Last week was the end of my moving from Chariton and the beginning of a few months on the road, so to speak.

Laura and I closed on the house Friday and had all of our belongings out of the old place by the morning. Thank goodness we had some great movers or we would have been unable to move any of our limbs by midday. But, everything went as expected and we’re able to move forward.

Honestly, I didn’t so much as touch a keyboard for at least three days last week. I’m still far behind my regular pace, and the week before was one of the all-time worst weeks for me regarding writing productivity.

However, now the move’s gone through and I’m hoping I’ll be able to devote some more time to writing now. I have my own little study set up at our apartment, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well the setup is working¹. Also, I’ll be on my own in hotels during the week, so I’ll be interested in seeing how this more isolated existence helps or hurts (I think it will help) my productivity. Goodness knows I need it².

Here’s the stats:

Writing statistics for the week ending 10 February 2024:
2,138 words written.
Days writing: 3 of 7.
Days revising/planning: 2 of 7 for 90 total minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 4 of 7 days.

The fact I made it over 2,000 words for the week is a bit of a minor miracle. I know I’m going to write more this coming week.

The turnaround is starting for me, I can feel it. See you next week.

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1. Laura (my wife) said I have a lot of personal space in the apartment, but it also has the advantage of keeping me out of her hair when she wants to relax in the living room or get things done in other places. ↩︎
2. If not this weekend, I think by next weekend I’ll have a feel for how hotel life is affecting my writing and report back on that. Since the next newsletter is coming out this weekend, it might end up becoming its own post. ↩︎

This might be the last blog post I write in my home for the past four years, Chariton, Iowa. Within the next few days, we will be moved out of our home and (more or less) fully into our new home of Fort Madison, Iowa, right next to the river that seems to be a focus of my life.

Naturally, writing has been on the back-burner for me. To be honest, I barely was able to concentrate on it this past week. I am hoping it will be the worst week from a writing productivity standpoint for me for the rest of this year.

I’ve previously tried to describe the experience of teaching (even in a good learning environment) and how it affects you mentally. The best description I can come up with currently is attempting to complete a triathlon with your brain. It’s an all consuming effort when you are in the midst of the experience, and when you mix in trying to get everything packed up from your home, it is frankly a lot to take in. I might be able to think a bit about the stories I’m interested in telling, do some planning and outlining of those stories, but actually telling them is something else entirely.

I’m not necessarily hopeful I will see a turnaround this week. However, when next week comes around and I will be alternating between Fort Madison and “in the wind, so to speak,” in the words of the fantastic character Omar Little in The Wire. It may be a bit simpler for me to write in some anonymous hotel room where I don’t have to worry about what to pack up for storage and what to take care of in my home. My father did a considerable amount of traveling as a consultant engineer for about 40 years before his retirement, both around and outside the United States. I might have to get some tips from him about properly handling hotel living.

Enough stalling; here’s the stats.

Writing statistics for the week ending 3 February 2024:
862 words written.
Days writing: 2 of 7.
Days revising/planning: 5 of 7 for 270 total minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.

Writing statistics for January 2024:
Words: 10,769
Revise/Plan: 1,440 minutes
Daily Writing Goals Met: 86%

Honestly, I’m surprised I exceeded 10,000 words for this month. I need to be closer to 16,667 per month to make it to at least 200,000 for the year. At least I have some decent numbers for planning and revising, and at least am meeting my daily goals that way.

However, that’s not enough for me. I want to get back to where I was. I might not get on that pace in the next couple of months, but I can get there. I have the stats and the numbers to prove it. And I’ve got a lot to write about.

Better luck next week.

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.