Fiction writer. Expert procrastinator. This is my life.
About pushing myself to write more: trials and experiments, successes and failures.
I’m remaining hopeful despite the bleak numbers because I have at least made it to almost 1000 words today. The fact that it has taken me over 4 hours to get there is irrelevant. (4 hours of writing, not just 4 hours ununfortunately.)
I will carry on until the end because sometimes writing is slow and sometimes it isn’t. A couple of good hours could really turn things around.
Here is my first challenge update.
I’m way behind already.
After 1 hour and 49 minutes, I’m only up by 149 words.
Getting through the last of the material I wrote a few weeks ago is taking too long. Perfectionism? Probably. I’m going to try to get through the rest of it faster.
As of right now I still have the computer WIFI off. I’m writing this on my phone. It’s easier to do all new posts on my phone than edit a really long one so I expect all updates to this challenge will be separate posts today.
Be back later. :)
Hopefully with better numbers!
So I’m typing this out on my Kindle Fire because I decided last night that I would turn off my computer WIFI and start the day without it. I plan to stick to that.
I’m up early. It’s 7:05, and I have a bowl of cereal next to me to finish, then it’s on to writing. Wish me luck. I’m going to need it. :)
Yesterday I wrote. My word count was minuscule, but I went back to a scene giving me trouble and spent a few hours on it. I didn’t gain much word count, but I did make progress with the story.
Today I’ve been doing the same. By the time I quit, I want to have the story at a place where I can really pick up speed tomorrow. As of right now, I want to try to make tomorrow a four to five thousand plus word day.
It might not happen, but that’s kind of where I think I want tomorrow to go. I have to get the complications with this story straightened out first though. I can’t write at the pace I need for a high word count if the story isn’t moving along smoothly.
Whatever happens, I did start my effort to write every day yesterday and I’ve continued it today. I’m now on a two day streak. ;)
I’ve written 2,065 words this month. Let me just say that’s not where I imagined I’d be at this point in the month.
Since I have a book to finish, I’m going to have to try to write today and keep writing until I’ve written a damn lot of words. :o
To do that, I’m going to have to kick this damn perfectionism I’ve got going on to the curb. I keep letting people in my head, but they’re not even the main problem. I’m the problem. I’m the critic from hell. When I’m in one of my moods, nothing is ever good enough. I can’t write fast because I can’t stop criticizing what I’ve written as I write. I also over write. Seriously. I spend way too much time trying to draw a picture of the images in my head with words, and I’m starting to realize just how dumb that is. It’s limiting. I need to lean a little heavier on the reader’s imagination.
Or something like that.
Anyway, I’m about to have a late breakfast. It’s 11:07 am, but I stayed up until 2 in the morning so I’m not that surprised. What sucks is that I’ve actually been awake since 7 and I’m already tired.
But a writing day it is today.
Also, I’ve decided that today is the first day of me writing every day. I’m going to do it. I’m afraid to commit, but I’m kind of in a contrary mood today and by damn I’m going to start writing every day if I have to glue my fingers to a pen to make it happen.
I have to start writing more and that’s just all there is to it. I can’t be happy as a writer if I don’t, because writing stokes the desire to write more, and not writing just makes me apathetic and write even less over time. I can’t afford that unless I want to find another career.
And I don’t. I like this one just fine.
Yesterday, at the twelfth hour, I did some writing and managed 470 words.
Another small win and another day to add to my streaks.
148 – 12/30
172 – 12/31
203 – 1/1
209 – 1/2
246 – 1/3
277 – 1/4
345 – 1/5
470 – 1/6
The streaks are:
At some point, the increasing words per day streak will end. There’s no way around that, because I do want to write a lot of words on a daily basis. But for now this is a great motivation to keep going.
I’m finding the challenge of doing better every single day not to be much of a challenge at all. Part of that is probably because I’ve let myself write on a variety of stories (all stories I hope to finish writing and publish within the first three to four months of this year assuming I eventually reach four digits with my daily word count). That’s led to me having no trouble at all getting out some new words each day.
