This week it’s all about Witness to the Moon. Currently doing one story one week, then shifting to another the next week, and back.

Word count I started the day with: 45,283. Wrote for 45 minutes give or take a minute. Ended the day at: 46,682

Goal for this book is around 90K.

Total for the day: 1399 words

Why do this? For a long time I have been following Dean Wesley Smith and have noticed that just the act of seeing his word count every day really inspires me. It shows people who follow him that despite a busy life he has a great output.

The biggest reason for me personally is that I just LIKE seeing my numbers daily because I like to challenge myself to find ways of getting better numbers. Or how daily life will affect them. It keeps me going. Since I first started to write in 1998 or so, I haven’t stopped, and I don’t plan to. Back then it was only about doing one story every Halloween. Now I have made a career of it.

Why do I spend so little time writing on some days?

Life. Sometimes I get up late, sometimes my workout goes longer than planned (I need that exercise). Mostly it’s because this is my only free time and that free time isn’t always available. If my mom gets up earlier than normal, she tends to call my name constantly for help with whatever. Life basically gets in the way. I am not a writer who can spend 6-8 hours a day writing. I used to when I wrote only on the weekends but then I don’t get as many books done (surprisingly) as I do this way.

For me personally, I write 30 minutes to 60 minutes every day in the morning between my work out and then putting the dogs out and cleaning the house. Then I come back in the afternoon and that’s my time I spend doing all the rest of the stuff for my day/writing. That can mean formatting a book, making a cover for said book, publishing, newsletter, emails, comments, showing up for a minute or two on social media just to show my face, editing is the biggest time suck (usually 3-4, even sometimes 5 hours a day). One of these days I’ll write up a general schedule that I keep to.

That is just to say and show that anyone who wants to smoosh in time to write during the day will find out how. I’ve been also trying to squeeze in a few minutes (5 minutes or 10) at night or in the morning to write with pen and paper and do some more short stories. I don’t have a genre in mind, but they tend to be horror, lol. Even if it means only a sentence or two written every day in a short, I feel I’ve accomplished something since it’s more than I had the previous day. I’m pleased.

I do try to avoid writing or most things on the computer on the weekends. I don’t always win, but I try to stay completely away from the computer so that my brain has a break as well as my hands. I accomplish that about half the time. I’m trying to get better at it though.

Can you participate? Sure! Feel free to leave a comment with your daily numbers. This isn’t a competition, just a way for us to keep track of our numbers as well as MOTIVATION. We can support and motivate each other. Since I spend a lot of time at the computer, I am more than happy to interact and support your numbers too. I love to see people committed to a goal! Even if it’s just to get writing in every day.