Analytics when I want to login to Adsense.

Finish the Book—Day 4

Lynn

7–9: 528
12–4: 1,278
8–9: 0

Time deficit: Who knows? I lost track when I couldn’t settle on what was to happen next in my book and I had to take a walk around the house. :D

Pace: really slow.

Well, I guess it could be worse, right? It was hard to stay focused this morning—I swear I already need a nap!—but I wrote something and that’s something to be grateful for. :D And it was kind of cute so maybe that’s okay too.

But … so glad it’s break time!

I’m not sure I’ve got any particular goals today except to figure out a way to end this book in a satisfactory way. Oh, and work my schedule.

I didn’t write from 8–9. Too tired. I think I’m fighting off a cold or something. I hope I’m fighting it off, anyway! I’ve also accepted that I’m going to have to add in some heart-pumping exercise to my days. I think the lack of it is making me feel puny. I’m going to fit it into my 9–12 break I think because I don’t really want to do it in my 4–8 free time. Too much already going on in there. It’s easy to forget that exercise is good for blood flow to the brain and can boost creativity. I need to remember that when I’m putting it off. A little vigorous exercise might speed up my writing!

Finish the Book—Day 3

Lynn

Here I go dragging this challenge into March. Doesn’t matter, because I still need to finish this book asap!

7–9 & 12–4: 1,315
8–9: 0

Time deficit: 190 minutes

Pace: 343 wph

Not sure if I’m going to make up my time or not but I’m definitely planning to write every session, so there’s one more hour to go at this point. I’m really going to push for 1,000 words in that hour.*

I only need about 1,500 words to hit the word count goal I set for this book. The terrible suspicion that I’m going to go long on this book is getting stronger, because I don’t feel an end coming in what I’ve written. Honestly at this point, I’m not even sure I have a cohesive plot with this one, just a series of events that aren’t really leading anywhere specific, but I might try to get in some extra time to see if I can come up with something.

I might even do a cliffhanger on this one. I haven’t done that before, but I seriously do not want to go long on this particular book since it’s a pet project that I don’t expect to make me much money. It’s part of a continuing series so I wouldn’t be doing a disservice to the story, I don’t think, but I’d originally planned for the stories to each have some closure. Ugh. I wish I knew what to do!

Anyway, I’m glad things are moving again, but this has really made me wonder if my lack of any measurable writing mid-August through late December slowed down my writing speed. I feel like I’m trying to get back into a creative groove, but I don’t think it was smart of me to let myself take that long of a break. I work much better when I can keep myself working daily.

By the way, I’m loving—absolutely loving—this new writing schedule. It just might be the last schedule experiment I have to do for a long while! :D

*Well, that didn’t happen. I gave out early and I’m going to sleep. I’ll try harder tomorrow!

Finish the Book—February Edition, Final Day

Lynn

Let’s skip the pleasantries. I feel like today is a get this show on the road, put up or shut up kind of day.

7–9: 66
12–4: 1,585
8–9: 0

Time deficit: 118 minutes

Pace: 317 wph, yikes!

My goal is to put in ALL the time today.

I only need about 5,000 words to finish my book. If I can write about 1,000 words an hour, I can get that 5,000 today during my scheduled writing time. I have this terrible suspicion I’m going to go long on this book, but I’m going to aim for 1,000 words an hour and 5,000 words today.

Update #1: 66 net word gain, after deleting 839 words, and having a 27 minute interruption that I plan to make up today. That means I was writing at a 600 words an hour pace and I’ve made more progress in the story so I can’t complain. Well, I could, but I’m not going to! ;)

Update #2: 1,585 is cumulative, because I can’t be bothered with math right now. My pace has only been 317 wph, so I’m nowhere near 5,000. I’m hoping I’ll speed up in my next session. Sometime tonight I also want to make up my 58 minute deficit. I’d love to finish, but the book isn’t likely to go short, so we’ll have to see! Be back later with what will probably be the final update.

Update #3: I made a tactical error by delaying the start of my final session and now I’m just too wiped to do it. I’m going to sleep. At least I learned something! I won’t make this mistake tomorrow. :D Good night!

Finish the Book—February Edition

Lynn

So yesterday? No writing. None. But…! Plumbing issue resolved!

And … I missed my 7–9 session this morning, but I kinda had a slow start and wasn’t feeling great, that’s for sure, but I’m feeling better now.

Tomorrow is February 28th and I’d like to finish this book by tomorrow night, so I’m doing a Finish the Book challenge. I know can do it if I quit worrying over perfection and just write.

Perfectionism is a loser’s game anyway. You never get out what you put in. :D And thank goodness for that, because that’d be a lot of angst!

I’m determined to find a way to get into my writing zone today.

1st goal: Banish the critic who’s taken up residence in my head and write at least 800 words in the next hour.