I don’t know, it’s kind of making me rethink my ban on writing concurrently on multiple stories.
I’m not sold on backing off the ban yet, but I do notice my motivation to write everything increases when I’m writing on anything. That matters when I’m having a tough time getting myself started. I’ve said it before: Getting started is the single most difficult thing for me when it comes to writing (or anything else).
Anyway, off to work on paperback formatting for some books and then to do some writing.
(By the way, I love this font. Firefox says it’s Libre Franklin, and I’m seriously considering downloading this to my computer and using it for my notes.)
(And I did, and yes, it definitely wasted some time, because I got lost looking at fonts. But I’m away from there now and clicking publish here! Time to get to work.)
Today begins the new year. On the other hand, my plan hasn’t changed. In case I haven’t done a good enough job of laying out that plan, here it is again.
There is no plan.
Here’s what I wrote in one of the Google+ communities I’m in.
2016 words written: 220,071
Definitely want to see some improvement in 2017, but this is the year of no goals and no timers! I’m ready to fall in love with writing again.
I’m hopeful a little less focus on goals and a little more focus on just writing as much as I can will prove to be a winning combination.
In fact, I just told my daughter I’m making year 2017 the year I quit trying stuff I’ve already tried (goals, schedules, timers, sprints, etc). My word counts have actually gone down, not up, since I started in 2012 and I’m done with beating myself over the head with this stuff.
I think the best shot I have for writing lots and lots of words is making sure I’m having so much fun doing it that I can’t stop myself. :)
Truly, no joke, that is my plan. That’s this year’s big experiment. It came about because of yesterday’s thinking about goals, and how much they haven’t helped me progress as a writer.
Here’s to a happy 2017 and lots of words written. :)
I’m finding it difficult to write now that my kids are home for the holidays. :o I should have guessed that’d be a problem, and yet… I made no plans and thought I’d just be able to write on through. That’s typical of my thought processes, unfortunately.
However, today, finally, I’ve got some time to myself and I aim to make the most of it.
Today I will write more than 2,000 words.
Today I will format a paperback and ready it for uploading.
Today I will finish my online Christmas shopping. ;)
Today I will stop making excuses for not writing as much as I say I want to write.
Today I will stop second guessing my writing process and stop wishing I was a faster writer. My average pace will either speed up over time or it won’t. Four years of trying haven’t brought any real improvement in that—and in fact, some days I worry that all my focus on trying to speed up has actually slowed me down.
The speed of my writing isn’t what’s holding me back. Time spent writing is the real problem. But don’t worry, I’m not about to say a schedule is the answer. It’s not. I’ve been down that path and found nothing much there for me. I don’t believe time quotas are right for me either. (Same post.)
Mostly I’m just going to try to write as much as I can and stop even using the timers for a while. Sure I’ll end up struggling sometimes, but that’s what quotas are for. They tell you when you’re done. If my rolling 30 day average is close to 2,000 words, I can call it quits anytime I want. If it isn’t, then I need to write a little harder. :D
I wrote a post or two yesterday but decided after posting to delete them because they just didn’t feel like they represented what I was really thinking and feeling even just a few hours later. That happens sometimes, so the best way to deal with it seemed to be DELETE. :D
I’m doing an experiment today, with breaking up my writing into chunks that I’ve scattered throughout my day. I’m really hoping to get 12 sessions of 24 minutes each done by the end of the day. I’ve already completed two.
| Hours | Words | WPH | |
| 1 | 0.4 | 86 | 215 |
| 2 | 0.4 | 213 | 533 |
.4 hours = 24 minutes :)
I’ve scattered them out with breaks between pairs, but the breaks aren’t really meant to be breaks as much as opportunities to do other things—distractions, in other words, but useful distractions.
