Refocusing Daily Writing Exercises & Story Work

On June 2, I decided to up the ante a little for my daily writing exercise and to change the way I record word count numbers on the Daily Writing Exercise page.

On that day, the minimum daily requirement for fiction words written went from 700 to 1,000. I am hoping to work my way up to 2,000 per day (every day but Sunday) by the end of October. Rather like a track runner gradually increasing speed and distance.

I don’t know how this will work. I wrote in the evening on the first day (June 2) and had a very difficult time reaching the minimum count, then went over a little bit without much effort.

This morning (June 3), I did my writing in the morning and had over 700 words before I left for work. Mornings do seem like the more productive time for me, whether I’m at the computer writing or at the easel painting. I suppose it could be because I have the house to myself for a couple of hours between the time Neal goes to work and the time I have to go work. Solitude has a way of prompting that sort of productivity.

It will no doubt take some time to get things figured out and to determine when and how much to increase the requirement for each day.

But that’s all part of the learning process and part of maintaining a sense of challenge and motivation.

The second part of these changes in writing focus involves the three or four new and active stories I’ve been bouncing back and forth between. I would like to finish one of them by Fall, so I’ve decided to focus my writing efforts in that area. I’ll still record Daily Word Exercise counts, but unless I have something I just have to write about and that’s not related to one of those active stories, the word count will come out of work on the story.

The story I’m working on right now is at the 40,000 word stage, but I’ve been working on it off and on (more off than on, I’m afraid) since May 11, 1996. Right now, it’s the one getting most of my attention and working on it has helped me get settled into the notion of doing at least 1,000 words per day. Three others were started at various times in the last six to eight weeks and they are in the 10,000 to 30,000 word range. Right now, the oldest one is the one getting the attention, but one of the newer ones is also high on my list because it’s just fun to write. No planning, no plotting, just writing. I don’t even know what happened to the title character, just that she’s not where she’s supposed to be.

How do you like that for a plan?

I’m going to test this new schedule for a month and see how or if it needs to be adjusted. I’m hoping to be adjusting it upwards on a regular basis, but will have to wait and see on that.

In the meantime, it’s onward and upward!