I still make the grade even when I'm being bad...
And that is very sad.
A little while ago, I joined an online writer's group to give me additional impetus to do some work on 'A Kookaburra's Laugh' (AKL). I was a little lost on how things were to operate, but I think I've figured things out. I'm never said I was the sharpest tool in the shed, or should that be sharpest pencil in the case?
Still, the rules state I need to write a minimum 1000 words a month on a declared project. My project is AKL (obviously), and this is my word count. I've only been tracking wordage since December 2008 where I wrote nearly 16,000 words, but I've been keeping a written tally since Feb 09.
Feb - 14135
Mar - 7848
Apr - 6147
And so far in May 09 - 1900. Notice a trend...anyone....?
How sad is that? Two days left in May to add to that miserable target, but at least I still got my minimum done. Yay for small victories. (a very small yay)
In other news:
Some links I couldn't resist sharing with you.
Every writer's friend, Mr JA Konrath, has listed some excellent advice to published writers, but I think getting these things right at any level, published or unpublished, should be a priority.
The irrepressible Janet Reid has a lovely post about the courage of some writers. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't do it.
And lastly, here's a post from Alan Rinzler about POV and a bit on the whole publishing process which I thought was a worthwhile read.
So this weekend, in among shopping for a new secondhand car, I need to seriously complete my second-to-last assignment for this semester, and aim for a couple of chapters drafted in AKL. Oh, and I need to read quite a lot as I'm falling behind (I should probably stop playing with my daughter's DS - it gets quite addictive battling with Pokemon).
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
The Time Machine Australia Bound
3 weeks ago
I'm so glad I stopped playing computer games. I used to be addicted and it stopped me from getting a lot done.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with getting your goals done this weekend. I'm off to the Emerging Writers' Festival tomorrow.
I haven't stopped playing video games, I have just stopped loading them on my computer. I used to load a game and play it until I beat it. Some of those games took a long time. June will be a more productive month.
ReplyDeleteYour word count is still impressive (although nothing can beat your February count, yowza).
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
What was your productivity like in the past? It seems like the goals you have now are making you write less rather than more. Could you set a new goal for yourself, something separate from what the site is offering?
ReplyDeleteSome months are just like that, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteThat Konrath post cracked me up yesterday. God, that man makes me happy.
I was about to write that I'm lucky that I never discovered computer games. Then I remembered Youtube. Oh, how I love Youtube.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling if it wasn't computer games, it would have been something else. Writers sometimes go through down times, and, from memory, this has happened around this time each year. I think it's the cold which slows me down, the early arrival of night, and a predisposition to a lack of sleep which is exacerbated in winter.
ReplyDeleteLots of things have happened around the family which haven't really helped, and I have a big project at work which is stopping me from getting anything done there.
In short - life has closed in a little more and I still have things like reviews and assignments to get out, leaving much less time for writing.
Still - forward movement, even at a crawl, is still forward movement and at some point, I'll find more time. It's not like I don't have food or a roof over my head (touch wood) - some people have it a lot worse than I do.