The hope is that by allowing the distractions, and planning for them, I will accomplish a lot more and not feel a bit of guilt about any of it! Let’s just call them structured distractions. :D
And I did put these on my calendar, but it’s not a schedule, it’s a plan. :D
Schedules feel so set, don’t they? As if you miss a start time, you’ve failed. Plans feel flexible. Sure, it’s a bit of a game, but all of life is in our heads, and I’m just playing to the referee.
I have several things to do today that ARE on my schedule, and those can’t change, so I’ve used it to see how many sessions I should do at various points in the day to stay on track. It’s working well so far.
I need to finish 4 before lunch, 4 before dinner, and 4 more before bedtime. If I finish all these today, I’ll end up with 4.8 hours of timed writing.
Anyway, off to write more, because I do want to finish the next two by lunch and stay on track. :)
| 3 | 0.4 | 276 | 690 |
| 4 | 0.4 | 299 | 748 |
And the numbers continue to improve. :D
| Hours | Words | WPH | |
| 1 | 0.4 | 86 | 215 |
| 2 | 0.4 | 213 | 533 |
| 3 | 0.4 | 276 | 690 |
| 4 | 0.4 | 299 | 748 |
| 5 | 0.4 | 287 | 718 |
| 6 | 0.233333 | 207 | 887 |
My final numbers. Unfortunately, I had to take a nap. The caffeine withdrawal is getting to me. I had a cup of decaf coffee hoping that would be enough to stave off the headache, but it didn’t work. Just not enough caffeine. I finally ended up drinking about 3/4 a cup of green tea when I was supposed to be finishing session #8 but was in actuality only on session #6 because of the desperately needed nap. Said session was interrupted when I had to leave for a family event.
The event lasted longer than I thought it would and made me more tired than I expected. I came home and did some puttering around online and didn’t even finish session #6 (as you can see in the table above).
Well. Tomorrow is a new day. :) I can only aim to fit in 10 sessions because of more family obligations, but I’m going to try for a full 10 sessions! :D Wish me luck.
Well. Some stuff happened. That stuff interfered with my writing stuff, so I haven’t written as much as I’d hoped, by a lot.
2 sessions of 36 minutes each got me 505 words. The first session was terrible. I deleted more than I wrote and ended up at -18 words. The second went much (much) better and I wrote 523 words.
I’m going to get 2 more before bed, and see where I end up for the day.
I did not manage to format that paperback, so over to tomorrow it goes. (Can’t say I’m surprised. I’m never surprised by this kind of thing anymore.)
I did pay bills, catch up my checkbook, and shop for groceries. I also put a sick kid to bed and
I did not read a book, any book, and I did not drink coffee today. I forgot to drink the tea before I left for the shopping, but I didn’t get a headache until nearly 6 p.m. so it worked out okay. I drank the green tea at about 7 p.m. and it did take away my headache but it took longer than the coffee and I still feel the faintest twinges but I’m calling it a win.
Tomorrow I will avoid all caffeine until I feel the twinges of a headache coming on and then I’ll do the green tea again. It contains between 25 to 35 mg of caffeine while the coffee contains between 95 to 200 mg.
Also, my stomach is feeling much better and the jitters are much improved.
I’m writing this down because I’m sure I’m going to forget it, just when I need to remember it most.
Taking too long to finish a book is a sure way to bore me! I have to start finishing my books faster, if I want to save my love of writing.
Because honestly, it’s starting to bore me. I’ve written a lot of books. There aren’t many things in life that hold my attention after I’ve finished—hell, half the time I can’t even finish.
I’m not a finisher by nature. It’s a real chore to finish.
But books aren’t books if they don’t get finished, and I sure can’t sell unfinished books.
If I lose interest in a story, the story loses out, and the quality does not improve, trust me on that. Writing slow causes me to lose the threads of the story, and to lose motivation, while writing fast keeps my brain in the story, excited and creative. This even applies at the micro level, because my sentences flow better when I don’t constantly tinker with them. I know this is true. I still have to fight that desire regularly. :)
I come up with more ideas, faster, when I’m writing a lot. And I enjoy writing so much more when I’m writing often and fast than I do when it’s a slog and I’m agonizing over plot decisions or worrying about word choices.
