Halfway through the year and I’m halfway through my wordcount goal: 250,000 new words written from January first through to June thirtieth (251,055 according to the spreadsheet). This means just another quarter million by December thirty-first to hit that half-million word goal.
I’m writing fast and learning heaps as I go. In general I think my stories are getting better (sometimes it feels like I’ve written a dud, but usually I feel better about the next one).
No novels this year – that’s all short/long stories. Next year will be the year of the novel(s) – aiming for the same word count, but far fewer stories and getting those new novels and sequels written (yes, finally I will get The Deluge: The Hidden Dome part 2 published).
At the moment I’ve got more than forty stories circulating around publishers and that’s getting a bit unweildy, so I’m going to pull that back to about 10 as they filter back and self/indie publish the others as I go.
So far I’ve published 150,000 new words for 2013 (in various guises, under various pen names), and about 30,000 of those have been published in magazines (most of whom have paid actual money), and the rest is self/indie-published. I have several unpublished works (including novels) that need some proofing, correcting and so on. I have a different pattern of time availability coming up in a couple of weeks: I should be able to start getting to those then.
And right now I’m taking Dean Wesley Smith’s online lecture on pen names – I might just be shifting all those nom-de-plume stories over to reside under the Sean Monaghan byline (like those Len Stone stories I’ve been secretly publishing for a while now).
Those are some impressive numbers, Sean. Congrats on your success so far.
Last year I kept track of word count too. My goal was 400K, and by the end of June, I was looking good to making that at about 185K, but then we had an unexpected move on top of an already plan moved, so those threw me off, but I did manage 305K.
This year, I’m not doing word count, but I am pushing through a novel and a novella, along with W1S1 12 short stories. I do miss word count though – I think it kept me more focused, day in and day out. I can tell I’ve been slacking more this year.
Best of luck to you! I hope you make it.
Thanks Erin.
Yep, life rolls happen. It still sounds like you did amazingly anyhow. You’re right, too – keeping track keeps me focused.