The Journal, Wednesday, January 2

Hey Folks,

Our second snowfall of the year (yes, here in the desert) started this morning. Creating, of course, the illusion that the world has shifted on its axis and it’s going to snow every day during 2019. (grin)

This is a “real” snow, with about 4″ on the ground at the moment and plenty more coming. My wife’s considering granting herself a 2-hour delay if she goes in at all.

Fortunately, my own commute to the office is only about 200 feet outside my back door. (grin)
***

We have one little hummingbird who stays with us year-round. He often perches on a guy-wire out back and looks around, as if wondering where everybody else went. Of course, everybody else went to Mexico or maybe even farther south.

We’re happy to have him, and I keep his feeder clean, filled and de-iced through the winter. But I hate that the little guy is apparently so lonely.

I hope he isn’t, of course. I hope he simply enjoys the solitude.
***

So, on Day 2 of the challenge, guess who’s already adjusting his first major goal?

It dawned on me that I’ve never written even ONE novel in ten days. Not that I can’t, but the purpose of a challenge is to drive productivity and reach new personal heights, not to introduce pressure. I want to keep the writing fun.

If I remember right, the shortest time it took me to write a novel was 15 writing days. The most recent took 16 writing days (out of 17 calendar days).

So I’m adjusting my challenge. My overall goal now is to write 10 novels in 150 days. And remember, those are calendar days. So on average, a novel every 15 calendar days.

That’s a much more sensible goal for me, but it’s still a pretty good stretch. And in a way, it’s even a little more difficult because it will require (almost) daily writing for a longer period of time. Though I personally have no real problem with that.

So the challenge started yesterday. The last day will be May 30.

I’m going to leave the daily goal where it is (4000 words per day) because that’s what I practiced. I’m comfortable with it, yet it remains a minor stretch. So it’s all good.

How about you? Any new daily/weekly/monthly writing goals? A particular number of short stories or novels or poems or publications you’d like to hit? Any writing-related bucket-list items you’d like to cross off your list?
***

I stayed up to watch most of the Sugar Bowl last night. I’m pleased to report 15-ranked Texas beat 5-ranked Georgia, but it wasn’t really an “upset.” Texas led from the beginning. Hook ’em horns! (grin)

Rolled out a little late this morning, shortly after 3. I took a few hours (with breaks) to write all of this stuff and wander the Internet for items of interest.

I headed for the novel at a little after 6.

And something happened. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it’s definitely not good.

I’m stuck. There, I said it.

I’m stuck in a big way. Maybe it’s the excitement of a full-on snow day with more to come or maybe it’s the boredom I felt as I cycled back through the would-be WIP this morning.

Maybe I’m feeling some pressure from the challenge, though I don’t think so.

Maybe right now just isn’t the right time to write this one. I honestly don’t know.

But whatever it is, I’m stuck.

I won’t bore you with details, but through the next few hours I did other things, returning to the would-be novel each time.

Nothing.

Something’s bothering me about this one. That isn’t unusual, though it is rare. But what IS unusual is that I can’t figure out what’s bothering me about it.

What’s even worse, yesterday I was excited about this story, and today I’m just not. That’s unusual too, and a little frightening.

So now, at not quite 1 p.m., I’m calling this a nonwriting day and taking the rest of the day to basically do nothing.

Tomorrow morning I’ll either pick up on this one again or I’ll start something new. Not a great start to the year. I hope yours was better.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See the comments (please) on yesterday’s Journal entry at http://hestanbrough.com/the-journal-tuesday-january-1/#comments.

See “2018: D2D’s Year of Discoverability & Empowering Authors” at https://www.draft2digital.com/blog/2018-d2ds-year-of-discoverability-empowering-authors/.

Via Linda Maye Adams, if you’re interested in yet another way to market your work, check out the FREE option on “Prolific Works” (formerly Instafreebie) at https://www.prolificworks.com/plans.

See “Theme” at https://tonydwritespulp.com/2019/01/02/theme/. Wow. Great, very succinct, post.

See “Networking For Writers” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/01/networking-for-writers-2.html.

See “On Morning Pages and Self-discipline” at https://dgalloway.wordpress.com/2018/11/26/on-morning-pages-and-self-discipline/.

See “Does Your Cover Need a New Year’s Makeover?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/01/does-your-cover-need-a-new-years-makeover.html. I recommend skipping down to “The only two you have any control over….”

For fun, see “Madam Zelda’s Top 14 Predictions for 2019” at https://www.leelofland.com/madam-zeldas-top-14-predictions-for-2019/.

Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 820 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 820

Writing of The Farmhand (novel, tentative title)

Day 1…… 1628 words. Total words to date…… 1628
Day 2…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXX (stalled)

Total fiction words for the month……… 1628
Total fiction words for the year………… 1628
Total nonfiction words for the month… 2541
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 2541
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 4169

Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date………………………… X
Calenday Year 2019 Novellas to Date…………………… X
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date……… X
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 37
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 7
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 193
Short story collections…………………………………………………… 31