So I messed up.
I’ve been hitting my 1,500 word goal each week, like clockwork. But it’s not enough.
Based on where I am now, I’d need to write (or edit) something like 8,000 words a week in order to hit my self-imposed deadline of the end of June.
That kind of pace is…unlikely, to say the least. Possible, sure, but unlikely, given my schedule.
Earlier this week, I thought about going for it. Staying up later, getting up earlier, pushing to finish on time.
But the more I thought about it, the more stressed I became. It was harder to get started writing in the morning, because I knew I’d need to write four times my usual word count just to keep up.
I actually thought about quitting the novel altogether. Just dropping it and going back to working on some short story ideas. I’ve got plenty of them; I could keep busy with shorter fiction for the rest of the year.
Instead, I’ve decided to get rid of the source of my stress and doubts: I’m scrapping the deadline.
I’m definitely going to up my weekly word count, though, starting next week. 1,500 words is just not cutting it, in terms of finishing in a timely fashion. I don’t want to be still working on this draft next year. And I do have short stories I want to work on, stories that will take time to get right. Time I’ll have to earn by finishing this novel draft.
Wish me luck.
Don’t quit the novel! It’s not an easy thing to do, and 1500 words a week is still a novel in a year. You can do it!
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Thanks! Definitely not easy, especially when I feel like I’ve been working on this book forever…But I’ll see it through to the end 🙂
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If you want a group of goal-chasing writer buddies, Holly Lisle is starting a free Summer of Fiction Writing event in June. You can get the details (and links to a lot of her free writing how-to’s here: https://hollylisle.com/the-summer-of-fiction-writing-event-at-hollyswritingclasses-com/
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Nice! Will check it out, thanks!
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