I debated just making this a regular blog post, and not an essay.
However, figuring out what I wanted for a word count goal for 2023 involved some serious soul-searching, a lot of calculations, and a lot of emotions. So an essay seemed more appropriate.
Last year, my word count goal for 2022 was 500K. And I achieved that, writing about 1500 a day every day up until the end of the year.
TLDR Version
My word count goal for 2023 is 500K.
The Longer Version
I know, I know! That’s the same word count as last year. But how I came to that calculation is completely different.
I generally say that I’m a full-time writer. However, that’s a lie. I’m not.
I’m a full-time publisher. I spend many more hours in a week working on publishing than I do on writing. That isn’t to say that the writing isn’t important. I write the first thing every day. My words before anyone else’s.
That being said, I write less than I “work,” that is, doing everything required to keep my publishing empire running. A big part of that is publishing my husband’s work, and I’m going to be putting out two titles a month for him for the entire year of 2023.
So I’m a part-time writer. I have a “day job” as it were, fortunately, it’s one I love, and the parts that I don’t love, I at least don’t mind too much.
In addition, I have some health issues. Last year, I anticipated writing 3000 words a day usually, then had some months where I wouldn’t write as much.
I was able to achieve 3000 words a day some days. Not that many, and certainly not enough to count.
When if I take a serious look at my average word count, it’s around 1500 words a day.
Plus, even on meh days, days when I don’t get a lot of sleep the night before, I can still do 1500.
So instead of reaching for an impossible goal for most days of 3000 words, I’m aiming for a much more obtainable goal of 1500. And for the past couple of weeks, that’s what I’ve been maintaining. It’s amazing how happy I am when I make my word count goal. I’m much more inclined to keep writing when I have an obtainable goal.
I’d considered doing 1000 words a day, but that didn’t feel like enough. Though it will be more than enough, or even 500 words when I’m having a really shitty day.
I also considered not even having a word count goal, just a writing goal of working on a project most days. I did that for much of December, with the Dragons book. It didn’t bring me joy. I like being able to measure my progress.
I did a bunch of math/calculations based on 1500 words per day.
I started with an assumption of 300 days. That gives me 5 or so days off every month.
1500*300 = 450,000
But wait! That’s not 500K!
I know. I also generally do at least one marathon during the year. I’m planning on two for 2023, one in May, then the other in November. That should boost my word count to 500K. If for some reason I can’t do a marathon, I’ll lower my word count goal to 450K.
I plan on taking one day off a week from writing—Saturdays, so I can get up early in the morning and go and do Tai Chi. (I won’t be starting that for a few weeks, as I’m still trying to get my hips in better shape before I go and do that level of exercise.)
Writing 6 days a week, at 1500, means 9000 words in a week. That’s doable for me. I might even be able to surpass that most weeks.
It also means 37,500 words per month. If I look at what I wrote monthly last year, 37,700 was the median. So aiming for 37,500 feels like a really good goal.
I don’t like having to rely on a marathon to make my word count goal for the year. It kind of feels like cheating.
However, I like doing marathons. And honestly, there is no “right” or “wrong” way to achieve one’s writing goals. (As I said, coming up with this word count goal involved a lot of thinking and feeling.)
Getting back to that “full-time writer” bit—there’s a part of me that feels as though I should be more focused on the writing and that I should be pushing myself to write more.
However, instead of basing a word count goal on what I’d like to do, I’m instead basing my word count goal on the reality of the situation. I don’t write as much as I used to. It’s a combination of things. Perhaps I’ll get back to the 3000 words per day. Perhaps I won’t.
When I was working a day job for someone other than myself, I would write 1500-2000 words in the morning, work all day, then write the remaining words at night. And possibly I’ll get back to doing that sometime later this year, after a few more things with my health get settled.
Or maybe I won’t.
The best-case scenario is that I blow past my writing goal by August of this year.
But again, that’s kind of wishful thinking on my part.
It might happen.
But if it doesn’t, I have solid numbers and a solid, consistent writing goal to fall back on.
I’ll be sure to check in later with updates on how it’s going.
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