Hey Folks,
Topic: On Challenges (It’s That Time of Year)
In Dean’s post today (see “Of Interest”) he’s talking about restarting his challenge on January 1 to write 10 novels in 100 days.
His plan is to write 10 50,000 word novels in that time. It will “stretch” him (and hence, be a challenge) because he isn’t sure he can write 5,000 words per day consistently for 100 days.
I’m considering joining him in that challenge, but with a twist. I would write 10 novels in 100 days, but probably in a particular world, so a series. Or maybe two.
I recently received some great kudos on my detective/PI mystery fiction. The “world” surrounding that fiction is somewhat dark and seething with seedy characters and unseen danger.
Another world in which I enjoy writing is the military/paramilitary (mercenary) war environment. Nothing says love like a bombed-out building or a collapsing bridge. (grin)
Yet another is the period western (or the period SF), in which the world is huge, new, and riddled with possibilies for conflict.
And there are other worlds on the edge of my mind, like the “future-Earth” world in which In the Siberian Fields and The Claim are situated. Still a lot to do there, and some of the possibilities overlap with the war stuff above.
Between now and January 1, I’ll give some thought to which world I want to write in.
Then, if I participate in the challenge, I’ll endeavor to write 10 novels in 100 days. In a few of those worlds, previous novels have come in at around 40,000 words.
This would be a stretch (a challenge) for me because for the past few years my daily production comes out to around 3,000 words per day. To succeed at this challenge I would have to turn out 4,000 words per day on average.
Can I do that? Of course. There’s no question I can write 4,000 words per day. The question is whether I can do so for 100 days straight (on average). (grin)
I encourage you to consider jumping into this (or a similar) challenge yourself. Especially if you need to jumpstart your writing or increase your production or just add to the titles you have out there.
More titles means more discoverability, more sales and more success as a writer.
And of course, I also fully expect to turn out one more novel BEFORE January 1. (grin) No reason to waste the 18 days left between now and the new year.
And really, it’s only 16 days. I’ll probably want to take Christmas and New Year’s Eve off. The former for obvious reasons, and the latter to give me a day of rest before I begin the challenge. And it’s only 15 days if I don’t start a new novel today. (grin)
Still easily doable though. Plus it’ll give me some practice at hitting 4,000 word days before I start the challenge. I suspect I’ll need to adjust my day again a little. Maybe go to bed an hour earlier and get up an hour earlier. Then spend no more than an hour on morning stuff before I start writing for the day.
We’ll see how it goes. (grin) I’m very excited to realize I could have 37 novels by year-end and 47 novels 100 days later, on April 10.
For those of you who are into numbers, if I can pull off my challenge, in the first 100 days of 2019, I will have written 400,000 words of fiction.
By comparison, from January 1 through December 13 in 2018, I wrote just over 480,000 words of fiction. (grin)
Onward!
***
Rolled out at 3:30 and spent the first 2+ hours writing the above and a similar post on the Pro Writers blog (for release on December 18) over at HarveyStanbrough.com. Then I spent a couple hours up at the house before returning to the Hovel.
I didn’t start writing until 9, but I had a great day on the new novel. (grin)
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
There are still two (of three) spots left in Dean’s “Mentor Program.” See https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/mentor-program/#comments.
See “How to Think About a Challenge” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/how-to-think-about-a-challenge/.
See “Defining Your Characters: 150+ Character Mannerisms” at https://blog.reedsy.com/characters-mannerisms/.
See “What Makes a Compelling Romance Novel?” at https://blog.reedsy.com/compelling-romance-novel/.
See “The Power of Series” at https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?u=13026cbe4253ebdc8419567b4&id=a15d73fba7. This is an archived copy of a newsletter from Reedsy.
See “Create Fast, Free, Festive Images in Seconds with PhotoFunia” at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/create-fast-free-festive-images-in-seconds-with-photofunia/. NOTE: The large green oval “start” buttons have nothing to do with PhotoFunia. They’re there to scam you into downloading other things.
Fiction Words: 4917
Nonfiction Words: 760 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 5677
Writing of “Cazadores” (novel, tentative title)
Day 1…… 4917 words. Total words to date…… 4917
Total fiction words for the month……… 29427
Total fiction words for the year………… 488110
Total nonfiction words for the month… 7720
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 179406
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 667266
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 10
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 36
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 7
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 193
Short story collections…………………………………………………… 31
Note: This Journal and my Pro-Writers blog will always be free and are funded only by your gracious contributions. To make a one-time donation, click the Donate button under the clock at the top of the Journal page. If you’d like to become a patron, click Patronage and have a look at the rewards. If you can’t make a monetary donation, please consider sharing this post with your friends. Thanks!