Whew, this week, I really had a flame up under me or something because each and every day, I was rearing to wake up, plop myself in front of my laptop, and write, write, write. I broke my average daily word goal of 1,000 words Monday through Thursday, which meant, I got to take Friday off. And Saturday. And Sunday. 

It felt weird to take those extra days off from writing, but truly, I needed them after the higher sustained output. Plus my half-day allergy fit that descended upon me on Sunday coupled with a period from the depths of hell. 

But I digress. . .

Where I Started

At the end of last week, I had finished two chapters, just begun chapter 26, and my overall word count was standing at 85,175 words. I came into this week with a lot of momentum and ideas already on the page, which really helped me to keep up the pace each and every day, even when the day didn’t start out the best. 

My Goals for the Week

Aim for 7,500 written words

Finish Chapter 26 and make headway on Chapter 27

Get a better idea of where YEAR 2 is headed and what absolutely needs sharing vs. what can be brushed over

How the Week Went

II’m not going to lie, the week started out rough. Monday morning, Arlen and I got into a little tiff. I was afraid my heightened feelings would block my creativity for my morning writing session, but if anything, the writing helped to lessen the intensity of my feelings. It acted as a creative conduit and I was able to slide in to the work, putting distance between our argument and allowing me to come back for our morning hang out with an apology for my behavior and a softened heart. I also wound up writing 888 words in that 30-minute sprint, which was the best writing I did all day. 

On Tuesday, the morning began slow. I woke up feeling so sleepy and lethargic, a trend that continued throughout the week. I filled my morning with more research than writing, but honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed the research at hand. It also enlightened me to see that history does, indeed, repeat itself. Not just once, but over and over and over again. After working in the garden, I came back that same afternoon feeling drained, but managed to write nearly 1,300 words after being struck by a bit of inspiration. 

Wednesday was my best writing day by far! Not only did I write nearly 1K words in my first 40-minute session of the day, I came back in the afternoon, wrote another 800 words, then jumped into an afternoon sprint over at Happily Ever Authors and wrote 765 words. By the end of the day, my brain was absolute mush. But whose wouldn’t be after writing 2,530 words in one day?

By the time Thursday rolled around, I was beginning to flag. Even though I had ideas mapped out, I could feel the energy waning and wondered if I’d even meet my weekly stretch goal. It felt so close yet also miles away. The morning didn’t start great. I wrote less than 200 words in total, but I had mapped out the rest of the scene in which I was working on, I just needed to come back and finish it. Luckily, my cousin and fellow author-to-be, Taylor, and I had our own digital sprint date scheduled. I struggled through out first sprint. Nothing sounded right. I felt like I was forcing the characters to do things that didn’t feel right or natural to them or the moment. But by the second sprint, I finally caught a bit of a groove. I just squeaked by for my weekly goal, writing a total of 1,460 words for the day. 

Where I Ended + Upcoming Plans

In the end, I wrote a total of 7,594 words and finished Chapter 26 + half of Chapter 27. I added Chapter 26’s  word count to the Overall Word Count which brought it up from the initial 85,175 words to 92,211 words. Yeah. Chapter 26 is a big ‘ole chapter, I know. 

Looking at this week ahead, I am keeping my plans lighter and looser. Would I like to hit the 7.5k word goal? Absolutely! Am I expecting to do it? Hell no. Especially considering my birthday is tomorrow (yay!) and I am taking the entire day off to spend with Arlen, plus I have other birthday shenanigans planned for the week. 

But you know what? That’s ok. It’s great, actually. After adding over 15K words to my manuscript over two weeks, I think it’s only healthy and sustainable to take it slower this week. Sure, I won’t get to add any Nook Miles to my coffee/tea account, but that’s alright. It’ll just make the next time I do all the more sweet 🙂

Wish me luck!