I haven’t finished my current book in progress despite having been trying to finish it for a couple of weeks now. Today I’m pushing for a finish, although I know it’s going to be tricky. I don’t have a clue where the story is going to come together, only a vague notion that something is goingContinue reading “Pushing for a finish today; must write faster!”
Tag Archives: Deadlines
An unproductive weekend
First, I love my kids, make no mistake about that. But this weekend highlighted just how disruptive it is to my routine when change is in the air. My daughter came home from college this weekend for the first time in three weeks. I had got into a certain routine and her presence pretty muchContinue reading “An unproductive weekend”
Interesting results on something new
More words, fewer hours on Friday over Thursday, so that’s good. Yesterday (Friday) wasn’t as good a day as I’d hoped for, but it was my best day in 222 consecutive days. Prior to that, on the 223rd day, I had reached what is my current record word count for a day, 5,816 words, onContinue reading “Interesting results on something new”
Something new
It’s interesting, because I thought I’d tried just about everything to get myself writing faster and more regularly, but obviously I haven’t tried everything, because I tried something yesterday that’s working out pretty well (between yesterday and today) and I really don’t remember having tried it before (or at least in this way). Here’s whatContinue reading “Something new”
No time to spare
Here’s what I’m aiming for each day: 1,000 words minimum, with an eye toward 2,893 words. Of course, more would be fantastic, but 1,000 is the minimum daily word count I want to hit every day I possibly can. I have four minutes to finish this post. Since I want to start writing at 11:15Continue reading “No time to spare”
The next book: writing plans
I’ve started my next book. At this point, I’m 12,606 words into it. I’ve also started another book (and have two others already started, too), but I’m not going to let myself work on it except when I’ve already finished my goals for the current book. See my previous post about writing one book atContinue reading “The next book: writing plans”
I’ve let myself get behind—by a lot
I have a deadline coming up, very much a “can’t miss this date” deadline. It’s making me anxious. I mean, technically, I could miss it. The date is still listed as tentative, but in my head, I know it’s not a deadline I need to miss. I don’t want to miss it. The fact is,Continue reading “I’ve let myself get behind—by a lot”
Schedule update: times are almost right, sessions keep changing
Since I started following a writing schedule again, I’ve found that some adjustments have had to be made. A few things just weren’t working out how I’d like. I added an extra half hour for the midday break. I also stopped an hour earlier for lunch and moved that hour to after lunch. Scheduled timesContinue reading “Schedule update: times are almost right, sessions keep changing”
June 27 writing schedule update
As you’ve probably already guessed, the schedule hasn’t helped in any way to get me started writing again. I haven’t even come close to getting started on time a single time since I came up with it, because for some reason beyond me, I’ve gone from going to bed at a reasonable hour to stayingContinue reading “June 27 writing schedule update”
Editing and proofreading continues, redux
I’m restarting yesterday’s challenge for today, because today is really do have to finish this editing and proofreading! I have another book to finish, and I need as few as 10k words to finish it (although it might go long, in which case, I’m really hoping I can do 20k in a week again, because aContinue reading “Editing and proofreading continues, redux”
Editing and proofreading today
I was supposed to be on the editing and proofreading days ago, and yet… here I am, doing it today. And let’s be honest. I’m writing this to delay getting back to it just a little longer. Procrastination, you are my frenemy. I have about three hours in which to finish all this and I canContinue reading “Editing and proofreading today”
Writing delays and deadline approaching
Yesterday I wrote: Time to get to work now, and I’ll report back later with the results! I’m hoping to get all the way through the book today, and add about 4k words to the story. And then my A/C and heating unit died. So yesterday did not turn into a stellar writing day. In fact,Continue reading “Writing delays and deadline approaching”
Time to panic
I just deleted 11,117 words, after deleting 1,442 words last night from the same book. I’ve gone from being comfortably in the middle of this book to being all the way back to the beginning. This is absolutely the most words I’ve ever deleted from one story at one time. I’m hoping desperately that itContinue reading “Time to panic”
It’s Friday—What?
I’ve failed every attempt this week to meet the challenge I’ve set myself to break 6,000 words. In the last 7 days, I haven’t even broken into the 3,000 range. See? 1,439; 1,009; 595; 2,330; 1,087; 701; 0 (today) Today’s 0 won’t be zero because I’ve already started writing. My last >3,000 word day was last Friday. I’m not really sure whereContinue reading “It’s Friday—What?”
Time to focus on the 12-month 1,180,000 words challenge
So I’ve been giving some thought to what I can do to get moving on this challenge: 12 months, 1,180,000 words. I need to stay focused. I’ve had to step back from the cover design practice, because I had become well and truly obsessed. 57 of 98 days since January 1 have been zero wordContinue reading “Time to focus on the 12-month 1,180,000 words challenge”
Knowing something needs doing will have to be enough
My response to the pressure that deadlines create? Complete and total shutdown. I don’t deal well with anxiety, stress, overwhelming goals or odds, or pressure. I used to believe I worked better under pressure, but I think that’s just something I told myself after the fact because I had come up against a hard deadlineContinue reading “Knowing something needs doing will have to be enough”