Even though I had a slightly slower week than the past three weeks, this was still the fourth consecutive week I’ve written more than 5,000 words. And from my math, I’m on pace to make my goal … and maybe then some.
Let’s talk about the numbers.
Writing statistics for the week ending 22 November 2025:
Words: 5,257
Days writing: 7 of 7.
Days revising or planning: 1 of 7 for 30 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
Once again, my goal for the calendar year 2025 is to write 225,000 words. Since at least August, I’ve felt I was falling behind on my expectations, with just 12,447 in August, 15,559 in September, and barely more than 20,000 in October.
Now, however, I’ve crunched a few numbers and things are looking very much up for me.
Ongoing statistics for 2025:
Word count as of 1 November 2025: 185,473. This number was 2,027 words off the “pace” to reach 225,000 words by the end of 31 December 2025.
Word count as of 22 November of 2025: 203,457. By my recollection, this is the earliest I have reached 200,000 words for a calendar year ever.
I now have, as of 22 November 2025, 21,543 words left before reaching my yearly goal.
Also, by my calculations, if I wrote at least 5,000 words this week, I would then be more than 2,000 words ahead of my desired pace.
But I’ve turned things around this month. And there’s a little environmentally-themed sci-fi horror project I have to give plenty of credit to for helping my productivity.
On Halloween 2025, I began writing The Land, The River, and The Waste (working title due to me being a superstitious sucker) Set in a little river town on the Mississippi River in Iowa, and this has been the project that’s grabbed my attention and not let go. I’m already close to 14,000 words into the first draft.
This might be one of the most personal stories I’ve yet written. During a conversation with one of my students last week, I suddenly slipped and referred to my hometown by the fictional name of my town in the book, and not my actual hometown. That gave me pause, but the students I was talking with didn’t notice it.
Have a good week everyone, and all you writers keep writing.
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