Writing Journal, 2 October 2024: A strong September for writing

I’m changing the typical photo I usually use with these writing journal posts because I’m hoping it brings on autumn weather. We’ve had some touches of it in Iowa, but I want it to be cooler. May the electronic wishes come true.

Well, I wasn’t quite expecting the second-biggest fourth-biggest week of the entire year last week either. I’ve been feeling really productive this fortnight.

Here’s the numbers for last week and last month.

Writing statistics for the week ending 28 September 2024:
7,006 words written.
Days writing: 7 of 7.
Days revising/planning: 0 of 7 for 0 total minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.

Writing statistics for September 2024:
Words: 23,000
Revising/planning: 180 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met: 89%

I had said I wanted to get my first draft of my sequel to The Yank Striker (working title, Yank Striker 2) and had estimated if I spent an average of 250 words on the project per day, I figured I’d have 25,000 words on it by the end of the year and thus I should be done with the first draft by the end of the year. My hope is it would be ready for publication by summer 2025.

Of course, I came nowhere close to that vague idea of a goal. Now that I’ve written it down in the notebook where I keep track of what I write every day, it seems a bit more real. (I’m currently just over 52,000 words.)

I did manage to get plenty of writing done on the Untitled Wrestling Project. Big scene in the books and I’m in the process of wrapping it up. I’ve got at least 21,000 words in the rough draft so far, so that was a big win.

And my current word count for the year is now, as of the end of September, at 165,447. I’m not only 15,000 words ahead of my pace of at least 200,000 words of the year, I’m within sight of a new yearly word count record. And I’m meeting my daily writing goals at least 84 percent of the time, which is a good run.

That’s it for now. Take care, everyone.

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While I do appreciate you following this blog, I really would like you to subscribe to my Substack page. By subscribing to that page, you’ll not only be receiving my Substack newsletter, The Writing Life With Jason Liegois (the companion blog to this one), but you’ll also be signing up for my email list. Just click the button below.