A Writing Year In Review, 2021

So, I went over the numbers for this year. I also compared them to the first two full years that I have data regarding my writing output. Basically, I took a slight step back.

You already saw my first half of the year stats. Here are the second half of the year stats and end of year stats for 2021. Just as a reminder, the daily writing goals met (DWGM) percentages are the times where I met my writing quota for a particular day (either 500 or more words written or 30 minutes worth of revisions or planning). Also, I’ve rounded up everything up to the nearest whole number or percentage.

2nd half and overall writing statistics, 2021:

• Jul:
  • Words: 18,525
  • Revise/Plan: 30 min.
  • DWGM: 54 percent
• Aug:
  • Words: 11,016
  • Revise/Plan: 105 min.
  • DWGM: 58 percent
• Sep:
  • Words: 9,341
  • Revise/Plan: 240 min.
  • DWGM: 43 percent
• Oct:
  • Words: 11,384
  • Revise/Plan: 330 min.
  • DWGM: 71 percent
• Nov:
  • Words: 13,671
  • Revise/Plan: 60 min.
  • DWGM: 50 percent
• Dec:
  • Words: 26,027
  • Revise/Plan: 60 minutes
  • DWGM: 71 percent
    
• 2nd half 2021:
  • Words (total): 89,964
  • Words (monthly avg.): 14,994
  • Revise/Plan (total): 825
  • Revise/Plan (monthly avg.): 138
  • DWGM (avg.): 58 percent
    
• 2021:
  • Words (total): 176,146
  • Words (monthly avg.) 14,679
  • Revise/Plan (total): 2,115
  • Revise/Plan (monthly avg.): 1,058
  • DWGM (avg.): 58 percent

This is… actually an improvement over from the first part of the year.

Now, the year-by-year count:

Yearly writing statistics, 2018-2021:

• 2021:
  • Words (total): 176,146
  • Words (avg.) 14,679
  • Revise/Plan (total): 2,115
  • Revise/Plan (avg.): 1,058
  • DWGM (avg.): 58 percent
    
• 2020:
  • Words (total): 208.919
  • Words (avg.): 17,410
  • Revise/Plan (total): 4,290
  • Revise/Plan (avg.): 358
  • DWGM (avg.): 62 percent
    
• 2019:
  • Words (total): 193,881
  • Words (avg.) 16,157
  • Revise/Plan (total):  8,865
  • Revise/Plan (avg.): 739
  • DWGM (avg.): 78 percent
    
• 2018:
  • Words (total): 53,878
  • Words (avg.): 4,490
  • Revisions (total): 8,955
  • Revisions (avg.): 746
  • DWGM (avg.): 52 percent

So, 2020 is still the leader among all years for total words. It is lower than 2018 and 2019 in revisions and planning. It is considerably better than 2018 in meeting my quotas, but it fell off from the 2019 averages.

And, of course, 2021 is not better than what happened during 2019-2020. Not even close.

I’m not going to put too much analysis into the results. The first half of this year was a massive downer because I realized that I was in the wrong full-time job for me. It got so tough for me that I was honestly considering leaving the teaching profession altogether. It was only a slight comfort for me that I was not alone with these thoughts. I was prepared to sub full-time for a while or eventually transition into something else, and I think there would have been a lot of demand for those services.

However, in the end, I lucked into full-time work with a district where… I sort of feel at home. Certainly, it has been nothing like the negative environment I was in, and I have been getting used to finally being an empty-nester after a few stops and starts.

What I feel like needs to happen this year is that I need to focus more on personal writing, more on producing writing without feeling pressure to complete it at certain times. All of this is going to have to compete with my efforts to begin to actually try self-publishing. and some other projects. As some of the people who have read this blog before can attest to, I tend to lose focus when there are more than a few things going on. However, I think that if I tackle things one at a time, it will work out better for me in the end. If I have a clearer plan, I’ll write about it later. The more I talk about it, the more I think it helps my focus.

As the numbers tell you, I can do a lot better. That’s my wish for 2022 going forward.

All you writers keep writing and everyone keep safe.