I was on vacation last week, and it shows in my word count. 🙂
Monday through Wednesday I was at a little cabin up in the woods with my two daughters and our dog (poor hubby had to work. Like LOTS of work.). The girls and I hiked, had movie night, and just played around. It was a great break from being home, where even if you’re a homebody, sometimes you get tired of looking at all of the waiting chores. lol
Here’s a picture of what I could swear was a druid stone or altar of some sort in the middle of the forest. It’s likely just a big rock, but it made my imagination go wild. Not surprising. A butterfly flitting by can make my imagination go wild. And speaking of butterflies, during the same hike, we scared up a mourning cloak butterfly, and it promptly landed on my forehead and took a little rest there for like five seconds. It felt like a blessing, and I took it as such. The kids were jealous. 🙂
Here’s how my word counts added up this week, as I work on Shield, the fifth and final Children of the Sidhe novella:
Tuesday: 1,200
Wednesday: 1,000
Thursday: 800 on Shield, and another 900 on a short story
Friday: whopping 2,500!!!
Saturday: 600
…for a total of 7,000 if my coffee deprived brain is adding correctly. 🙂
I’m not sure what to think about this. For one, I’m taking a two-week break from work because I’ve been dealing with far too much stress (mostly work stress), and putting off the actual dealing for tomorrows that never come. So, my goal for this two weeks was to take the pressure off and not worry about goals. I haven’t been pressuring myself to hold to any daily word count, but I’ve had pockets of time to putter with the story and ended up with 7,000 words in the week….because I wanted to write. I always want to write.
Still, that total isn’t far above the weekly goal I’ve set for myself of 5,000 words per week. So does that mean that I’m putting too much pressure on myself with the 5k goal, when I’m usually working just about full-time in addition? I don’t know, but something to ponder. I’m hoping to return to work with a healthier balance between work/parenting/writing/life…after one more week of vacation. 🙂
Next weekend, we’re headed to my mom-in-law’s in Bend, Oregon. Sunny skies and splendid vistas await! Who else has plans for the holiday weekend?
Oh that sounds just lovely. And yes, that stone does feel altar-like. I wonder what magical goodies were about? Seriously, great progress this week. Goals generally aren’t a finish line but something to stretch for but this week you blew past it, which is awesome. Hope you have a great week.
Hi J.R. Sounds like a great vacation so far. More time to write, especially without the pressure of fitting it in with everything else is a definite challenge. I also have a general target of 1k per day and 5k per week, allowing for a couple days a week of little or no writing. As you have found, if I have a period of less life stress, I can be more creative and the writing comes easier. I just read a research article linking meditation to greater creativity. I haven’t found time to meditate in years but might revisit the idea.
I would view your word count goal as more of a guide, a motivation to keep you writing. If you find it stressful, then it will only hurt your writing. That said, wow! 7000 words is super impressive! Whats great about this word count is that it is the product of you wanting to write, rather than feeling as though you had to write. Good luck with the rest of the manuscript, I hope you manage to find a good balance. All the best!