I thought I would need a big long explanation for why my raw word count was garbage again, but I thought the meme pic I used as the featured photo for this post covered the basics.
Here’s the stats for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 11 October 2025: Words: 3,468 Days writing: 5 of 7. Days revising or planning: 3 of 7 for 360 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
Basically, I got distracted with ideas for this new writing world, a reimagining of the towns I’ve lived in for more than forty years of my life along the Mississippi River. I’ve been talking with people at book shows and pitching them the idea, and they dig it. It’s like the universe is calling on me to do this, but I also have other projects to do.
My goal for this year was 225,000 words written for 2025, either fiction or nonfiction1. Soon, I’m going to have to estimate what pace I’m going to have to hit to make that mark.
Most of the non-blogging writing I’ve been doing has centered on the next book in the The Yank Striker series. I’m close to a rough outline on the sci-fi horror project in the river town I mentioned above.
That’s it. Take care, everyone.
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I thought I had a better week this week than the previous week. I did. I hoped I would have a better month than I did after a horrible August, and I managed to beat it by a little more than 3,000 words. But that doesn’t mean I’m not behind the pace and it doesn’t mean I have a lot of work to do to meet my productivity goals for the year.
Here’s the stats for last week and last month as well:
Writing statistics for the week ending 4 October 2025: Words: 4,947 Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising or planning: 1 of 7 for 180 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.
Writing statistics for September 2025: Words: 15,559 Revising/planning: 71%
Again, these were better numbers than last week and the previous month, but…
My goal for this year was 225,000 words written for 2025, either fiction or nonfiction1. As of the end of September, I have 165,272 words written. Unfortunately, if I was keeping up with the pace I needed to, I should have at least 168,750. So, that’s a little more than 3,000 words.
I might be able to catch up this month. If I keep writing when I don’t want to, if I stick to my guns. It’s not impossible… and October is a bit of a long month. But, I have to keep going.
Most of the non-blogging writing I’ve been doing has centered on the next book in the The Yank Striker series. I’ve continued to outline and plan a sci-fi horror project in a town something like what I grew up in. If I keep it up, I might have a rough outline on my hands soon.
That’s it. Take care of yourselves.
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.
In case you were wondering, I do not count the words of what I write for my daytime job (teaching) and I do not count the words in any social media posts I make. ↩︎
This is going to be really short since I’m not really up for trying to justify my unwillingness to type words when I know which words I want to type.
Here’s the stats for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 27 September 2025: Words: 2,836 Days writing: 4 of 7. Days revising or planning: 1 of 7 for 210 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 4 of 7 days.
It is what it bloody is. Time to get writing. Time to stop distracting myself. Time to stop making excuses.
When I wasn’t puttering along on blogs, I spent much of the rest week going between my sequel to my debut novel, The Holy Fool (Currently called The Fool 2), and the next book in the The Yank Striker series. I also did some considerable planning on a sci-fi horror project in a town something like what I grew up in and felt like I made good progress there, anyway.
That’s it. Take care, everyone.
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.
Writing statistics for the week ending 13 September 2025: Words: 3,454 Days writing: 6 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.
I think what I have to do is whenever I sit in front of the computer, I have to write something. I have to get out of the habit of thinking I have to write every story I have in a linear manner. And I can’t stress out trying to make things quality or even passable when I write it out for the first time. I get caught up in that trap too often, and it took a few random comments in the world of Bookthreads to wake me up to how I need to be tackling things. This sure isn’t the 5,000 words per week I was shooting for, but all I can do nowadays is adjust what I’m trying to do, try something different, and get back on it.
I spent much of last week going between my sequel to my debut novel, The Holy Fool (Currently called The Fool 2), and the next book in the The Yank Striker series. I might get into those other dormant projects I talked about last week.
That’s it for now. Take care, everyone.
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.
At last, I had a week I would call not just acceptable from a writing productivity standpoint but actually good.
Here’s the stats for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 13 September 2025: Words: 5,054 Days writing: 7 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.
Considering I was a bit behind my pace of attempting to write 225,000 words this year, a decent week last week and these numbers this week made me happy. To make sure I’m ahead of my pace, I should try and aim for 5,000 words per week (which is pretty heavy for me traditionally).
Part of putting things together this week was getting back to work on stories I haven’t had much time or inclination to get restarted. I spent much of last week adding more to my sequel to my debut novel, The Holy Fool (Currently called The Fool 2). If I get into some other dormant projects, I hope to have other favorable results.
That’s it for now. I hope all of you writers have a good writing week.
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.
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I didn’t make up much if any ground toward my yearly goal this week, but this was by no means a disaster like the past month has been. At the very least, I didn’t fall too much behind which means a better position than I felt like last week.
With this said, here’s the totals from last week.
Writing statistics for the week ending 6 September 2025: Words: 4,224 Days writing: 4 of 7. Days revising or planning: 2 of 7 for 60 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
It’s a far better start to September than I had in August, I’ll say that, although my word count for this week was a a little more than 100 words under what I try to hope for. Regardless, it is not a disaster, which is far better than what I could say for the past four weeks.
This question was what I pondered last week, and what I found (as I often find) is when you get reluctant to write a certain scene or section of a story, the solution is to start writing about something else and keep going on it. (It also helps if you decide to cut the scene and move on to another part of the book, but at some point you do need to write and produce something.
For this week, it worked better than what was working. So, I’m planning on doing more of it. If I have a big enough month, hopefully I can get caught up to my goal of 225,000 words for the year. We’ll see if it works.
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.
Well, I can still give excuses, but that’s not going to get my word count up. It was a lame week to wrap up the worst month I’ve had this year. So at least I know I can’t just dawdle around anymore. I’m behind, but it’s not a disaster. Yet.
With this said, here’s the totals from last week and last month.
