Another week filled with words for the books (aha, see what I did? So corny and I love it). Since this is my second official week tracking how much I’ve written, I thought it was time to upgrade from my very teeny-tiny stick note tracking to a full on notebook page. 

Last week, I had tried to fit all my random thoughts/ feelings/ struggles/ triumphs onto a 3″ x 3″ sticky note. And I’m not saying one day per sticky note. I’m talking all five days onto one sticky note. Yeah. . . that was never going to last long. 

But with a notebook, where I am free to write as much as my little overwriter’s heart desires, I’m able to remind myself exactly how a week’s worth of writing actually went. Ready to dive in with me?

Where I Started

Last week I was working on Chapter 24 of my second novel and nearing the 80K word mark for this first draft. I failed to calculate exactly where I was word count wise at the end of last week, so that is definitely an item I plan to track much better this week.

My Goals for the Week

My goals for this week’s writing were similar to last week’s:

• Try to write 7.5K words
• Finish chapter 24 entirely
• Figure out exactly what information needs to be shared regarding my FMCs 2nd year in this story, living on this new island in Savannah (Did I mention she is on an island?)

Now, halfway through the week, I was watching Heart Breathings on YouTube as she goes through planning for her April draft challenge, and, while I am not planning on participating in the challenge, I did walk away with some wonderful ideas that I believe really helped to push me a bit further this week. That coupled with us heading in to Aries season which happens to be my sun sign, so I am truly feeling the fire to write, write, writttteeee. 

Anywho, the biggest thing that I took from Sarra ‘s video was the implementation of gifting myself little things whenever I met a smaller goal. My brain has really been struggling lately to keep up with my personal goals because, right now, they are all really long term goals spread out over several months with very few opportunities to celebrate and get a bit of a dopamine bump to help keep me motivated. So, in order to help show my brain that we truly are winningat this whole writing thing, I decided to add special “treats” that I would gift myself if–and only if–I managed to reach specific goals. 

My husband calls them my Nook Miles on account of my new endeavor into the wonderful world of Animal Crossing (I played the OG game when it came out eons ago and have been excitedly diving back into the game just this month). 

Here are a few of the things I will be saving my Nook Miles up to spend on throughout the course of writing this massive manuscript: 

• Every week I write 7.5K words, I am allowed to go to a coffee shop and order a specialty coffee/ tea
• Once I surpass 103K words written, I get to replace my broken milk frother
• Once I surpass 126K word written, I get to purchase a new indoor/ outdoor plant
• Once I surpass 149K words written, I get to take myself on a date to my favorite bookshop
• Once the climax of my story has been written, I will make an appointment for a new tattoo
• And once I complete my manuscript’s 1st draft, Arlen and I will travel to Savannah for a mini-vacation/ inspirational trip (considering the majority of my novel takes place here)

I believe this mix of both long/ short term rewards will help to keep my brain motivated on the very long and arduous task that is writing a novel. 

How the Week Went

It felt like I stepped into opposite land this week. 

Normally, I do my best work on Monday’s, but I woke up with a major allergy-induced headache that only got worse as the day wore on. I managed to squeak out 1,088 words, but they likely aren’t the best as it was a struggle to get through them (especially in my afternoon writing session where I only wrote 352 words before going to lie down for the remainder of the day). 

By Tuesday, I was still feeling wiped so I skipped my morning 6:30 AM writing session and instead lay in bed turning over all of my worries about my manuscript, especially its current, projected length. I then had to soothe my worries by reminding myself that 1) nearly all of my favorite books are 500+ pages long and 2) a lot of words I am writing now will likely be cut during my first round of edits. Luckily I did manage to do two twenty-minute afternoon sprints which landed me with 1,322 words written for the day, AND I finished Chapter 24–woohoo!

On Wednesday, things were starting to flow. I wrote 1,281new words and then realized that I had 352 old words sitting in a file marked “Unknown Chapter???” that would work perfectly in the scene I was writing. This landed me with 1,633 words for the day. 

By Thursday, I was really getting into the grove. I wrote in three 20-30 minute sessions (two of which were virtual sprints with fellow writer Taylor P.) and each time I got more and more words on the page, ending with 1,733words for the day. 

And honestly, I thought I’d done a great job for the week, though I was sad I hadn’t reached my 7.5K word goal. That is, until I woke up on Friday and realized that. . .it was Friday! I’d forgotten that I had an entire day in which left to write. I truly didn’t think I would manage writing the nearly 2K words needed in order to bring me over my weekly writing goal but somehow I managed it! I wrote 1,777 words!

With a total of 7, 553 words, I was ready to take myself out and get that specialty coffee 🙂

Where I Ended + Upcoming Plans

To recap (so that I don’t forget next week, haha), I managed to finish not only chapter 24 but also chapter 25 which leaves my Overall Word Count at 85,175 words. Remember, I don’t count my words in this overall tracking system until I have finished a chapter. 

I ended my writing session on Friday practically buzzing with ideas, and Chapter 26 is nearly complete. Right now, it is a disparate bunch of unconnected scenarios that I need to go back and lace together, but the ideas are all there, splashed across the page. And once I dive back in to it, I truly believe I will be buzzing with energy and ideas once again. I honestly didn’t want to step away on Friday, but it was nearing dinner time when I crossed my weekly goal and so didn;t have much choice. Food was calling. 

Here’s to *hopefully* striding over the 90K mark on my behemoth story this week and securing myself another special cafe date!

Wish me luck!