Ack! It’s 2:40 and I haven’t started writing yet! I listened to an entire podcast and spent as much of my time avoiding writing as possible. I have an extra 3 hours I can devote to writing tonight, so I’m not giving up on my challenge! But if I’m going to get this done, I’ve got to start writing, right now. Seriously. Right now.

And … yeah. I got 0 words today. So now I have to finish it all in one day tomorrow, the 28th. Woohoo. I needed more excitement in my life.

This Week Needs To Get Better

Lynn

I missed my 7–9 writing this morning, and then I missed my 12–4, and then I caved on my 8–9 because I was just … done. Totally and completely done for the day. :o

Plumbing problems cost me my hour last night, so that 446 was all I got yesterday. Today was going to be better. It really was. But then I couldn’t concentrate, at all, and I spent most of the day running up and down the basement stairs (related to the plumbing problem) and wore myself out worrying over stuff until the plumber came by at around 5 pm.

Now I’m only slightly worried, but tomorrow is a dentist appointment I made before I came up with the new schedule, and it’s right smack in the middle of my afternoon writing block, and then there’s the other plumber people that I’m waiting on a callback from. But that part isn’t as urgent so hopefully, please God, I’ll be able to concentrate long enough to write something besides this random stuff I keep writing about my writing. :D

I’m definitely going to find time this week to give this new schedule a good trial run, despite getting off to such a bad start with it yesterday and today, even if it’s only Thursday and Friday, and even if the other plumber people don’t show up til then.

I’m very excited by the new schedule and I feel like it could really work if I put some effort into sticking to it. :D I get a little early morning writing, a little late evening writing, and a decent block right in the middle of the day, long enough to really get lost in the writing.

Now if only these distractions would go away and leave to me write in peace!

I Hate Schedules So Why Am I So Determined to Have One?

Lynn

So, I wrote this long post yesterday that I’m not going to post because it makes obvious my penchant for self delusion.

After wasting away my Sunday because I was tired (no explanation really but probably not enough vigorous exercise in my days!), I spent a lot of time reading about sleep patterns and decided I was obviously a night owl trapped in a morning person’s schedule. I made a new schedule for myself, and all these plans for the coming week, tried to stay up so I could start Monday off right by sleeping in … and then woke up with the sun at 6:20 am, bright eyed and completely ready to get out of bed. I looked up sunrise on Google. It came at 6:16 am.

So yeah. I’m not a night owl, no matter how easy I find it to stay awake when I’m doing something interesting. I’m a morning person through and through—with the caveat that the sun has to be up! I can’t get up without daylight, but I really don’t think that precludes me being a morning person. As soon as that sunshine comes through my window, my brain comes alive and it doesn’t seem to matter what time I went to bed. :D I’ve stayed up til 3 am and still had a really hard time sleeping past 7-ish, and I actually can’t remember the last time I slept past 8:30 am.

I guess one of the things that fooled me is that I have a spike of energy in the morning that wanes fast, usually gone by 9 and I’m ready to crash. Then I have another surge of energy sometime around late afternoon. And another around 7 or 8 pm. So I seem to have more energy in the afternoons and evenings. I never have trouble going to sleep (except for midday naps). As soon as I’ve decided I’m going to go to sleep (and put away whatever has my attention) I go to sleep. I often wake up in the middle of the night remembering that I have a thought I didn’t finish! :D

But I’ve decided I can add in a morning nap and forget waiting until the afternoon. Sleep when I want; that is definitely one of the perks of writing fiction as a job. :D

Why’d I Abandon Writing During My Morning Tea?

My morning tea session was working great except for one thing. I usually had my tea during or after breakfast, but because the tea session needed to be the first thing I did after my kids left, I got an upset stomach at least half the days I did it.

I really don’t like how I feel when I wait to have breakfast in the mornings. That was ultimately the thing that derailed the morning tea writing session. The morning tea was delaying my breakfast for a variety of reasons by as much as an hour and a half some days, making the stretch between my last night’s supper and my breakfast about 14–15 hours. That’s just too long for me.

So Yeah, I Made a New Schedule

Couldn’t resist! I honestly feel like if I can just settle into a schedule, I’ll noticeably improve my productivity. These last two months have probably been my worst since I started my publishing career.

So here it is.

7–9 am
12–4 pm
8–9 pm

That’s 7 hours, which is  a little short of my 7.8 I originally started with for 2014, but … no, not really, because I originally started with the intent to write for 4 hours every day, before I came up with my “better” 2014 schedule.

I love my 9–12 break and my 4–8 free time and my 9–10 down time. LOL. Yes, I named them all and I named them each something different, just to keep them straight in my head, so my day doesn’t become this one big mess of write, break, write, break, write, break. It’s a mind game, but if it works, who cares, right? ;)

9–12 is when I’m most often tired and don’t really have much energy, but up until 9, I usually have quite a bit of energy and I should capture that for writing.

