Resetting my Ohio #2 deadline… Because “holidays and weekends” are a real thing. And so’s math.

I had to redo my schedule. I forgot about holidays, about taking time off — and I also forgot to figure weekends — and the fact that I don’t write on them — into my schedule.

To hit my deadline date, I would have ended up trying to hit 2500 words a day, and I’m not there yet.

The image below, with 2113 words due today, is what I saw when I opened up Scrivener this morning.

This was my start goal this morning

And again, that didn’t figure in taking weekends off, so that I would be working toward an ever-increasing daily wordcount to hit the existing deadline.

So first I looked at the deadline. It was too soon. 

Ohio 2 original deadline 2021 01 04 38 13 AM

I went into Scrivener and changed the software so it no longer figured weekends as writing days. They’re not — they’re regeneration, relaxation, re-filling-the-well days.Ohio2 session settings part1 2021 01 04 AM

Then I set the software to give me as close to 1250 words per day, and discovered that it would require me to reset my deadline to Feb. 18, 2021.

REVISED ohio2 daily wordcount goal 2021 01 04 at 9 40 42 AM

So I did that.

And then I got 1260 words today, in spite of the fact that I’d had a bunch of days of and a hard time getting started.

I’ve discovered that if I can hit my wordcount even when things aren’t going well, the wordcount is pretty close to right.

And I like what I got today. Which also helps.

 

Words

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By Holly

Novelist, writing teacher, on a mission to reprint my out-of-print books and indie-publish my new ones.

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Mike Lucas
2 years ago

Since I have a full time job and kids, I squeeze writing in whenever I can. I find that I WANT to write every day, and that it works best for me not to have set days off. I would actually hate having to take a day off from writing every week!

But once in a while the feeling of fun starts to go away, and I try to pay attention to that and give myself a day off when that happens.

Bruce Andis
Bruce Andis
2 years ago

I often hear Stephen King’s practice of writing every day, weekends and holidays included. Steven Pressfield says something that comes close to the same thing. In “Turning Pro” and “The War of Art,” he lists habits and qualities of a pro. Number one is, “The professional shows up every day.”

I understand the principle behind those positions, but I’ve always thought that time away — for re-creation — was vital. I’m guessing you agree, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on the issue. Maybe it could be a topic for a later blog post?

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