If it’s not fun, I’m not going to do it. That’s just the truth.
Blame it on ADHD or laziness, or whatever, but it’s true. If it’s not fun for me, I will do everything in my power to avoid doing it, and when you’re your own boss, that gets to be a problem.
Ah…
Well, I feel better having gotten that out. Now, on to the next post and the day’s writing.
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 times
7 to 12 became 7 to 11, while 1 to 4 became 12:30 to 4:30.
I’ve only tried this for one day, and not successfully, let me add, but possibly because it’s fall break for the schools here and I keep messing up my 7 am start time. Still, the lunch hour wasn’t working. I’ve had to adjust it every day, so building that into the schedule makes more sense than not.
Session times
First it was 50 minute sessions, then 15 minutes, then 25 minutes. They each worked at different times this week, but I’m moving permanently back to 50 minute sessions for planning writing output because of how well they work within the framework I’ve constructed. It’s very easy to account for how many sessions I should have completed in any number of hour long blocks if I assume 50 minutes writing time to 10 minutes break time.
One change I’ve made is that I’m not longer stressing over whether or not I can complete the entire 50 minutes without a break. (Too much tea, I know. I can’t help it. I feel compelled to have something to drink while I write.) I just plan to write for 50 minutes, pause the timer when necessary, and aim to complete the 50 minute session within the one hour block. Now this? This is something that’s actually had a much bigger impact on how I feel about these long sessions than I would have thought. The new perspective is working great. No more resentment for long sessions, or hesitation to start one, because it’s perfectly okay to pause the session. In fact, I expect it. There’s also a bit of pressure to get back to it quickly that’s helpful (because the timer is paused). It’s working out much better than the break between sessions. That’s where I’m still having a lot of trouble with distractions. :)
Session goals
One thing I realized right away was that I wasn’t just pushing for higher word counts per hour with the sessions. I was also demotivating myself a bit. Not much, just enough that I really started to notice it yesterday. The problem is that I use my number of sessions times my word count goal to estimate what goal I should have for a day’s writing. The numbers made me feel too optimistic about the chances I’d have of reaching really (really) high word counts, despite what I know of my historical performance.
So I scaled back. I might want to write 250 per 15 minute session, or 325 per 25 minutes, or 600 or 800 per 50 minute session, but that’s just not that likely, and it’s no way to plan. I can still hold all those numbers in my head as goals, but they’re really no good for planning.
I’ve settled on a 550 word goal for each 50 minute session for planning purposes. That’s 660 words per hour. My average the last time I checked was about 641 wph, and my all time average was about 541 wph, so it’s a bit of a push, but not an overwhelming one.
I know how many words I need to finish several of the books I’ve got going, I just needed estimates of sessions and words to get me to a daily plan to make it happen by the deadlines I’ve set myself (publicly this time). The book lengths are estimates, of course, but I don’t mind adjusting how much writing I need to do each day if I see that a book is going longer than I planned. It happens more often than not, to be honest, and that’s another reason overly optimistic word count expectations are a problem for me.
My former session goals led me to create deadlines that were just too tight. I gave myself some much needed breathing room. :)
Yesterday was a total failure in terms of words written. The more elaborate the plans, the more likely I’ll spend all my time on the plans and not on the doing of the plans.
Today’s plan was simple. I set aside some time for writing only (using my calendar and schedule) and I wrote during that time. Finally, a day of (mostly) success!
The last several months constitute the worst string of months for my word counts that I’ve had since I started this gig in 2012. I felt a strong need to end today feeling like I’m finally getting back on track.
9:30 to 2:30
The goal was 200 words x 3 sessions of 15 minutes each hour x 5 hours = 3,000 words.
I wrote 1,766 words. I came up short 7 sessions. Not sure how I got so far off track, but I did have a lot of coffee and tea this morning and had to take very frequent breaks.
