It’s hard to believe but summer is over and the leaves are falling from the trees. Oh, how time flies, especially when you are a writer working on a deadline (albeit a self-imposed one).
The Fourth World is progressing nicely. I am at 69,127 words, which is nearly double where I was on August 23rd. Unfortunately, that’s 10,873 words behind my October 1 target of 80,000 words. Why am I behind? Well, I was sick with a nasty cold for a week and a half and the meds made it hard to concentrate…but the real reason is that I, like many writers, am prone to procrastinate when presented with anything that seems like a reasonable excuse!
That is why I set daily, weekly and monthly writing goals—they keep me accountable. I would be right on target if I had written just 1,000 words each day I was sick, which is just 2/3 of my standing daily goal of 1,500 words. In full disclosure, I did write some during those ten days but I made up for that by slacking off a couple of other days. <Insert boyish grin and shoulder shrug here.>
Getting words from brain to digital paper is the single most important job of any professional writer. It’s great to have a ton of ideas, but they don’t do anyone any good locked up inside your head. That’s why I put so much emphasis on word count goals…I can always go back and clean-up a poorly worded sentence later, but at least it’s on the page.
In Part 2, I will dive into the details of how I go from idea to final manuscript. As always, thanks for reading, and thank you for your support and encouragement!
Image Credit: https://www.freeimages.com/photographer/patuska-34559