The Day
Rolled out at 2:30 but after being awake and dozing off an on for two full hours. So I’m starting the day with sand in my eyes. Ugh. Happens.
Worked on my Audio Lectures website over at http://HEStanbrough.org to make it responsive as well. I think that’s all for websites until someone takes me up on the weekly challenge. Only took an hour. Kind of a fun diversion.
Over on Dean’s website yesterday (July 4) was a bit on holidays. Interesting. It’s my take as well. (A “holiday” is just another day, or the way I put it, sun comes up, sun goes down.) And then on July 5 there’s a much more interesting piece on the importance of challenges and streaks. I’ll talk more about that in the topic of the night, below.
Then I’ll go to Wes Book 8 and write for awhile. Unsure what the rest of the day will hold, although I’ll probably watch a few NYPD Blue episodes, and I’ll probably watch at least some of the ladies World Cup soccer championship between the USA and Japan. If you enjoy watching soccer at all, this ladies team is really something to see, the way they constantly pressure the opponent. Extremely good team.
Topic of the Night: Challenges and Streaks as Goals
Everybody here already knows a dream is something that’s wonderful to hope for but that is outside of your control. That is, it depends on other people, circumstances, and so on.
But a goal is something that is entirely within your control. It is something that you CAN attain.
You also know I’m a big believer in setting recurring goals, goals that re-set at regular intervals, like daily or weekly or monthly. Although a month is a long way to see at one time.
It’s a lot better for me to say I’m going to write one short story per week instead of saying I’m going to write four or five short stories per month, or fifty-two short stories per year. If I took the longer view, I’d get down to the last few days of the month and find myself having to write four or five stories. Or I’d get down to October and realized I need fifty-two short stories before December 31. Ugh.
So I set short-term goals and let the longer terms take care of themselves.
I set a goal to write 3,000 words per day, plus one short story per week, plus (loosely) one novel per month. But if I hit my daily goal, the other two won’t be a problem.
Challenging yourself is nothing more than setting a recurring goal. In fact, I think you can’t challenge yourself without setting a goal.
And a streak is both an incentive and a goal. Like my short story a week challenge. I set it for a year. The year was over on April 6, 2015. But I’m still going because Streaks Have Power. Once you get a streak going, it’s very hard to just stop. And it all goes into your personal literary canon, so what’s the down side?
The Writing
Not a bad day writing today. For numbers, almost a repeat of yesterday. What was weird today is that it all happened in two very quick sessions. (grin) I guess my conscious mind is so tired that it just stepped aside while the subconscious was playing. I figure I keyed about 1200 words per hour today.
Today’s Writing
Fiction words: 3186
Writing of Book 8 in the Wes Crowley saga
Day 1…… 4125 words. Total words to date…… 4125
Day 2…… 2624 words. Total words to date…… 6749
Day 3…… 2766 words. Total words to date…… 9515
Day 4…… 1412 words. Total words to date…… 10927
Day 5…… 3441 words. Total words to date…… 14368
Day 6…… 1052 words. Total words to date…… 15420
Day 7…… 2486 words. Total words to date…… 17906
Day 8…… 3201 words. Total words to date…… 21107
Day 9…… 3186 words. Total words to date…… 24293
Total fiction words for the month…………… 12789
Total fiction words for the year……………… 418472