2:30 to 4:30
I wanted to get started proofing this book, so I planned to proof 4 chapters. I proofed half a chapter, short of my goal by 3.5 chapters. I was just not feeling it when I was reading this book this afternoon.
5:00 to 8:00
Became 5:30 to 8:30. Then 6:45 to 9:45. Then 7:30 to 10:30. Unfortunately, I had a really hard time getting started with this one. My bad night’s sleep last night caught up to me.
The goal was 200 words x 3 sessions of 15 minutes each hour x 3 hours = 1,800 words.
I didn’t do any writing at all during this time (except for this post) and finally just decided to spend the time with family instead.
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…
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.
I still believe that writing on multiple stories is the way to a better word count for me. So this isn’t about that. What it’s about is the fact that I just cannot seem to get moving again on ANY of my books. I am stuck.
So if what I’m doing isn’t working—and nothing I’ve tried of late has worked to get me started again—it’s time to try something different.
I’m going back to a schedule. I know I have a terrible history with schedules, but for the moment, I think it will help. I don’t know how long I’ll need it, but starting tomorrow I’m going to make it very important that I sit down and write EVERY DAY during my scheduled writing time.
I’m dropping back to my 3,233 daily goal (which is 1,180,000 / 365) from my more recent attempt to write 3,933 daily (1,180,000 / 12 / 25). This means I need only 4 hours of timed writing if I can reach an average pace of 808 words per hour—a stretch, but definitely possible with my increased speeds of late.
At this lower daily word count, I will have to write every day to reach my goal, so I’m setting aside the idea that I can’t write on publish days, if only because I blame the days I took off this past month for my current inertia. I need my daily writing to become habitual.
The schedule is a morning schedule, because I wake up early whether I want to or not, and trying to mess with that never works out well for me. The fact is, I’ve been getting up early for several months now, and I don’t expect that to change until the sun stops coming up before 6 AM.
I’m going to make a big deal about upsetting my schedule or changing my routine. Writing daily is important. At 4 hours a day, that’s only 28 hours a week of writing time. There’s just no reason for these hours not to be treated as the critical hours they are. I’m hardly asking too much of myself even after you factor in break times and the time I need for publishing related activities.
And that’s really all I have to say in this post. The plan is not all that different from many other plans I’ve made over the years, but it’s different at this moment from what I’ve been doing. Schedules have worked for me in the past, even if only for a while, and I’ll take that if that’s all I get. I just need something to get me focused on writing again. Wish me luck. :)
I’m accepting no excuses for tomorrow. At 11:30 am tomorrow, I’ll post my first results (accountability) post for this new schedule.
After two more days of pathetically small word counts, I’m planning to make today a winner. I had a great night of sleep and I woke up determined to do better today than I’ve done the last 4 days. My pace has been so bad that I only made it to 477 words in 1.32 hours of writing yesterday. And no, that wasn’t because of deletions; it was because I was second-guessing every word I put down.
Here’s to making today a better day.
Goal: 3,933 words in 5 hours or less.
Second goal: 5 hours or more of writing.
I’m going to make both of those happen by doing the following.
I’ll check in later and post an update below.
| Hours | Words | Session | WPH |
| 1 | 997 | 997 | 997 |
Getting in the hours today has been much harder than I’d hoped! The house hasn’t been too hot to work in, but the distractions have been just as bad as ever. I’ve managed to get up some speed, but only because I followed through on #1.
Total: 1,673 words in 2.18 hours
Hmm. I need a new plan. :o
I didn’t write but 1/3 of what I wanted to write in May, but in the end, when I looked harder at the numbers, I discovered it wasn’t as bad a failure as it feels. May’s word count comes in at 35,296.
Only 7 months out of 46 have been higher. May was my 47th month of publishing, and that makes June my 4 year anniversary as a self-publisher. :D How absolutely amazing!
Between April and May, I’ve had my best two month word count, ever, by 1,470 words.
