January is done. I hope everyone did well on their own personal challenges.
For my two challenges, stories and weight, I’m happy with both starts. 8 pounds down on weight. Perfect pace.
Stories, I finished and got up seven stories, and am almost finished with another that went past seven thousand words last night. But for January I can only count the seven stories.
Those seven stories total 34,200 words of short fiction I never would have written without the challenge, and seven brand new short stories published electronically and at some point in collections both electronically and in trade paper form.
Was that all the words I wrote in January? All the fiction? Of course not. I’m a full-time fiction writer. If I only wrote 34,200 words a month, someone would have to take my pulse to see if I was still alive. That’s an extra 34,200 words I never would have written without the challenge. I might have spent more time on the novel projects, or more time here doing blogs, but the challenge gave me a focus on short fiction. And I had a ton of fun.
To do the seven stories I had to carve out 40.5 hours in the month, and that includes the time to do covers and publish them electronically. My handy little calculator on this computer tells me that means I spent exactly 1.3 hours per day on the challenge over the 31 days. About an hour and fifteen minutes extra per day to do the writing, the covers, the publishing, everything.
See why I say that as a freelance writer, if all I did this month was the challenge, you would have to check my pulse to see if I had died from white-screen-syndrome? (An evil disease that takes many want-to-be literary writers who think that writing is work and has to be hard.) Okay, sorry, I’m being rude. I know every writer writes at a different pace and every writer is different. But I just have a hard time imagining what a one book a year “full-time” writer does all day.
So here comes February. At seven stories this month, if I kept this average up I would fall 16 short stories short by the end of the year, so I’m going to have to pick up my pace slightly. I might add in an extra 15 minutes per day average. (grin) But I honestly am very happy with this start. I tend to start slow on things and then gain speed. So we shall see.
Watch the progress and the fun and the failures. And if you check back in here regularly, you’ll get to read another 93 short stories for free this year. And if you want to read about the process of writing the story and the monthly updates, check under the “Challenge” tag at the top of the page.
If you do come back regularly and read them all, you won’t like them all. Hell, I won’t like them all. And to be honest, I can’t remember a few of the stories I wrote this month. Doesn’t mean they aren’t fine, just means I look forward, not backward. I’m working on a new story and that’s my focus.
I am a writer. I write and only seldom look back in a post like this at what I wrote.
Stay tuned. I have a hunch this adventure has just begun. (grin)
Hi Dean,
Just want to thank you (again) for all you do for writers and for all you’re doing with the challenge.
As for me, I’m not a full time writer, so I had a daily average goal of 1,100 words, which would put me at 400,000 for the year.
I wrote 45,000 this month divided between three novelettes (10000, 11000, and 15000 words) and one short story (4500). I had about 4000 words of false starts over the month.
I was able to boost my eRace score from 2 to 17. So that’s pretty big.
You’ve inspired me to start my own Feb challenge. I thought about what I wanted and my long term goals and decided to (a) write more by the clock instead of word count because I think my word count is holding me back, and (b) to try to work on multiple projects at once.
So my Feb. challenge is 20 hours a week, and to work on a novel while continuing to produce short fiction. Have no idea if this will work or how much I’ll produce.
I haven’t written this much in my life. Never even tried. But you’ve inspired me to get off my ass and get working.
And about my weight goal . . . well, umm, not so good. But I’m gonna get back on track tomorrow.
Congrats, Dean! Great work. I find your challenge very inspiring, and I managed to electronically publish three short stories this month myself. So, thanks!
David
I knocked out 8 short stories in January for a total word-count of (almost exactly) 30,000. I don’t really feel like it was a good month, because I know I could have done, easily, double that. If I had put any sort of effort into it, it would have been triple.
I understand that all writers are different, but I’ve worked 25-hour days for weeks on things I care about, and I’d like to think I care about writing more than some of those things. Perhaps I’ve subconsciously caught the “slow writing” myth, but reading your articles (and watching Kevin J. Anderson’s Twitter…) I know in my mind that “I could do that!”
Of course, could and can and did are three different things, so I want to force myself to actually do the Full-Time Writer thing, at this point just to prove to myself I will. It’s obvious that I can do the “write 2 stories a week” challenge I first set up for myself, and it’s too low a goal. So I need a set of goals more in line with my new challenge: Work Like A Pro.
My question, then, is more a way to get a benchmark for my challenge and less an excuse to be nosy: What’s Full-Time Writing for you? In an average bills paid, money saved month, what’s your word-count and “billable hours”?
Wow, David, very, very well done! You have the right take-no-prisoners attitude that it takes to make it.
Let me see if I can answer some of your questions in a sane way, keeping in mind that I have been at this a long time, I admire pulp writers as heroes, and at the same time call myself very lazy which my wife just laughs at.
