Writing Goals Update: 3/17/2019
Mar. 18th, 2019 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disgruntled_owlStatus Update
This writing week went better than it had a right to, given my work schedule and other stuff going on in my life, but I'll take the little miracles where I can get them.
1. Words written this week: 2,260. I met or exceeded my GYWO daily quota (411 words) four times, and as of Sunday night I crossed the 20,000 word mark.
I'm finding that I can write words relatively quickly in longhand (about 500 on 30 minutes), but when I am entering things into the computer and revising, I slow way down. It gets tricky to balance making progress against my GWYO goal and actually finishing projects by completing second and third drafts that don't generate many new words (unless I find myself doing wholesale rewrites). Sometimes I am drawn to my GYWO goal, which often feels insurmountable and makes me feel guilty for not writing more, but I'll also look at projects I care about and know they need the kind of attention that won't get me closer to my desired word count. I'd try to make progress on both but most days I just don't have the extra time. I guess it's just a matter of figuring out how to work with that tension from day to day.
2. Write 4+ mornings a week: Made it!
This writing week went better than it had a right to, given my work schedule and other stuff going on in my life, but I'll take the little miracles where I can get them.
1. Words written this week: 2,260. I met or exceeded my GYWO daily quota (411 words) four times, and as of Sunday night I crossed the 20,000 word mark.
I'm finding that I can write words relatively quickly in longhand (about 500 on 30 minutes), but when I am entering things into the computer and revising, I slow way down. It gets tricky to balance making progress against my GWYO goal and actually finishing projects by completing second and third drafts that don't generate many new words (unless I find myself doing wholesale rewrites). Sometimes I am drawn to my GYWO goal, which often feels insurmountable and makes me feel guilty for not writing more, but I'll also look at projects I care about and know they need the kind of attention that won't get me closer to my desired word count. I'd try to make progress on both but most days I just don't have the extra time. I guess it's just a matter of figuring out how to work with that tension from day to day.
2. Write 4+ mornings a week: Made it!
3. Friday Morning Writer Date: A quick one, part of which I spent filling out a Congratulations/Best of Luck card for the executive director of the agency where I work, who retired later that day (and sadly, I can't count those words for GYWO). But! This coming Friday, I leave for my long-weekend, out-of-town writing retreat, so I'll be able to make up for any recent short sessions.
4. Write two original stories: I may have inadvertently started something that would qualify for this. I signed up for GYWO Yahtzee (admittedly, without thinking it through all the way) and received a set of five picture prompts. The idea here is that I'll write something for each prompt, and receive a score based on length and whether I hit on certain things during the story. I took a look at the first prompt, started writing, and just...kept going. It's a longhand first draft, so I'm not yet sure how much of what I've written is really usable, but it felt good to run with an original fiction idea.
5. Write to prompts for story ideas: Achieved (see #4). Essentially, I used one prompt to cover multiple writing sessions.
6. Post personal fanfic: I wrote a Van Helsing (Hammer) headcanon that I'm not sure I'll ever post anywhere, but am glad I have recorded for reference.
7. Craft on My Commute: My Gotham Writers Workshop course is over and I didn't really want to go back to the Story Grid, so I started reading the DIY MFA book by Gabriela Pereira (creator of the DIY MFA website). I've been really enjoying it so far. The early chapters are focused on writing productivity and on using the scientific method to identify writing practices that work for you.