Writing statistics for the week ending 30 August 2025: Words: 2,504 Days writing: 4 of 7. Days revising or planning: 3 of 7 for 420 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.
Writing statistics for August 2025: Words: 12,447 Revise/Plan: 600 Minutes DWGM: 75 percent.
Other than the time spent revising and planning other work, which seems to be among the median amount I’ve done on a monthly basis this year, this is easily the worst month I’ve had productivity-wise this year. It’s the least productive by at least 4,000 words (4,351 per week is what I’ve been shooting for at least since I started this year) and the least consistent I’ve been writing during that time as well.
My goals at to write to 225,000 words by the end of this year and to meet my daily writing goal (or quota) at least 80 percent of the time. At that rate, I should have written 150,000 words by this point. By my count of words written from January to the end of August, however, I am under that number by fewer than 300 words.
I’m going to say, I’m not looking for excuses for why my productivity tanked this month. What I am trying to sort out in my head is an explanation of how I went from a few thousand words ahead of pace to a couple of hundred words behind it.
With this very much on my mind, I ended up posting this on my socials today.
So, what would you call it when you have all these ideas rattling around in your head, you’ve worked them out in your notebooks, and yet when you sit down at the desk and try to put them down on the (electric) page, but the words aren’t landing or even starting to land? I mean, is that just plain laziness, or is there some condition akin to writer’s block which covers this? I have the ideas, I’m just stalling at putting them on the page.
Maybe I’m getting a bit tired of trying to do a third Yank Striker book when there’s several other stories I want to get into. Maybe I’ve been discouraged by the lack of public interest in these novels. And maybe I’m in the mood to write a novel about Iowa that’s not some paean to the ideal agri-paradise of Iowa, but a horror tale that might relate to my fellow Iowans, something that could tell a tale of what Iowa is like now.
I’ve gone far enough where I have a name for the main setting of these books, an amalgam of the Mississippi River towns I’ve lived in for more than forty years of my life. At the end of last week, I even sketched out a map for the place in one of my notebooks. It’s starting to become home now, at least in my head. As I’ve said before, I’ll look forward to introducing it to all of you sometime soon.
I don’t have anything else to say at the moment. I’m a bit down about letting myself get this much into a slump. Now, however, I’ve got a chance of getting it all back. Later.
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.
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I have to be honest, unless I have an all-world week this coming week, August is not going to be a productive month for me. At the very least, I hope I’m not behind the pace I’m hoping to keep throughout the year.Here’s the stats for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 23 August 2025: Words: 2,978 Days writing: 6 of 7. Days revising or planning: 2 of 7 for 150 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.
The only good thing I can say about last week’s productivity is it’s marginally better than last week. There’s not much else I can say about it – I wanted to try and write at least 1,500 more words last week to keep up the pace to get to 225,000 words by the end of this year. I might still be at that pace, but not with as much of a cushion as I had at the end of July. I’ll do a recount of where I’m at after August is wrapped up.
Most of the word count for this week, as for the past couple of weeks, has gone into The Yank Striker 3. I’m surprised I’ve gotten past 9,000 words considering I only got started on this last month. Now I just need to produce more of it.
Most of my planning has gone into a new series that came into my head, set in Iowa. I’ve been reaching in to my perpetual stew of ideas and combining it with some of what is going on in the world to create something new, something that might be of interest to my neighbors.
Last week, I got started creating the main location, the main community, where these stories will be set. It’s a nice little town. I’ll look forward to introducing it to all of you sometime soon.
That’s all I have for now. See you around.
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.
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(I used the search phrase “downward trend” to select the graphic I used for this journal. You’re welcome. 🙂)
The last full week of my summer vacation and I absolutely took my foot off the accelerator. After a while, I think I need some outside influences, activities, and demands on my time motivate me to use my time more efficiently.
Here’s the stats for last week:
Writing statistics for the week ending 16 August 2025: Words: 2,911 Days writing: 4 of 7. Days revising or planning: 1 of 7 for 30 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.
Right now most of my work has gone into The Yank Striker 3, as I want to have the rough draft of the thing done by the end of the calendar year. I might be very ambitious with this goal, but I want to just get on with writing and keeping being productive.
Last week, I mentioned I was interested in setting some books specifically in Iowa. I’m starting to do some planning on three ideas I’ve sort of let cooking in this perpetual stew of ideas I’ve had bubbling for years and years. I’ve talked about that stew for a while, where I’ll let some ideas cook and simmer for years at a time before trying it out in a story. But they’re starting to get ready to serve. I’ve got an idea for a fictional location for these books, something that was an echo of the places I’ve lived here in Iowa. I’m looking forward to serving up some stories based there.
That’s it for now. All you writers keep writing and the rest of you keep safe.
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.
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I’ll likely keep this one short. (Like my productivity this week).
I mean, it wasn’t a disaster, but again it’s not at the level I was hoping for (4,350 words per week). This is what I actually got:
Writing statistics for the week ending 9 August 2025: Words: 4,045 Days writing: 6 of 7. Days revising or planning: 0 of 7 for 0 minutes. Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.
I feel good that a lot of this is original writing for projects I want to get done as soon as possible, especially the third book in The Yank Striker series. At this point, however, it’s almost like, what possible projects don’t I have going on.
[Rant incoming.]
I want to try and write some novels based in Iowa. For a long time, I’ve avoided it, but part of me is getting a bit tired of writing niche subculture fiction, and I figured subversive regional fiction might sell around here, or at least get some more eyeballs. Mention in the comments if you want me to be less cryptic about the content, but this stuff has been cooking in my perpetual stew of ideas for a long time. I don’t want to spew it in front of everyone just for no reason.
That’s it for now, everyone. Take care and I’ll see you down the road.
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.
