A Fun Diversion

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* A Fun Diversion
* Of Interest

Quote of the Day

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” Henry Ford

By Way of Example, A Fun Diversion

I just did some math. In 2021 I was on pace to surpass 1,000,000 words of fiction in a year for the first time. So we’re all on the same page, let me ‘splain what I mean by “on pace”:

In the first 7 months of 2021 (through August 2) I wrote 623,282 words of fiction. Divided by 7, that was 89,040 words per month. Had I kept up that same pace, the next five months would have brought another 445,201 words for a total of 1,068,483 words of fiction on the year.

Then I did something stupid and wasn’t able to write for almost a year. (I say almost a year because I actually started Blackwell Ops 8 with 8000 words in May, then added to it through June and July and wrapped it in August.)

So I thought I’d see whether I reached the one million words in those two fragments of years: the first 7 months of 2021 and the last 5 months of 2022. Once again I’m reminded you should never go looking for something you don’t really want to know. (grin)

In the first 7 months of 2021 I wrote 623,282 words in 13 novels. Then in the last 5 months of 2022 I wrote 284,661 in five novels.

So my total for that 12 months was 907,943 words in 12 novels. (grin) So I fell short of my million-word goal by a mere 92,057 words. Well, darn.

But this isn’t only a good method for looking at the past.

It’s also a great way to gauge your progress now and serve as a guide into the future. Every month or two or however often, you can check to see how you’re doing and whether you need to increase your daily word count goal.

For example, I already know, having missed my annual goal in 2021 and 2022, I’d really like to surpass 1,000,000 words of fiction this year. So that’s my annual goal for fiction.

But doing the math, I’m currently on track to fall well short this year. Ten days into the year, my current fiction total is only 20603. I divided that by 10 for a meager 2060 words per day and then multiplied that by 365 days: 751,900. I’m currently on pace to exceed, by the skin of my teeth, only three quarters of my goal.

Wow, huh? Seems I still have some work to do. I need to average 800 more words—so another good half-hour to hour in the chair writing—per day. (grin)

Yes, writing only 2800 words per day on average will put you over a million words on the year. The daily word count goal and the average words per day really are what matter.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “The Age of Social Media Is Ending” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-age-of-social-media-is-ending/. Oh, but see the comments.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 460 words

Writing of Wes Crowley: Deputy US Marshal (WCG8SF3)

Day 11… 4502 words. Total words to date…… 30311

Total fiction words for January……… 20603
Total fiction words for 2023………… 20603
Total nonfiction words for January… 8160
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 8160
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 28763

Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 71
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer because of my zen-like non-process. If you want to learn it too, either hang around or download my Journal Archives at https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-archives/, read them, and try WITD for yourself. The archives are free.