After two bad months of writing in a row, I felt good about having a decent month and a great last week to October. However, how far behind am I with trying to write 225,000 words this year? Time to find out.
Here’s the stats for last week and for the month of October:
Writing statistics for the week ending 1 November 2025:
Words: 5,315
Days writing: 6 of 7.
Days revising or planning: 2 of 7 for 120 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
Writing statistics for October 2025:
Words: 20,201
Revising and planning: 1,020 minutes.
DWGM: 83%
As of the end of October 2025, I have written 185,473 words for this calendar year. If I was keeping on pace, I would have written 187,500, so I am 2,027 words off the pace … which is not good, but not fatal.
I have 39,527 words left to get to my goal, which would mean writing about 19,764 words per month for the next two months. I’ve written more than that amount four out of 10 months out of this year. It is difficult, but not impossible. I’ll have to average close to 5,000 words per week to make it work. Again, difficult, but not impossible.
The sci-fi horror project in a little river town on the Mississippi River in Iowa I talked about last week? I just started the rough draft on Halloween night. I’m hoping it’s going to drive my output. Now, if I treated this month just like the late lamented National Novel Writers Month of old, I could knock out 40,000 or 50,000 words before the month is out. Maybe I can do it with this book. It’s called to me more than anything I’ve had in my head for a while. Like I said last week, at least I’m going to go down trying.
Two more months. Let’s do this.
If you don’t have the budget for a paid subscription, feel free to just send me a one-time payment of whatever you have the budget for.
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.