Stats
Week 32 Average Daily Wordcount: 3,488
Week 32 Total Wordcount: 24,422
April Total Wordcount: 33,404
Year Total Wordcount: 644,928
Words to go:
April: 49,930
Year: 355,072
April isn’t going very well.
For one thing, I just discovered a problem in my spreadsheet and I have no idea how far back it goes, but my weekly totals are off. At least last week’s was, but I haven’t had a chance yet to go back and see if others were as well. I panicked for a moment, thinking that all my totals were off and that I was terribly behind on my yearly goal. Thankfully, my monthly and yearly totals have definitely been correct, but way to give myself a heartattack, huh?
For another thing, obviously my writing has not been going particularly well. The only reason that I am as far along in my April goal as I currently am is that I spent most of my weekend dictating. This is not a sustainable way for me to get to the million-word mark.
One thing that I’m learning from Milwordy is that adaptability is key. For the first three months of the year, I made a three-month plan to finish one novel and outline another. That plan did a very good job of keeping me on track, so—of course—I planned to do the exact same thing for the next three months: Start and finish a novel, outline the next. Simple, right? I’d finally found my process!
Nope.
I’ve found that from project to project, my process changes. If I try to cling desperately to what worked in the past, even when it’s not working now, I stall. I have to adapt and find what will work for this project.
I don’t know if this is a function of each project requiring a new process, or of me just needing more variety in my life, but either way, I think I’m going to have to learn to accept it. I have this fantasy of my future self as the writer who has her process figured out down to every last detail and can repeat it for every book ad nauseum.
That fantasy version of me doesn’t exist. I don’t think she ever will. Maybe some writers can be that consistent, but if I’m being honest with myself, that’s never been who I am. And trying to fight my own nature has only resulted in frustration and a lack of progress. It’s time I accepted myself for who I am rather than who I’d like to be.
So, what does that mean for where I am with my writing currently?
Well, while the structured writing of January through March worked pretty well, I’m feeling the need for a little more freedom to write what I please. I’m putting Mila on the back burner. If I get inspired to write in that world, then I will, but I’m not going to push it.
Instead, what I’m planning to work on is some shorter fiction. I think that this will give me some freedom to hop from project to project as I see fit. Currently I’m working on a short, superhero romance that popped into my head over the last week. And then…who knows?
The other thing that Milwordy has taught me is to trust that I will find something else to write, even if I don’t know what it is yet. There is always another idea around the corner.
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Rambling Robin 