Week Ending Sunday April 5, 2015

With Wednesday's production and bits throughout the week, I'll approximate my total word count as 2,500 for the week.

Not great, but minorly productive, and better than last week.  Baby steps.

I've also borrowed the weekly schedule from The Productive Writer by Sage Cohen.  I like how the upcoming week is scheduled out.  Not set in stone, but organized.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday and long weekend.

February 15, 2015

Well, it's been almost a year.  I've written a lot since then: four or five short stories, almost twenty chapters of my WIP, countless other things...but it still felt a bit slow to me, and I languished at this like I feel I have at my writing, though people tell me I'm being more productive than I think I am.

Common, life-long curse.

I've been on a roll lately, though, and writers are loathe to break whatever's working well.  But I came across this blog again, and I felt I needed to either use it or lose it.  I'm not ready, for some reason, to lose it, so...

Chapter 42.  880 words.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

It's been almost a month since my last report, but not because I haven't been writing.  In fact, lately:

--I wrote a book review for a mystery website (more information to come) and went through a few drafts, for a total of about 2,100 words.

--I re-wrote a short story and sent it out.  Total of about 4,800 words.

--And I've written a few more chapters.  Total of about 7,000 words.

Not writing as much as I would've liked, but I'm not stressing it (like I usually do) because there's been lots of illness, lots of work at the main job, and a few other freelance things that made some money.

So I'm hanging in there and doing it--just not as often as I'd like.

But isn't that always the case, for almost every writer?

Introduction and Explanation

Hello, my name is Steve Belanger.  I have a job I like that is a huge part of me, and that pays The Man.  I'm very fortunate to have a job I like.  I know many people are not so blessed.

I'm also a writer.  I've had short stories and poems published (and paid for) in magazines and in books.  But I struggle to produce every day, as I'm sure many writers do.  The day gets away from you.  Stresses from work or home get into your psyche and you can't produce.  You know you have to anyway, but you can't.

Lately I've been in a rut.  I wrote and finished a short story in two days recently, but overall my production has been inconsistent and low.  And I have so much to do: one novel-in-progress, about one third done.  A few more waiting impatiently in the wings.  A memoir.  A nonfiction work.  Some short stories.

These things don't write themselves.  And I haven't been writing them consistently, either.

So what I've decided to do is very simple.  I figure it'll impel me to write everyday--even a little bit is better than nothing, right?--and I figure that it may even benefit other inconsistently-producing writers as well.

The premise is very simple.  Starting today, or tomorrow, I'll simply publish my word count.  I may mention a page count.  I might mention I've just finished a short story, or a novel chapter.  I probably won't mention any titles because I don't want to take the chance and slip, so that someone would consider that writing "published."

And I want you to join in.  Just post a comment that lists your word count, or page count, or summary of work done, like "finished chapter three" or "completed six-page short story."  You get the idea.  Maybe this will compel you to write every day as well.  If not, if it's just me, that's okay, too.  After all, if I may be so bold, I initially thought of this for me, anyway. 

If this works, I'll keep it going.  If it doesn't, I won't.  But I think it's worth a try.  Join in if you agree.