In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Yesterday and Today
* Topic: On Goals, and a Challenge
* More Shared World Stuff
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” Unknown (via The Passive Voice
Yesterday I submitted the clean final copy of For the Good of the Galaxy: The First Nine Days to Amazon and D2D. It’s still available for preorder until June 1 when it goes live.
To take a look, visit https://stonethreadpublishing.com/ftgotg-the-first-nine-days/.
Today I’ll begin reading over FTGOTG: The Battle Begins.
Topic: On Goals, and a Challenge
I’m a better and more productive writer when I have a goal.
Yes, you read that right. I’m both Better and More Productive when I have a goal. When I push myself, I don’t have time to let the critical mind seep in. So I’m setting a new writing goal.
Obviously, I fell off my goal to write a new short story every week for 18 months. I think I was about 12 stories in when I slipped off that one.
I also slipped sideways on my goal to write a new novel every month. The length of my 49th novel threw me a bit. Not that I can’t write an 88,000 word novel in a month, but that wasn’t what I was expecting, so I didn’t plan for it.
Still, we haven’t quite reached the ides of March, and I’ve written five novels this year, so I’m counting that as being on track to write at least one novel each month.
Yesterday as my wife and I talked a little about my having recently achieved a personal benchmark with my 50th novel, she said, “In six years.”
Yes. Sort of. I started writing my first novel on October 19, 2014. So it won’t officially be six years until October 18, 2020.
Meaning I have time to write at least five more novels by the time I reach my 6th anniversary as a novelist. But really, writing five more novels between now and then isn’t much of a challenge. When I set up the challenge to write a novel every month, I was also writing a short story every week. Now THAT was a challenge! (grin)
What to do?
Well, the rest of May plus the first part of October total 37 days, so basically a month with an extra week. And then there are June, July, August and September. That’s 160 days.
The novel I just finished came in at just under 65,000 words in 17 days. Hmm… could I actually finish TEN more novels between now and October 19, 2020?
Well, numerically, obviously I could, but then one has to consider coming up with ideas, balancing the goal with the pressure generated by that goal, etc. So setting a goal to write a new novel every 17 days or so feels like it would generate too much pressure.
So here are my two new goals:
1. To write EIGHT more novels by October 18. That’s 20 days per novel and should be plenty of time. However, I’ll fudge a little and allow my self to “bleed over” to October 31 if necessary and I’ll still count that as 58 novels in my first 6 years as a novelist.
2. To write TEN more novels by December 31, 2020, making a total of 15 on the year. That should be easy peasy if I can get the first 8 done on time.
If you want to play along, the only rule is that the story must be complete and must consist of at least 35,000 words (short novel).
Anyone interested, jump in with me. After all, really, seriously, you have NOTHING to lose. Do you? Now what do you have to gain? Trust yourself and what you know and take the dive.
Or in the alternative, jump in and write FOUR new novels by October 31, 2020. Or FIVE by December 31.
Or just write ONE novel. Start sometime in the next few days and finish by October 31 (or December 31), 2020. Do that again in the next five or six months and folks will begin to call you prolific. (grin)
Of course, I still have to read through and launch my last novel. I figure that should take today and maybe tomorrow. Then I’m plunging in. (grin)
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Physical Exhaustion” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/conflict-thesaurus-entry-physical-exhaustion/.
See “Some Misc. Stuff” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/some-misc-stuff-2/.
See “The Top 40 Publishers for New Authors” at https://www.authorspublish.com/the-top-40-publishers-for-new-authors/.
See “How to Throw a Virtual Book Launch…” at https://www.janefriedman.com/how-to-throw-a-virtual-book-launch-using-facebook-live/.
See “Momentum and Pace—Giving Readers a Satisfying Ride” at https://www.livewritethrive.com/2020/05/11/momentum-and-pace-giving-readers-a-satisfying-ride/. FWIW.
See “Hail, Wordians and Wordsmiths!” at https://prowriterswriting.com/hail-wordians-and-wordsmiths/.
The Numbers
Fiction words yesterday…………………… XXXX
Nonfiction words today…………… 750 (Journal)
Writing of (novel)
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 30061
Total fiction words for the year………… 309655
Total nonfiction words for the month… 7490
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 110600
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 420255
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 5
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 50
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31