The Daily Journal, Saturday, January 19

Hey Folks,

Even though it’s a Saturday, I didn’t get up until almost 3. There’s a ball game starting at 1 that I want to watch, and if my wife wants us to do anything together, I will give that precedence. So possibly a short day today.

Days like this are why it’s good to have a few days in the bank. (grin)

This WIP is filled (thus far) with psychological minutae, so up to this point it’s necessarily slow going. This one will fluctuate, but I’m hopeful.

The first novel in this series came in at around 53,000 words. On the other hand, the “deadline” for this one, if I’m to stay on track with my challenge, is February 4th.

So in all I have 18 days to write this one (counting yesterday). That’s just under 3000 words per day. So anything over that should put days in the bank.

Topic: About the Challenge

As most of you know, I’m involved in a personal challenge right now. My challenge is to write 10 novels in 150 straight days.

I started on January 6, so the target dates are Jan 20, Feb 4, Feb 19, Mar 6, Mar 21, Apr 5, Apr 20, May 5, May 20, and Jun 4.

I finished the first on Jan 18, thereby adding two days to the bank. But I started the second on Jan 18 as well, thereby adding another day to the bank. (grin)

I give myself the full 15 days for each book, plus any days in the bank. That way I can retain the original end dates and keep everything within the overall 150 days.

So if I finish the second novel on or before Feb 4, I’m at least even. If I go beyond Feb 4, the bank has a minus balance until I catch up.

This really is fun. About halfway through the first novel, I wasn’t at all sure I would finish in by Jan 20. So I briefly thought maybe I should chuck the whole thing and just keep writing novels anyway.

Then I realized I might as well keep the challenge going as long as I can. So that’s what I’m doing.

That also has the benefit of removing any pressure, except the pressure to get to the chair in the first place. But I’m a writer, so that’s where I want to be anyway. (grin) We’ll see how it all works out.

If, on June 4 I’ve written only 9 novels or even only 2, will that be a failure? Not really. I’ll still have that many more titles out there for readers to find, and that can only be a good thing. That’s a complete win in my book.

And if I’ve written at least 6, I’ll still have at least a novel per month. So no matter how you look at it, it’s a win.

Finally, if I succeed at the challenge, that means I’ll have 10 new novels on or before June 4, that means I have 10 more titles out there for readers to find.

Understand too, these are all written in only 3 drafts. In the first draft, I write, cycling back occasionally to let the characers add what I missed the first time.

The second draft is an automated spell check. That takes all of five minutes. Then I send it off to my first reader (bless his or her heart). The third draft is me “correcting” whatever the first reader finds that I agree with. Thenk I publish.

One note: The lengths of my novels can range anywhere from a short novel (25,000 to 44,999), to a novel (45,000 to 79,999) to a long novel (over 80,000 words).

My current maximum daily word count is 6,000 words, so any of those are in range. But my current sustained daily rate is around 4,000 words, so chances are, all of the novels in this challenge will come in at 35,000 to 60,000-word range.
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Not as good a day as I’d hoped, but not bad for a short day.

Talk with you again tomorrow.

Of Interest

See “Kickstarter Funded!” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/kickstarter-funded/.

See “How Many of Me” at http://www.howmanyofme.com/search/. An interesting way to research your own name or the name of a propsective character.

See “The Ultimate Taboo: Killing The President” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/01/the-ultimate-taboo-killing-the-president.html. NOTE: Be forewarned, as he does all too often, Alpert goes political with his opinion. I can’t imagine his assessment of the message of the scene in the play being the same if the “Caesar” depicted was a caricature of Obama. But here it is, for your leisurely perusal.

Fiction Words: 2695
Nonfiction Words: 770 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3465

Writing of Blackwell Ops: Charles Claymore Task (novel)

Day 1…… 2405 words. Total words to date…… 2405
Day 2…… 2695 words. Total words to date…… 5100

Total fiction words for the month……… 43087
Total fiction words for the year………… 43087
Total nonfiction words for the month… 15940
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 15940
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 59027

Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date………………………… 1
Calenday Year 2019 Novellas to Date…………………… X
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date……… X
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 38
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 7
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 193
Short story collections…………………………………………………… 31