We all have best intentions; we all have intended goals. We don't always reach them.
I had intended to reach 50 000 words in The Forgotten Magic by the end of December. It seemed a reasonable goal at the beginning of the month when I had a little over 40 000 already written. Less than 10 000 words--that's only 1000 words for 10 days, and 31 days to work with. Surely achievable, despite preparations for the upcoming holidays.
Okay, so a few things got in the way. My mother having open heart surgery for one. We knew it was coming (after all, we had most of a month lead-time to prepare), and I figured I could work in some writing in between helping her prepare for the holidays (decorating her house, little bit of baking, some last minute shopping for both her and dad), but my mind didn't always stay on task. Then the day of the surgery, and most of the following week with daily visits to the hospital--luckily only about 10 minutes away, so fortunately I could visit every day--around which time I managed to add about 6000 words, not bad, but not 10 000. [She's doing well now, on the road to recovery, though often tired. Some good days, some bad, taking it easy.]
Then came Christmas, with Mike and I travelling to visit family. That's where we found the flu (not influenza, so it's not like the flu shot would have helped, but the stomach flu, the 24-hour kind that jumps out of nowhere and slams you to the ground, holding you hostage until you surrender everything in your gut several times before finally letting you go ... reluctantly). A couple of days in 'quarantine' in Mike's brother's basement until we felt well enough to climb back in the car and make our way home. Where we took it easy.
Happily, by New Year's Eve, we had fully recovered. Just as well, as we had a few people over for food and drink, ping pong, and other games that night. Lots of fun, not so much writing.
So January came, and I hadn't met my goal for December. Thankfully, as a self-imposed goal, I had no problems stretching it. New goal: make the December goal by mid-January, and reach for another 10 000 words by the end of January. Well, today I reached the 50 000 mark. Hoping I can keep it up!
Of course, it would help a lot if I could figure out just how I'm going to end the story. I mean, I know the epilogue, what happens after; the climax, I'm still working out. But it's getting there .... We'll see what the rest of the month brings.
I had intended to reach 50 000 words in The Forgotten Magic by the end of December. It seemed a reasonable goal at the beginning of the month when I had a little over 40 000 already written. Less than 10 000 words--that's only 1000 words for 10 days, and 31 days to work with. Surely achievable, despite preparations for the upcoming holidays.
Okay, so a few things got in the way. My mother having open heart surgery for one. We knew it was coming (after all, we had most of a month lead-time to prepare), and I figured I could work in some writing in between helping her prepare for the holidays (decorating her house, little bit of baking, some last minute shopping for both her and dad), but my mind didn't always stay on task. Then the day of the surgery, and most of the following week with daily visits to the hospital--luckily only about 10 minutes away, so fortunately I could visit every day--around which time I managed to add about 6000 words, not bad, but not 10 000. [She's doing well now, on the road to recovery, though often tired. Some good days, some bad, taking it easy.]
Then came Christmas, with Mike and I travelling to visit family. That's where we found the flu (not influenza, so it's not like the flu shot would have helped, but the stomach flu, the 24-hour kind that jumps out of nowhere and slams you to the ground, holding you hostage until you surrender everything in your gut several times before finally letting you go ... reluctantly). A couple of days in 'quarantine' in Mike's brother's basement until we felt well enough to climb back in the car and make our way home. Where we took it easy.
Happily, by New Year's Eve, we had fully recovered. Just as well, as we had a few people over for food and drink, ping pong, and other games that night. Lots of fun, not so much writing.
So January came, and I hadn't met my goal for December. Thankfully, as a self-imposed goal, I had no problems stretching it. New goal: make the December goal by mid-January, and reach for another 10 000 words by the end of January. Well, today I reached the 50 000 mark. Hoping I can keep it up!
Of course, it would help a lot if I could figure out just how I'm going to end the story. I mean, I know the epilogue, what happens after; the climax, I'm still working out. But it's getting there .... We'll see what the rest of the month brings.
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