My day is this: I get up around 1 or so, shower and all that, and grab three breakfast bars and head for my office. I do e-mails, read articles, and other things like that, including eBay for another two weeks before that gets shut down. Then around 3 Kris says it’s time for lunch. She’s been up since ten, gotten a writing session in, done all her e-mail, exercises and everything. Starting tomorrow I will head out at 2:30 ahead of her and walk to our normal lunch restaurant for the exercise. We do all the errands, mail, and banking and shopping after lunch, are home by 5 usually, and then I work until 6:30, often on something besides writing. Then me and my big white cat take a nap, Kris wakes us up for dinner at 7, I watch the news and am back to work in my office at 7:30 or 8. Now realize I seldom go to bed before 5 am, so I am in my office, most chores all done, from 8 until 5 a.m. I am a slow writer most of the time as far as speed per hour, always happy with three or four pages in an hour. Some of these short stories in the challenge I really pounded on fast for me, but mostly I write about 750 words to 1,000 words in a hour and then take a ten minute break. When I am working solidly on a project I get about 25-30 pages per night. I’m not always working solidly. Sometimes I am reading, sometimes doing other preparation stuff, and lately I’ve been doing a bunch of evenings between projects on electronic publishing stuff with WMG Publishing.
So safely I can say I get between 5,000 and 6,000 words per day average, sometimes less, sometimes more.
Oh, I also do that schedule and work seven days per week unless something pulls me away like a trip to see my mom or a conference or a workshop. I just don’t take days off and I’m 60. When you enjoy what you do, why take time away from it? That’s how I could write that novel I mention in August in twenty days.
And honestly, I spend about ten hours per week on eBay play and that’s done in two weeks, so I’ll get that extra time, but more than likely I’ll just use that on electronic and POD publishing.
And as far as billable hours? That just made me laugh. Freelance writers get large checks, then no checks for months and months and months. We are masters at cash flow, keeping our bills low, and not caring about credit ratings. We pay cash for things or we don’t buy them. Kris and I haven’t had a car payment in fifteen years. And we’ve owned new cars during that time. The one lovely thing about electronic publishing is actually a stable cash flow system. Many, many freelance writers are stunned that there is a chance that might happen.
As far as how much I make, put it this way, every project is different. I did a job last summer, a ghost novel, for a guy I liked and on a project I loved, so I charged him less than my normal rate. And when anyone who is not a New York publisher comes to me with a ghost writing job, I usually say I’m too expensive for them and they go away. And I turn down anything that doesn’t sound like fun, no matter how much the money. I would rather be broke and living in a small apartment than write something I hated. Life is too short.
That help? Keep up the great work. Your attitude reminds me of mine and Kevin and Kris’s when we were starting out. Warning, that attitude will piss off a lot of people. Ignore them and keep on your own track. You won’t remember the losers who you piss off along the way anyway. They will just try to hold you back. And they won’t make it anyway. Harsh, but alas, true.
Yes, extremely helpful. When I said “billable hours” I meant hours I can report as “productive” to the Boss Within, and your response was detailed on that count. My main take-away was the average of 5000-6000 words a day, and from that I derive my challenge.
I’ll call it “David PROse” until I come up with a better name.
My business plan for the next couple of months is to focus on writing short stories to both flood the appropriate pro markets and to get to at least 100 e-published stories ASAP.
My challenge then is to organize my life and my mind such that I’m finishing one short story every day, assuming an average length of 4000 words. I’ve got a big ole’ list of titles, and I’ll use my daily blog to brainstorm new ones as needed.
My tactics are to try out pretty much every productivity enhancement technique I read in all these Pro Writer blogs until I narrow down what works for me, starting with the most obvious: “Just Sit Down And Write”. Oh, and “Turn Off The Internet”.
As far as pissing people off? That’s my specialty. I suspect that isolating myself from society for longer periods of time will result in my annoying fewer people overall. In any case, I won’t be pissing myself off, so that’ll be a net win.
Thanks.
What I admire about everyone’s responses is the “climb back on the horse” great thinking. That’s how writers find out what they can do, what they are comfortable with, and so on. So many, many writers I know say, “I tried that once and it didn’t work.” You guys are saying, “Gave something new a shot in January, some parts hit, some didn’t, now let’s see what happens in February.” That’s fantastic! Given enough time you each will slowly find what works and what doesn’t work for yourself. Fantastic! Here’s to a great February!
Congratulations on both the writing and weight-loss achievements.
Being only a hobby writer and not a professional writer, my goal for the year was an easy two short stories per month written and submitted someplace. It was *supposed* to be easy. Write a story, submit it and then, after it gets rejected, put it on my blog. (I know that violates Heinlein Rule # 5 but, like I said … hobby, not professional.)
