Two good writing weeks in a row, and this one was better than last week’s. So, it’s looking up.

Last week’s stats:

Writing statistics for the week ending 8 November 2025:
Words: 5,880
Days writing: 6 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.

As of the end of October, I had slightly less than 40,000 words left to reach my goal of 225,000 words for 2025. This means I’ll have to average close to 5,000 words per week to make it work. And now I just have to push myself for the rest of the year.

I’m currently calling the sci-fi horror project in a little river town on the Mississippi River in Iowa The Land, The River, and The Waste. Keep in mind this is just the working title I am using, and that I will usually go with another title before I finally publish a project. I’m superstitious in this regard. After more than a week of writing, I’m already over 5,000 words, so good on me for this. I’m not sure I could write 40,000 words in a month like the old National Novel Writing Month, but I do know I have it in me to do it in two months easily.

Get in, everyone.

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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.

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It just feels like I’m having the same stupid week every week for the past three weeks at least.

Here’s the stats for last week:

Writing statistics for the week ending 25 October 2025:
Words: 3,247
Days writing: 5 of 7.
Days revising or planning: 2 of 7 for 120 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 5 of 7 days.

I think I’ve been coming down to my basement, fiddling around at my desk, and getting distracted. That’s the long and short of it. I’ve been looking forward to finishing books up, but I keep expecting someone to write it for me, it seems. If there was a time where I can understand the temptation to feed an idea into ChatGPT and have them write it for you, now might be that time¹.

I’ve had this idea of a sci-fi horror project in a little river town on the Mississippi River in Iowa, much like the ones I’ve lived in most of my life. I feel like it’s calling to me. At this point I want to write it more than anything I’ve got in my head, in my hard drives, or on my bookshelves. I don’t even have a prospective publisher for this, but I have the urge to make this even if I have to self-publish it.

At this point, I’m not sure if I’m going to make the goal of 225,000 words written for 2025. At the end of this week, I’m going to take a look at how much I’ve written and how much I’m off pace. If I miss my goal this year, at least I’m going to go down trying.

Better luck next week for me.

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1. ↩︎

Look up “doldrums” and you’ll get the reason I went with the featured photo with this story. That’s how I feel about how much I’ve been writing recently.

Here’s the stats for last week:

Writing statistics for the week ending 18 October 2025:
Words: 3,224
Days writing: 5 of 7.
Days revising or planning: 2 of 7 for 240 minutes.
Daily Writing Goals Met (500+ words or 30 minutes of planning/revisions): 6 of 7 days.

I mentioned last week that I’ve been obsessed with this idea of basing a sci-fi horror project in a little river town on the Mississippi River in Iowa, much like the ones I’ve lived in most of my life. I now have the rough outline done. I’ve gone far enough to set up a file for it, but I haven’t started writing yet.

It’s irritating because I feel like there’s other projects I’m compelled to do, but it’s this one book that calling me to write it. This book seems to be the one which seems to be connecting not just with the issues rattling around in my head, but the home I’ve lived in for so long. It’s like the universe is calling on me to do this, even though I also have other projects to do.

My goal for this year was 225,000 words written for 2025, either fiction or nonfiction. Part of me doesn’t want to check how far off pace I am at the moment, even though I’m sure the numbers would have impressed me three or four years ago. All I can do is to try and bust this rut, one way or another.

That’s it. Take care, everyone.

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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.

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.

---

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.

1. ↩︎

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.

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1. 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.

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I just hate it when I have a lousy week writing-productivity-wise when I had such a good week before that.

Here’s the stats for last week:

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.

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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.

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.

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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.