My word count goal for 2019 is 750K. That breaks down to 62.5K per month.
In January, despite being so sick at the start of the month, I wrote 70K.
YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY!
I’m kind of shocked that I managed that many words. Seriously. But I have a good idea how.
1. Even on the days I was sick, I still tried to write. That’s the beauty of having a sliding scale for words. When I didn’t feel good, I only had to do 500. There were days I couldn’t manage even that. But instead of beating myself up for not being able to write, I focused on what I could do, what I could manage. Yes, I would frequently go take a nap after I’d written. However, all those days of just a few words here and there built up.
2. I was focused on my word count and I pushed myself to get in my full word count every day I could. I haven’t been this focused on my word count for years.
I became a full time writer in April 2015. I was able to write between 4-5000 words a day at the start. 20K+ per week.
In June of 2015, the migraines started. I had 7 migraines over the course of 10 days at the start of the month. I believe I ended up with 12 migraines that month. And they continued to be that bad, month after month.
I tried so hard to maintain my word count. However, there was no way in hell that I could do that. I had no idea how a particular day would be, let alone a week or a month. I’m still digging myself out of some of the coping mechanisms I started at that point.
By the time the migraines were settling down, and I’d finished the tiny house, and I’d sold my house and moved, the hormones started playing silly buggers – April-May 2018.
September of 2018 I went back to a hard core Keto diet. By October, my hormones started to settle back down.
I’ve been trepidatious about my big word count goal for 2019. I still am. I don’t trust my health. I don’t trust that I won’t suddenly get really sick again. I still have days every month when my hormones act out and I can’t do much of anything. (Though admittedly, January was extremely mild comparatively. I can only hope that Feb is the same!)
But I blew that first month’s word count out of the water.
Hopefully I’m going to be able to do the same every month for the rest of the year!
How have your big goals for the year been going so far? On track? Need to get back on the wagon? Slaying it? I’m curious!