Monday, April 11, 2011

On Reasonable Expectations

My goal for the past two weeks has been to write about 15,000 new words on Kingsley, along with work and the other chores associated with my life. This goal was made so that I could finish the first draft of the story by the end of April and perhaps start something new by May in order to get the number of books and drafts up at an accelerated pace.

After the events of the last couple of weeks, I've come to adjust those expectations a little. Even when I was unemployed, I only achieved about 20,000 new words a week. Expecting three quarters of that while working a full time job with an hour long commute was likely a little optimistic. Having a baby right in the middle of that time did not help my productivity very much either. Free time, which translates into writing time, tends to vanish when you have a newborn around the house.

In light of those facts I've needed to adjust my goals a bit downward. I have managed about 10,000 words on both weeks, though it has required a little sleep deprivation and a couple of light days at work to manage it. That puts my current word count at around 50,000 words, which would be more than halfway for a 100,000 word book. I think I can continue to put out that same amount in the next few weeks, however, and so I hope to be able to finish off the story more or less on schedule. The story might actually turn out to be a bit shorter than 100k in any case, which would be fine with me. All I need now is to focus on keeping the same amount of work output, and I should be on track.

Here's hoping that nothing new pops up to stick in the gears... See you around!

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