Yesterday was a happy writing day. I accomplished two things. First, I got caught up with my JuNoWriMo target. I had thought that was going to be difficult because I had a few days with light fiction counts. A couple where I only got my daily update done and I’m not counting those toward my overall goal.

JuNoWriMo is similar to NaNoWriMo where you attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I’m not trying to write a 50,000 word novel, but I am trying to write 50,000 words of fiction. That should get me nearly to the end of Of Gnomes and Dwarves and get it that much closer to completion. I am not counting these daily blog posts toward those word counts meaning I need to produce 1667 words of fiction a day in June (on average). Being that I was a couple day behind right out of the gate, I didn’t think it’d be an easy thing to accomplish. Well, it wasn’t.

If I were counting my blog posts in my JuNoWriMo goal I’d be at just over 22,000 words so far for June (some posts have been scheduled for future release). So I really needed to push myself the past couple of days to get caught up with my fiction. Over the past four days here are my word count breakdowns: Blog Posts: 332, 1642, 2450, 3600 and Fiction 4227, 0, 3510, 3159.

I’ve really be pumping out the words and it feels great. It feels like a dam in my head burst and I can’t write the words fast enough and there are only so many hours in the day that I can write. It’s a little frustrating, but the day job needs to be done and once I call the day done only then can I sit and write. I have my goal in mind and I have my targets set out in front of me. That makes it far easier to look at where I am, where I need to be, and go for it.

I know there will be naysayers out there who claim that they can sit and write whenever they want and they don’t need to track their progress or sit down daily. I’m sure there are people out there like that. All I can state with any certainty is that I used to be like that and I got books written and words out. Ever since I shifted to tracking my progress and keeping myself on track with writing daily I’ve written more words than ever before. In a give year I might have been able to produce 200,000 words of fiction and that would be all I would write. We’re not even halfway through this year and I’ve already produced nearly 250,000 words. I can’t explain how good that feels.

I would never say you absolutely need to change your writing habits. What I will say is that if you’re not writing on a regular schedule, give it a shot. I’ve seen so much progress in my writing both in quality and quantity that I’m happier than ever and it’s a joy to sit and write even if I really don’t feel like writing. I can go from a foul mood to a happy mood in 100 words and then I’m off and rolling away and words start to flow. Sure it might be difficult to start at times, but I’m getting words written.

Oh, speaking of the title of this post, that’s my second accomplishment. Over 50,000. What did I mean by that? I set my annual goal for 450,000 words. My target goal is 196047. That means that I should be at roughly 196000 words but I’m actually at 246849. I’m over 50,000 words ahead of my goal. I’m currently 41 days ahead of schedule for the year. I know that unless something catastrophic happens, I’ll hit that goal and more. For me, that’s HUGE! I’m super excited about it .So excited that I feel the need to write. I’m not going to modify my goal at this point, but I will be upping my goals for next year. Based on where I finish, I’ll be setting a blogging goal and a fiction goal for next year as well as a combined goal.

This year is looking to be a great and productive year. If all goes well, next year will be more of the same.

I’ve got pictures of ducks to down load.

Until Tomorrow!

WOO WOO!