12–4 is a high energy time for me, as long as I rest at some point during the 9–12 stretch and have a good meal. It’s a great time for writing! Plus, I love writing in the sunshine, and this is good for that too. :D One thing I didn’t like about my previous schedule was trying to nap so late in the day. I always felt like I was wasting good sunlight.

4–8 is when I most often need to do things related to living and having a life. Plus, I have kids and they need me a lot during this time.

8–9 is just a quiet time and so that’s great for one last session before I stop for the evening. It also puts me to thinking about my story before bed and that can only lead to good things! :)

So really, this is my rationale for the new schedule and I’m hopeful it will work out. If not, well, it was just another experiment, and I’m sure I’ll get something out of it—failure is always an option! ;)

Monday’s Word Count Goal—3,000 Words

Lynn

Trying something new today. I wrote a post (actually two) explaining stuff but then gave up on them. I need to be writing. Right now. So here’s the plan.

I’m going for 600 words an hour from now until 4 pm, then another 600 from 8 to 9 this evening. That’s 3,000 words.

12–1 pm: 139
1–2 pm: 0
2–3 pm: 307
3–4 pm: 0
8–9 pm: 0

Now off to write! I love my job! :D

Whoa. I totally didn’t ace my 12–4 writing time. I blew it. Writing has been a chore today and I’m not sure why. I guess I’ll just have to keep trying, but with only one more writing session today, the chances of me making 3,000 are slim. I could, possibly, maybe, get 1,000 or so if I can zone at 8, and maybe hit 2,000 if I kept going for an extra hour, but since I haven’t hit a zone once today I’m not sure how I’m gonna do it then…

Really feeling discouraged right now about my progress on this book.

Sunday Challenge—5,000 New Words of Fiction

Lynn

Final tally: 140 or 2% of my goal.**

This one is something like yesterday’s plan without being quite so ambitious. Since my story is coming along easier now, I probably have a better chance of success with this one. :)

From 10 am to 10 pm I’m going to try to write 500 words every hour, excluding a 2 hour block somewhere in the middle (when I get tired). That comes out to 5,000 words.

I spent the morning reading the 20,000 words I’ve already written on my 2014 Novella #1 and the 500 words I’ve written on what is sure to be my 2014 Novella #2.*

I’m trying to finish Novella #1 today. I lack only about 5,000 words and it’s supposed to be done. Now, if only I can stick to that word count goal and not go 25,000 words over like I did with my last book. :D

Anyway, I have about 10 minutes until I need to be ready to write so I’ll be back later to update.

10 am: 140
11 am
12 am
1 pm
2 pm
3 pm
4 pm
5 pm
6 pm
7 pm
8 pm
9 pm
10 pm

*I stole one of my characters from Novella 1 and started writing a story around that character’s backstory when I got stuck a few days ago. Supposed to be a villain but ended up a pawn and that’s okay with me. The character was so fun to write it’s pretty much a given I’ll finish the story. I’m thinking it’ll be next in the series, possibly a very short novella—this series already has one such very short novella, so maybe I’ll make it a thing. Novella (series main character) – Novelette (different character) – Novella (series main character) – Novelette (another different character) … hmm, I think I like that idea! :)

**I’m claiming the fifth on this. :D

Saturday Challenge—10,000 New Words of Fiction

Lynn

Final tally: 2,538 or 25% of my goal.

For every hour between 7 am and 11 pm I’m going to attempt to write 625 words. That comes out to 10,000 words. I’ll have to lock my perfectionist in a closet for this. I might also have to switch between stories if I get blocked on any one thing, so I’m going to keep 3–5 of my current projects open all day so I can jump to one or the other if I get stuck.  If I hit 2/3 of my goal all on one story, I could finish my current book.

For a lot of writers, 625 words in a hour is no big deal, but for me this is definitely a real challenge. My average hourly output is 500–600 words an hour and this winter I’ve not even been hitting that. I’m also rarely able to stay focused long enough not to lose significant amounts of time during a day. It’s time to try to break through some barriers here.

And the good news is that even if I fail spectacularly, it’s possible I’ll still end up with a dream day of 5,000 words!

I’ll update with my actual counts as the day progresses. Maybe this’ll even tell me something about when I’m most productive. Good luck, me! :D

7 am:  291
8 am: 61
9 am: 55
10 am: −673
11 am: 395
12 am: 191
1 pm
2 pm
3 pm: 421
4 pm: 502
5 pm: 313
6 pm: 638
7 pm: 115
8 pm: 221
9 pm
10 pm

UGH! So, I’ve been writing for 4 hours and losing very little time this morning. I’ve done ~3 15 minutes timed sessions every hour so far and this is what I have to show for it. −258 words net this morning. I made it through the rest of chapter 4, all the way through chapter 5, and then deleted the entirety of chapter 6.