And then it happened. I got an acceptance letter. *Boom* Here comes the fear and the overthinking and the “what if the next one doesn’t sell” and all that. It took me almost two weeks to force myself back to the keyboard.
Your earlier advice helped (it’s *all* just practice), so thank you for that. I had to remember that I was doing this just for fun. For me, selling something is a bonus, not the point of the hobby.
So, only one piece written and submitted in January but I’m back on track now.
(Now if I can also start losing some of the excess poundage, I’ll *really* feel like I’m accomplishing something.)
JM, congrats on making it over one of the biggest stopping points for most writers. The sale! That thinking you described is something that hits us all, I was no exception. I was lucky that my first three professional sales came within one week of each other, that one was a toss-off short-short I thought was stupid, another was a really, really silly piece of soft-core porn, and the third was a story I had written in the middle of a move with my typewriter perched on a packing box so that I could hit a deadline. If that had only been one story, as many first sales are, I would have had a much harder time getting back on speed because of the “fear of writing that well again” stuff. It’s very real. Congrats on staying grounded and getting past a hurdle that stops many, many writers.
Whew, man, I only did 34k this month–a little less than half of my set goal of 70k. Of course, I also set that goal AFTER there was already a two-week houseguest scheduled–silly me, I didn’t think that having someone living in my writing room for two weeks might make hitting the daily word count difficult.
Ah well, lessons learned. Next month, shooting for 70k again–which should put me to the finish of the two novels currently in the active projects bin. A good thing, since the one scheduled for after them is one I’m itching to work on
-Dan
My January challenge results are much more modest, but so were my goals. I correctly predicted that I’ve have only 3-4 hours/week to write but I was able to be quite productive in that time (a little less than 9000 words for the month).
The thing is, the challenge aspect adds a bit of urgency to it. I’m far more aware of when I’m procrastinating/blowing off and could be writing. That awareness has also shortened my dithering time when I write–the “hmmm, what word should I use here?” time.
So the challenge, both my own and watching yours, is helpful. Onto February.
***But I just have a hard time imagining what a one book a year “full-time” writer does all day.***
Dean! For shame! They are ARTISTS. This is hard!!! You must be a hack or an alien or a mutant or something. Sheesh!!!!
Leave them to their little facade will you? If anyone knew they spent 1 hour per day writing and 12 hours on Facebook, it would make them look like lazy assholes.
Funny thing is, I just made the hard decision to cut off 6,000 words of my novel and rewrite it (I generally never rewrite – ever!)
and I am not the least bit worried about it. 6k? 3 hours work or so (a little more or a little less as you say depending on how it flows) If I were a 1 novel a year guy I guess I would be setting myself back about 3 weeks???
This is really fun, you know. And I owe it to you. I used to struggle with writing and complain about free time etc. Now I just relax and let the story flow and write. I’m still feeling my current story out and realized I did 2 chapters that aren’t working and have to scrap them and go another direction, but I’m ok with that.
You taught me to stop treating it like brain surgery. I screwed up. So what? Nobody is going to die. The word police aren’t knocking at my door. So I redraft those 2 chapters. Big deal.
At least I didn’t get some agent and let him talk me into doing it
.
Done is my new definition of good. I’m pretty sure I’m getting worse
But yeah, write a lot and you’ll get people telling you to slow down. I just scratch my head and move on (would you tell a concert violinist that they should practice less violin?).
I think last month’s word count was right about 65k, which not the 100k I keep aiming for. But I owe the workshop a novel in 15 days and need probably another 70-80k on that, so maybe Feb will be the magical 100k month where I don’t end up owing anyone dinner
I have discovered that I do better with deadlines…
Congrats on your challenges, Dean. I’m pretty excited myself. I just finished my re read self edit of my second novel (202,905 words) I am very happy to get it done! In a couple weeks I begin outlining the final chapter in this trilogy!
On a side note, I got a modest check for $19.95 for the sale of 6 books priced at 5.99 through Pubit, the barnes and noble portal for indie authors to sell their books on their ereading device, the nook. While 20 bucks is not a lot of money,…its from the sale of 6 BOOKS! Needless to say, I got excited to think of how much money could be made. I truly have a first had glimpse at the possibilities you have so vehemently spoken of!
I met my challenge in that I published something this month. But otherwise I’ve been cat vacuuming. (See list of excuses on tonight’s blog post.)
Some of the writing projects I have coming up are going to need really good covers, and so I started looking at old pulp covers for inspiration…. and found they started me thinking the way you’re using half-titles.
The series I’m working on will be more romantic and swashbucklery (but still pulpy) than the Ace Doubles mystery covers I was looking at, but what a perfect way to play with ideas but with something with a different tone? (But similar sensibility?
