In Today’s Journal
* Resetting Goals
* Reaching a New Writing Plateau
* Another Writer Sent Me This
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Resetting Goals
Now that I’m writing a new novel, it’s time to look at my annual goals again.
Back in October 2024 when I started putting out a novel every two weeks (that streak lasted through 21 novels in 42 weeks before I fell off it with Blackwell Ops 47) I set my sights on writing 22 novels during 2025.
Although at that novel-every-two-weeks pace 26 novels should be possible in a 52-week year, I figured some external problems (life rolls) would crop up to keep me from doing that. So basically I hedged my bet, effectively giving myself 8 weeks’ grace.
Now I’m sitting at 14 novels on the year, and from September 23 (when I started my current novel) to the end of the year (inclusive), there are exactly 100 days left in the year.
That’s seven 2-week periods left, plus one day.
So beginning a couple of days ago on September 23, my goal is to write 7 new novels before December 31. So my new annual goal is 21 novels on the year plus whatever short stories. My daily word count goal is 3000 words of new fiction per day. (As the Numbers below reveal, I’m currently behind the curve on that one.)
Notice I didn’t say my goal is to “try” to write those novels. Omitting that word substantially helps the creative subconscious. “Try” is a conscious-mind construct that predicts failure. “Try” is a way to downplay failure and avoid responsibility in advance.
The Blackwell Ops series has become a kind of safe space for me as a writer. I know how to write them, though my writing has improved during the process of writing them.
The structure etc. of the stories themselves has also changed considerably over the course of the series. The direction of my current novel is a stark departure from earlier ones.
The BO stories also feed my creative subconscious, so it isn’t all output. Various situations and people in the series occasionally give me ideas for other novels in other genres.
In the past I’ve all but ignored those ideas. The few exceptions were a couple of Stern Talbot novels and a horror-action-adventure novel titled When the Owl Calls. (It was also the sequel to Jonah Peach.)
As I write more BO novels I won’t ignore the ideas. I might even write an opening for another novel in another genre while I’m still writing the current BO novel.
Should be fun and exciting.
As an aside, we’re coming up on October 1, the beginning of the last quarter of the year. If you need to reset your goals, or if you want to set a goal for the upcoming quarter, now’s a great time to do that.
Reaching a New Writing Plateau
Not me. I’m bragging about a writer friend. (grin)
She emailed the following to me:
I haven’t finished reading a novel in years. … But I just finished a … middle-grade book by an author I read as a kid. It’s called Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo.
I read the novel in a few hours. It was that good. … Plus, I found myself analyzing DiCamillo’s craft as I read, and this was not super challenging (unlike with some … books I’ve read).
It was really rewarding to see just how it worked and how everything flowed. Her style is very spare (Hemingway-esque, just [for a] younger [audience]), with lots of dry humor, and her descriptions, when she goes into them, are gold, every word specific and just right.
She draws you in with a very slow pace but a lot happening in the character’s mind, so that in a few chapters not much has really happened but you know things are going to happen, and you know you want to go on a journey with this character.
[Ed. Note: As I explained to my friend, that “slow pace” was the opening. Slower and faster pacing begins when things start happening, i.e., when the plot begins. In fact, when a book begins with an action scene as a hook, the actual opening will be the part right after that.]
My friend continued….
The book is all muscle: no extraneous words or phrases; everything fits perfectly. Just a trimmed, tight, well-oiled machine. Every single word matters….
There is something incredibly straightforward about [this book]. Emotionally straightforward. There is no circling a topic; it’s just addressed head on.
Thank you, my young friend. TNDJ subscribers should be able to glean some valuable writing advice from what you wrote above.
Another Writer Sent Me This
I have a question regarding historical fiction. Do you think a writer feeling ‘awkward’ putting words into the mouths of known historical figures is critical voice at work?
Here’s my expanded response:
Absolutely, it’s critical voice all the way. Ignore it.
All we can ever “know” about any historical figure is someone else’s perception of him or her.
That perception can certainly inform or color the character, but the character is more than the clothing s/he wears or the actions or quotations the previous writer or filmmaker mentioned (or in some cases, made up).
In the absence of direct evidence (not an opinion) that we’re certain hasn’t been taken out of contest, we can’t possibly know what any historical figure actually said or didn’t say or did or didn’t do at any given time.
So in the context of historical fiction, the only way to know for certain what the character says or does in any situation is to listen to the characters as the story unfolds. Then we only have to record accurately what happens and what the character says and does in the story.
In other words, be true to the characters in the story, not the actual historical people, about whom we can actually “know” practically nothing.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
A Writing Compass – Which Way Is North?
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 960
Writing of Blackwell Ops 48: Razor Sharpe
Day 1…… 2213 words. To date…… 2213
Day 2…… 1210 words. To date…… 3423
Fiction for September……………… 28983
Fiction for 2025…………………….. 563132
Nonfiction for September.………… 20340
Nonfiction for 2025………………… 206590
2025 consumable words………….. 762108
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 14
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 118
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 302
Short story collections……………………. 29