Now it’s all new stuff going forward so I can only hope that I’ll do a lot better the rest of the day! And if not, I’ll find another of my stories to write for a while. Now it’s back to it—I’ve already lost 5 minutes in my 11 to 12 hour writing this update.

6 hours in, net 328 words in about  4.5 hours of timed writing, and I’m tired! Tired of cold fingers and a runny nose and low word counts that I can’t explain. It’s like I have this huge concrete block sitting right in way. I have no idea why I’m maintaining a pace of just 73 words an hour. When you look at the numbers it feels impossible to go that slow! If I could the entire 6 hours, it’s even worse at 55. That’s like … not even a word a minute!! Ugh.

I just don’t think today is the day for this challenge. I need a nap.

I was on the verge of calling this but I took a couple of minute to go out into the 60° sunshine and sit and I realized success isn’t about the numbers at the end of the day today. I realized that sometimes my creative brain just doesn’t run smoothly, but the only way to work out the kinks is to get in there and just try, and then keep trying until it loosens up. I realized I might be working at less than my peak because, yeah, I really am tired. I realized I might need a break so I can make the transition between the critical (cutting all that stuff this morning and fixing the problems with what was left) and the creative. I realized I didn’t want to give up even if my chance of reaching even 5,000 words today is so small as to be insignificant.

Here’s what I’m going to do.

I’m going to take the rest of the 1 to 2 pm hour and all of the 2 to 3 pm hour out to rest, and then I’m going to come back at 3 pm and keep going.

I returned from my break feeling better. I started about 20 minutes late and still got 421 words. Then my next hour netted me 502. So things are looking up. :D I’m glad I didn’t give up. I’m still not sure where this story is going, but it’s moving and if I get frustrated I hope I won’t forget that I can change stories for a while.

Yay! I’m now at my highest word count since 1/26. 2,202 words. 4 hours to go.

So, I’m cutting out a bit early. I’m exhausted. :D It’s been a productive but long day and I’m frustrated that I’m slowing down again, and this time there’s no reason for it other than plain old fatigue. I need a break. I’ve been up since 5:45 am.

I think I’m going to try something similar tomorrow, but with a few less working hours. We’ll see what I come up with! And I’ll definitely do this challenge again, but I have to have a whole day to myself to do it, so it’ll probably be a few weeks before I can try this exact challenge again.

Missed a day!

Lynn

I missed my morning tea writing session today! I kept meaning to get to it, because why would I want to ruin an 11 day streak when it only costs me 25 minutes in the morning? But sure enough, I did. I missed it!

Last night’s storms left me tired and listless today. My power was out most of the night and I couldn’t seem to sleep, and when I did manage, I had vivid, ridiculous dreams about school buses and tornadoes. Yep. So today I’ve worked very hard to procrastinate. Being tired is always a risk factor for a day full of procrastination around here.

So, instead of writing, I started the day off reading one of my books, which I do occasionally for pleasure and for inspiration for the next book—they’re ongoing series, after all, so there’s some use to it, and when I finished it, I read another, and that’s how I spent the day.

Tomorrow, I’m getting back to the 25 minutes before I do anything else. Oh, and I have a great idea for a challenge tomorrow. :D

Slip Ups and Technicalities; Big Goals

Lynn

Day 11 of my morning tea writing streak.

Yesterday, I had a successful day 10 but I’m only calling it a win because of a technicality. I’d explain but it would be a boring explanation that ends with me falling asleep on the couch yesterday morning while having my morning tea and getting up at 10:54 am for my second cup of morning tea.  But I did write for my 25 minutes while I had that cup of tea! Then I promptly frittered away the rest of the day.

Oops. I should be more dedicated to hard work.

Today I hope to get my minimum quota of 3,100 words so I don’t continue to fall behind, but last night I had a filling come out of a tooth and I’ll be hitting the road for a while today to get this tooth fixed. So … I’m not expecting big numbers, only hopeful  that I’ll eek out what I need.

I recalculated some goals last night so I could see what it’ll take to catch me up and the numbers look pretty stiff. I don’t even know if I can do it. I can do it. Easy peasy. :D What’s that they say about positive thinking? It’s not bullshit if it’s applesauce, right?* ;)

3,100 words per day for 1,000,000 by 12/31
3,642 adjusted wpd for 500,000 by 6/30
6,402 adjusted wpd for 250,000 by 3/31

Basically, it gives me three options, catch up by 3/31, 6/30, or 12/31. I prefer the idea of catching up by 3/31, but … well, you see the numbers! 5,000 a day is my dream goal. 6,402 a day would be like learning to fly overnight. But hey, if I’m going for a big goal, why not make it really, really big? Hard work is hard work, right?

*I totally made that up, and it makes no sense. Sorry!