I have to stop reevaluating my daily word count goal.
It’s kind of stupid really, all this number crunching I do. I’ve approached it in so many different ways that it doesn’t even make sense to keep redoing the calculations. I already know about where the numbers are going to end up.
I guess I keep hoping I’ll discover I’ve done something wrong and I’ll be able to write 500 words a day and make a killing and finish all the books I want finish in as little as a few months or a year at the most. :D Totally unrealistic, honestly, but I keep trying anyway.
I need to write…
- 2,085 words a day to earn my ideal income.
- 2,192 words a day to write 4 books in 4 series each year (16 novels of about 50,000 words each).
- 1,644 words a day to write a book a month (12 novels of about 50,000 words each).
- 2,466 words a day to write a book a month for one pen name and a book every other month for a second pen name (18 novels of about 50,000 words each).
- 2,164 words a day if I write for 4 hours a day at my average 541 words an hour pace.
- 1,623 words a day if I write for 3 hours a day at my average pace.
See where I’m going with this?
I have to stop reevaluating these numbers! It isn’t helping me in any way that I can see. None. It’s nothing more than a way to pass the time and distract myself from what I really need to be doing: writing.
I need to just write as much as I can each day, but that attitude never seems to work out for me. I need a bit of structure, but not too much. I don’t want another schedule, and I hate the arbitrariness of picking one of these numbers as a daily quota. How do I decide? (I’m remarkably indecisive. Impulsive too, but that’s another post.)
After a bit of thought, I’ve come up with a possible solution.
I’ve created a scale to help me keep things in perspective. :)
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)
My goal is to have more average and moderate word count days, sprinkled with high and record breaking days, and as few low word count days as possible.
I can track this by monitoring how I’m doing keeping my average daily word count at or above 2,000 words a day.
Easy, right?
Okay, maybe not so much easy as simple. :D
The concept makes sense, anyway. :)
That means today’s goal is to reach 2,000 words, and this week’s goal is to keep it there. And the month’s goal is the same, and so is the year’s goal. Like I said, simple.
Wish me luck.