Camille
Ahhhhh! I had to come back over here for a dose of sanity. I was reading Kindleboards (and no this is nothing like the insanity about prices and such over there) and no fewer than TWO writers who were doing pretty well in sales, have posted seriously to the group asking if they should unpublish their first books and do a major rewrite.
They have discovered the works are not perfect (even though they sell well and people like them and they’ve even got some great reviews) and both fear that it will do irreparable harm to their whole career if anybody more than necessary sees these imperfect works.
And while more experienced people have said “leave it and write more” there has been an awful lot of “yank it and rewrite it now!” response which is giving me the heebie jeebies.
I think I’ve got to stop reading Kindleboards….
Camille
Oh, my, Camille. That’s just scary. But I had a hunch that would show up eventually. Only a logical way for the myth to grow. Sadly. I just didn’t expect it yet.
So these people are selling books, making decent money, and are insulting their readers and fans by saying that the book the reader liked is garbage and should be rewritten. Yeah, that’s going to make them fans. NOT!
Maybe it’s time I do a new rewrite chapter, only this time in New Publishing world. Hmmm, not a bad idea, maybe save a few writers the torture.
Thanks!
Luckily the people saying “take down the book and rewrite” aren’t passionate about it, and there are a lot of voices saying “leave it.”
Part of the issue is that a lot of indies are newbies who have not had to deal with much criticism, except maybe from teachers and crit groups. So when someone says something in a review, it shakes them up. If a whole bunch of people say the same thing, and you agree with it, it’s STILL not worth taking it down if there are fans of the original book. (I’ve been telling them to write new, better works, and if you want to revisit it AFTER you’ve established yourself, do a special re-release edition of the old stuff labeled “new and improved.” Kind of like a director’s cut.)
But you know, that’s the other thing about new writers — it’s like little kids. They haven’t experienced the ups and downs and every down appears to be a crisis.
Camille
I fell short of my January goals to write and put up four stories for sale (write, finish, make covers, format, etc); I’ve fallen back on my old trick of starting a bunch of stories and then orphaning them.
I sat down and thought about where I’d gone wrong this month for this update and then realized that the reason I have yet to type THE END on the 11 stories (3-4 of them at or past the halfway mark!) I started in January for the challenge is…I ran smack into the myth of Story As Event.
Once I realized that, of course, all of a sudden I see the end of the story on one, which I’ll knock off tonight, as well as another that may take me until tomorrow. Just that realization was enough to lift the self-induced blockage.
This update wouldn’t be complete without my falling for the Cover Design As Event submyth to the Story (Publishing) As Event myth; I went through four versions and hours on the first cover, but I ended up going with a viewer’s choice–that I’d made in about 30 minutes. Total time spent on that, something like 4-6 hours I could have been writing. I knocked out the second story’s cover in about an hour–actually the composition took me about twenty minutes, but I played around with the program and expect that time to pay off well in future covers.
Overall, not great, but for a newbie coming out of “write a few pages of a beginning and get stuck rewriting it, or start something else, and never finish” for oh, 9 years, not too terrible, either. I suspect I’ll keep running into the myths and learning to work around them, but hopefully they’ll be more like speed bumps than walls and roadblocks.
I’ll still see if I can make the goals for February and beyond, once I get in the groove and make sure not to trip over the (Short) Story As Event myth too hard again. This is still way more progress in one month than I had in almost a decade, so I’m excited to see where I’ll be at the end of February!
Thanks for posting your challenge progress and results, Dean. It keeps me in the same mindset instead of getting hung up on the myths!
Sam, great job at realizing what’s going on. Problem is, that feeling never ends. Ever.
At the moment I’m getting stories in for the Denise Little workshop from the thirty-plus professional writers signed up for it, and I’ve had ten of them tell me privately they thought the story sucked, but at least it was done.
I have a secret for you. One aspect of being a professional writer is knowing that feeling and then not allowing it to change behavior in any way. For example, all eight of my challenge stories so far this year that I posted for all of you to see sucked as far as my front brain thought. I had the worry every time that I was posting something that was awful. Yet I posted them all and published them all. Not a novel or story I have ever written was any different. And granted, some did suck, but the ones that scared me the most were often the best. It’s a nature of writing. Great job, Sam, jumping over that.
Ahhh, guys. Wanted to say thanks to the folks responding in this thread, and Dean for writing his bit in the first place.
I had a *terrible* January.
I actually just wrote about my excuses over in my blog, but long story short, I had someone close to me pass away, and it left an emotional vacuum that made it really, really hard to get any fiction written. So I managed to pop off one short story last month, period.
After reading this on the 1st, I sat down and tried writing again. It’d been a month, just about. I struggled with it all day, but got 704 words written. Did another 3k today. So I’m feeling back on track, finally. And the boost I got reading folks here talking about their work really helped.
Thank you. =) Sorry if I’ve been a grump this month, sometimes. It feels good to be getting back to work again.