Weekly Writing Intentions: August 20, 2022
Daily Diary, Day 719:
The past two weeks have made me re-evaluate my writing goals.
Clearly, trying to maintain 1000 word average over 7 full days simply didn’t account for the number of days that unexpected demands on my time (or energy) limited my writing time. So, new goal is to shoot for a total word count of 5,000 words a week, letting me at least pretend I am actually taking two days a week off. I know the reality is that I will try to get some writing done on the book every day, but this feels like a more forgiving goal. That way I can celebrate when I actually hit a higher total for the week and feel less dissatisfied on those days I don’t reach 1000 words. Using this new measure, I almost made my goal this past week, writing a total of 4869 words.
The manuscript is currently at 25,000 words, with nine chapters, and I have barely introduced all the major plot points or all the main characters. My target for the novel is about 85,000 words, which is the approximate length of each of the first three books in the series. This would mean about 4 more months of writing if I can maintain that 5000 words a week goal. What I have no idea about at this point is if this would complete the story I want to tell or would be the first installment of a 2-3 book set. Trying not to let that idea freak me out! It will take what it takes.
So, back to my intentions for the week. To write at least 5000 words in total. I have a couple of people (friends, family, authors) I would like to schedule phone conversations with, but this may depend on the time I spend on unscheduled calls. The weather is supposed to be a little bit cooler (high 70s rather than low 80s), so I hope that helps with the exercise. And I really would like to be able to carve out some time for a substack piece I committed to writing for September.
In short, if all goes well, a nice balanced week. Anyone out there like to share their goals for the next week?
Here is a photo of our dog Leeza surveying her domain. She has taken to going up on our deck as the sun begins to slide to the horizon. Noble dog!
You have to wonder what she’s thinking.
Good for you! Setting realistic achievable goals is smart! And aging or not, you are a sharp cookie! At 75, I reset my daily step goal to 6k (based on the latest science), and it instantly changed my outlook. I do an extra happy dance those days I hit 13k+, and feel good when I hit 8k. I'm not a writer but 1k meaningful words a day still sounds pretty amazing.