• "Space Cougar", written with my amazing co-authors, has been (against all good sense or taste) acquired by The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction. To be published: TBA,  Eraserhead Press.
• "Say Goodbye to the Little Girl Tree" has been sold to the Nick Cave anthology Up Jumped the Devil To be published: Q4 2010, PS Publishing.
• "A Million Miles from Graceland" will be in an upcoming issue of Cemetery Dance.To be published: TBA, Cemetery Dance Publications.
  

I hate backing down from a challenge, especially a writing challenge.

Last post, I detailed how I had revised my daily word-count on the novel to 1000 words a day, up from 850. I had been very successful at 850 a day without fail, often finished them in a couple of hours. On the few days I missed, I wrote at least 1600 words the next day to make up for it, and that worked for me too. 

Of course that was before I picked up the challenging new job with the long commute. This and a couple of other significant household changes caused me to take a break from more than a cursory daily word count over the summer, so the truth is I was going from near zero to 1000. I dove in head-first and hit the concrete, often not making my old 850 word count, even though I had shut down my social life and set aside three coffee-gulping pre-dawn hours to write before I drove to work. I'd push hard one morning, only to need more sleep and recovery the next. Talk about frustrating.

It took me a few weeks to realize that devoting every hour to job, writing or sleeping was starting to feel airless.  Yes I had once made my 850 words in two hours of clickity clacking, but I had also had the whole day to mull the novel in the back of my mind while I worked on other things. New Challenging Job wasn't giving me that kind of thinking room yet, and New Ambitious Writing Schedule wasn't giving me much chance to relax and refill the creative well. Maggie reminded me that some creative projects weigh more than others, and that this particular novel plus this particular job weighs a lot.   

I think that I do have the potential to pump out a lot of words a day with my current job and life, but I realize I need to to gain my momentum, and then find my true balance. This is a transition of getting into the new groove at work, and also getting back into the old groove in the novel. The answer is gradually ramping up my speed on the novel, and finding the new ideal word count by finding my work/life balance point.

That may be 1000 words a day, or more. It may be 850 or less. That balance number is going to vary depending on life and the particular writing project. I had been trying to make my writing time and word count goals an always advancing target that I could never back down from. You don't start a marathon with an all-out sprint. You find a steady pace, and it is by pace alone that you finish and win.

Today, I'm going to give myself more time to think and dream, and then I will write at least 100 words. Yes 100 little words. If all goes well, tomorrow I may ramp it up to at least 200 words, and then upward and onward to the finish line.  

Every quarter I update my writing path goals for the next three months. I have been reading Jeff Vandermeer's excellent Booklife, and have been inspired to expand my goals out to the next five years. Chuck Palahniuk also told us that these kinds of goals are valuable, and they become even more so when we state them publicly.


Here is My Writing Path:

Dedicated Time:

I try to write in whatever spare minutes I can find, but having a dedicated block of time has always helped me.
 

• Set my block of dedicated writing time in the morning before work. 5:45 jump up, 6:00 - 9:00 write, 9:15 go to work. = 3 hours daily weekday and weekends.
• I will set aside an hour for editing most evenings, provided that my daily word count is done, and the novel leaves me the thinking room for it. By the end of this quarter I want this to be a solid goal.      

Daily Word Count:  

I have found that daily word counts work well when I am dedicated, even when I get distracted by life. I am amidst a novel now, and this tool has been golden. My daily word count worked well at 850 words a day last quarter. Now I want to stretch it to 1000 words a day. Life will happen and the secret is overall balance, not perfection. Thus:

• I will write at least 1000 fresh words a day, starting with my dedicated writing time in the morning, and continuing after work, if necessary. 
• If I don't complete my daily word count, whatever remains that day gets added to my next day's word count . (Up to a maximum of 2000 words.  I find a single day's roll-over more than enough motivation to make sure I get things done, without being too punitive for when those really unexpected life events happen).
• I don't tend to take any days off from writing, but I do grant them on an as-needed basis. Sometimes a day of rest is in order.    

Novels:

This quarter I will finish the first draft of "The Wolf Shaman's Apprentice". I wrote the first half of this novel in one month last quarter.  At 850+ words a day, I hit my milestones ahead of schedule (Go daily word count!). Life and the new job knocked me off track, but I have continued working on it.  It's time to get firmly back in the saddle and finish it, thus:

• The novel gets first priority in both focus and daily word count.
• With my daily word count goals, my new completion date is around 9-12-2010.

Things to remember: This novel does not need to be my first publication, just my first completion. Give it my all, and get it out of the way for new projects. Although I love this story, no single novel is my future -- being a novelist is.

Short Stories:

I have a whole quiver of short fiction arrows that are almost ready to fly  -- a quiver that was completely set aside to work on the novel. Ideally I wanted to write fresh novel words in the morning, and edit short fiction in the afternoon.  Between the novel and the new job, this didn't work out last quarter.

This is my first time trying to write a novel and still take on more projects. Some writers only focus on one project at a time, and others can juggle many. Ideally I want to be at least writing one project in the morning and editing another in the evenings.  Besides, I owe an magazine editor a rewrite. Therefore:

• I will use my editing time in the evenings this quarter for polishing short fiction and getting it sent out.   
• I will let new story ideas possess me (in my copious free time).
• I will continue to submit to Writers of the Future every quarter until I place or no longer qualify.
  

Reading:

Reading is crucial. Lately I have followed the urge to read outside the genres I write in, and this is a Very Good Thing. My reading has also been impacted by life and the new job and my book pile is threatening to bury me.  

• I will take advantage of the long commute to listen to an hour or two of audio fiction a day.
• I will squeeze in some reading before bed and on weekends.

Here are my Writing Goals:

Week Goals:

• Finish revisions on "Bravo Foxtrot" and get them back to the editor.

Month Goals:

• Focus on "The Wolf Shaman's Apprentice".
• Have at least 2 short stories polished and out the door.

Quarter Goals:

• Finished "The Wolf Shaman's Apprentice."  
• Started (and pitched) Project "T. C. W. K. S. C."

Year Goals:

• Finished and revised "The Wolf Shaman's Apprentice" and have it making the rounds.
• Finished "T C. W. K. S. C." and have it making the rounds.
• Have all my current short fiction making the rounds.
• Have three or more stories accepted.
• Have my first novel accepted. 
• Make it to World Fantasy, BizarroCon, and other events to be a part of the community.
• Register for my SFWA membership. Go Team Scalzi!

5 Year Goals:

• Give my all to lighting the booster rocket under my writing career.
• Have published at least three novels and other projects, and be firmly increasing my readership.

Finished a marathon seven and a half hour stretch of writing today to finish a draft of "Chronophage" a story that has taken me more time than any other (a year of untold hours). I am filled with that heady emotion that perhaps only writers occasionally feel.

That feeling of pride and triumph and ache and loathing and dead gray aftermath of for-the-love-of-god thank you for being done with it.