Uh-oh!

I’m afraid I did it – AGAIN! I just spent the last hour merrily editing the next chapter in Goodbye Earl. And about four/fifths of the way through it, I realized…

I need to write a different chapter first.

Yes, that is frustrating. As much for me as for you. But the huge spoiler in this chapter would, well, spoil it all for you. So, now, I am back to the drawing board so to speak. I have to get writing this other chapter for my Tuesday release.

Had you noticed that I am doing my best to be consistent and release a new chapter and blog on Tuesdays and Fridays? But today, I’m afraid all I can offer is the blog.

How about some writing updates?

I am almost half way through #NaNoWriMo20 and obviously, this year of challenges is almost over as well. I began 2020 with the goal of writing #1MwordsIn2020. Yes, I wanted to write one million new words. 1,000,000 words.

That may seem an impossible challenge. One million? But if you break it down that is only 2,740 per day. Since 2020 was a leap year, it was actually 2,732.

Yes, that seems like a lot. To most people. But when I am in my zone, I can easily write two to three thousand. So, while it was going to be hard, it was not as unrealistic as it seemed.

Except I was getting married and had a ‘real’ wedding to plan. That took up most of the first three months of the year. Though to be fair, I averaged about two-thousand a day during that time.

Then, well, we all know what happened – total and utter chaos unlike anything any of us had experienced in our lifetimes. At least in the Western world.

May and June sucked. With much less than a thousand word average. In fact, June’s was just 643 words per day. Mind you, some storytellers would kill to write that many.

Partly this was because I had thrown myself into transforming our vegetable garden into an #urbanfarm and #homestead. So, much of my day was spent outside tending to my plants. It was a soothing past time that supplied almost all of our veg needs and fed some of our friends and neighbors as well.

July was the closest I came. It was a #CampNaNoWriMo and I averaged 2,666 words per day. Not far off that pace I had set as my goal for the year.

But August, September, and October again saw a slump. Though no where near as bad as May/June. At least I managed to eke out more than a thousand words per day on average.

And now, with this latest, #NaNoWriMo, so far at least, I am averaging close to 2,300 per day. Well above the 1,667 necessary to ‘win.’

But still nowhere near that 2,740 goal.

So, am I giving up?

No way. For one thing I can see the finish line. The rest of these stories are relatively clear in my head. Oh, I’m sure that they will throw in a few things that will shock even me. One revelation hit me yesterday that almost floored me, but I ain’t telling.

Will I make my other goal? Finishing #TroubleTexasStyle by December 31st?

If I don’t, I’ll come close. Very close.

But here’s the kicker. I fully intend to give this thing another go next year. Yes, my overachiever self never deals well with the fact that I almost never manage to hit those unattainably high goals that I set for myself. But I always go with the motto…

Shoot for the stars and you just might hit the moon.

And I almost have. Some time in the next couple of days, I will pass the half a million words written point. Yes, that is only half my goal. Yes, I should have reached that back in June. But that is still better than 99% of writers. Of course, I don’t measure myself against other people. Only against myself.

So, next year…

I am calling 2021 – The Year of Reconciliation.

Yes, I am going to continue these stories under the title Reconciliation, Texas. But I also want to tackle some old things that I shoved to the back burner.

So, here’s a question for ya’ll…

What would you think if I changed how I do things a bit? What if I posted whatever I had written, probably not that day. Maybe a day or two behind, so I have time to let it sit before I edit and post it.

Would that be too confusing? I mean if I have not just these stories going, but others as well. I suppose it isn’t that much different than Lit. But it would mean that there might be stories that ain’t your cuppa and days where you aren’t interested in reading my crap.

But I always work best with accountability. That’s why I learned so much from those first few years with the Survivor Contest at Literotica. And why I do best in #NaNoWriMo months.

So, if I know that ya’ll are waiting, especially if you start commenting and liking, that might get my butt in gear more. Whatcha think?