Goals Not Met, but Moving On

Last week did not go as planned.  Writing was done, not as much as I would have liked however since I didn't meet the 2,000 word goal.  I only logged 1,221 words of fiction during the course of the week.  Pathetic!

I do have some reasons for this failing though.  Early in the week, my eye became very red.  Self diagnosing as eye fatigue and figuring that I needed some sleep caused some missed writing time.  Then a late week trip caused some more lost writing time.  It really is hard to drive and write.  There's even laws against it some places!  Can you believe that?

On a more positive note, I was able to complete "A Memory Of Light" by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  The eye fatigue was worth it.  I will gladly put more drops in my eyes for more works like "The Wheel of Time" series.  This last book and the series as a whole are great!

It is now a new week and I wonder what I can get done this week.  Only one way to find out.  I'm signing off for now, but like always, I'll be here write 'n stuff.

2013 - Seven Weeks Down and Still Writing

Last week I mentioned that I was doubling my paltry goal of 1,000 words a week.  After doing so I'm proud to say Mission Accomplished!  While it took all week, I did manage to put down 2,111 words in the Rin and Finnius story.  This is the only story I'm working on at the moment, as I've put all other fiction aside.

It may not seem to most of you out there that 2,000 words a week is a big deal and I would agree with you. Its just what I have right now.  When people post to Twitter that they've written 2,000 or more words in a day, I just take a deep breath and tell myself that one day that will be me.  At this point I'm living on Murr Lafferty's words of wisdom.  What's that you ask?  Those words are "It's okay to suck."  I'm allowed to write at my pace and to do it poorly and that's okay because what I learn now will bear fruit in the future.

Speaking of Murr, I've been listening to her a lot lately.  On the way to work and then home I listen to podcast.  For the past several weeks, I have been trying to get current with the "I Should Be Writing" podcast by Murr Lafferty.  It is very entertaining to listen to Murr and the authors, agents and editors that she interviews.  I recommend "I Should Be Writing" to all wanna-be fiction writers.

I'm still reading "A Memory of Light" by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  It is a master work as is the entire "Wheel of Time" series in my opinion.  I'll probably finish it up this week, which will bring great sorrow to the pattern with the realization that this masterful work of fiction is completed.

That said, I need to be done reading so that may the Rin and Finnius story can be finished.  I really want to be done with the Rin and Finnius story so that I can plan what I will write next.  That may be the greatest lesson I've learned so far.  Plan before writing.  Rin and Finnius has been mostly discovery written and the edits that I see now are extensive.  There is more to change than I like to think about at this point, but I will keep writing and see what happens.  That is part of the fun, right?

Now to start the week off right, I'm gonna get some writing done.  Feel free to leave something in the comments, and as always, I'll be here write 'n stuff.

Ups and Downs

It probably shouldn't surprise anyone that my writing has been an up and down thing for the last couple of weeks.  These ups and downs should be expected for a "beginner writer" right?  And if your curious of what ups and downs I'm referring to, just read on.

First the ups.  My very modest weekly word count goal has been met and surpassed each week this year.  Big ups, whoop, whoop!!  Bear in mind that this is no huge accomplishment because the goal is small, on purpose though, and I hope to step it up soon.  Another up is that I have been achieving the small goal early in the week, leaving the latter half to 3/4 of the week for bonus writing.  This makes me feel good about my ability to get the words down, but it leads into the downs.  

The biggest down is that I'm leaving valuable writing time on the table.  I mean, what do you do when you just feel blah?  You get home from work or school, spend some quality time with the family, cook and eat, and then what.  Well, write of course.  Right?  That's the plan anyway, but you're worn out from the day.  The writing just doesn't always happen.  My thought process is that I've already reached my goal and I still haven't finished "A Memory Of Light."  So I read and not write.  All things considered, it could be worse.  If Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson hadn't done such a wonderful job on the "Wheel of Time" series, this may not be as big a problem.

The other down I'm facing now is that I've come to a point in my story that has me stumped.  I have to get past this point and fast or I will fail at my word count goal next week.  I may have to skip the scene and come back to it later, though I would rather not.  

As I write this, I feel as though the solution to my lack of writing problem is apparent.  The word count goal needs to be higher.  I've promised 1000 words a week.  That's been done fairly easily, so I'm going to double it now.  Starting next week the goal is 2000 words.  We'll see how that works out for a couple of weeks and hopefully move it up again.  

Now I just need to get past this scene.  I'll get to work on that now while I'm sittin' here write 'n' stuff.