For the first time this year, I’m facing the possibility that I might not make my writing goal this year.
And right now … I’m at peace with it. Not because I’m accepting failure, but I think it’s because my priorities have changed halfway through the year.
So, the numbers for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 16 May 2026:
Words: 2,887
Days writing: 7 of 7.
Days revising or planning: 5 of 7 for 450 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 7 of 7 days.
Again, for someone who was hoping to get up to 5,000 words a week, that’s … weak. But I think I know why it’s been slow. It’s because I’ve been busy with revisions.
Those are related to my main work in progress (WIP) I started on Halloween last year, the sci-fi environmental horror project set in a little Mississippi River town in Iowa, known as Shadows on the Mississippi.
When I started last week, I was over 50,000 words on the rough draft of the project. As I now write this, I’m back to 47,618 words, and I couldn’t be happier.
The reason is, I’ve been thinking long and hard about worldbuilding and not getting into the action enough. And I had a bad feeling the action was dragging too much. I wanted the first 50 pages of my book to be moving and grooving. Have I gotten it there? Well, I think I got a lot closer to it, and I managed to fit the first three chapters into 50 pages rather than 57 pages, which I think is a massive improvement.
I want SOTM to be something that’s going to grab the attention of readers, a real rush of a story. This is the closest I’ve come to writing an Iowan Stephen King story. I don’t want to screw it up. If I give it the attention it deserves, I won’t.
Have a good week everyone, and all you writers keep writing.
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