February–March 2013 = 91,075 words
April–May 2016 = 92,545 words
My next best two month period was November–December 2015 when I wrote 73,377 words.
Gotta say, I’m happier than I was after looking at these numbers. I’m still showing improvement, and I’m excited by my progress. :D Here’s hoping June is a great month for word counts. :)
I find it funny that the moment I stop a challenge, I immediately find it easier to focus on what needs to be done.
I reached my five hour writing goal today, although I admit, I’m nowhere near my word count goal.
| Hours | Words | Session | WPH |
| 1 | 318 | 318 | 318 |
| 1 | 618 | 300 | 300 |
| 1 | 1161 | 543 | 543 |
| 1 | 1382 | 221 | 221 |
| 1 | 1847 | 465 | 465 |
Total: 5 hours, 1,847 words, for an average of 369 wph.
On the other hand, even though I haven’t reached my word count goal, I am now officially past the material I needed to fix and I had just started to write some new stuff at the end of my last session.
I’m thinking of writing some more tonight, but we’ll have to see how I feel after a break, because I absolutely want to get to bed early tonight. I feel like I’m at my most creative and productive when I get more sleep and I want to give myself plenty of opportunity for that after several nights of less than optimal bedtimes.
This writer does not subsist on coffee and tea; she needs her sleep! :)
ETA: I did write a bit more, although not as much as I’d hoped to.
| 0.46667 | 2220 | 373 | 799.286 |
So new total: 2,220 words, 5.47 hours
But look at that! A major improvement in my pace now that I’m writing new material again! ;D Whew! I’m excited about tomorrow. Finally, some momentum again!
Now, must get some sleep so I feel good tomorrow and can write nice and fast.
And as an aside, my A/C is still broken and it’s starting to get hot around here. :o I’m getting worried that the part I need won’t arrive before it gets really hot. And I hate leaving my windows open: I just found a bug floating in my glass of water. Yuck. I’m too delicate for this crap. ;)
Thursday—Wednesday, May 5–May 11
| 701 | 1 story |
| 1,656 | 1 story |
| 747 | 2 stories |
| 256 | 1 story |
| 1,613 | 1 story |
| 3,728 | 2 stories |
| 2,581 | 1 story |
Total = 11,282 words
I didn’t feel like I was writing multiple stories this week, probably because I’ve been panicking a bit about a book I’m trying to finish (which is something I hope will be over soon, but there are 2 books that I just really need to get caught up on).
I worked on 2 distinct stories this week. The only day I really broke out on, I spent most of my writing time on that second story. That was what helped me realize something was wrong with the other one, because I could still write faster and easier when I was working on something else. (And this is a great example of why the multiple stories method is really working for me to increase my word counts.)
Overall, it was another week that was much lower in word count than I’d hoped since I’m aiming for 27,533 for a full writing week, but I still did much better than my average.
I’ve now had 5 weeks in a row where I’ve written more than 10,000 words each week.
My current total words written since I started this experiment is 72,989 words. Not the 98,333 words a month I want to reach eventually, but a damn sight closer than I’ve ever been in the past. :D I’m pleased.
This experiment continues to be a raging success.
Thursday—Wednesday, April 28–May 4
| 2,260 | 2 stories |
| 3,228 | 2 stories |
| 1,439 | 1 story |
| 1,009 | 2 stories |
| 595 | 2 stories |
| 2,330 | 3 stories |
| 1,087 | 2 stories |
Total: 11,948
Definitely under where I’d like to be, but it still works out to a daily average of 1,707 words which is considerably better than my 2016 daily average of 779, or my 2015 daily average of 685.
So, still a ways to get where I want to be: 3,933 words on writing days, or approx 3,233 daily average, for 98,333 words a month, but much closer than I’ve been in the past (as a whole, not my recent past—I did much better last week and the first week).
Since I started this experiment, my daily average has increased dramatically, more than doubling to 2,033 words a day. :D I call that success.
I worked on 5 distinct stories this week.