A Writing Year In Review, 2021
So, I went over the numbers for this year. I also compared them to the first two full years that I have data regarding my writing output. Basically, I took a slight step back.
You already saw my first half of the year stats. Here are the second half of the year stats and end of year stats for 2021. Just as a reminder, the daily writing goals met (DWGM) percentages are the times where I met my writing quota for a particular day (either 500 or more words written or 30 minutes worth of revisions or planning). Also, I've rounded up everything up to the nearest whole number or percentage.
2nd half and overall writing statistics, 2021:
Jul:
Words: 18,525
Revise/Plan: 30 min.
DWGM: 54 percent
Aug:
Words: 11,016
Revise/Plan: 105 min.
DWGM: 58 percent
Sep:
Words: 9,341
Revise/Plan: 240 min.
DWGM: 43 percent
Oct:
Words: 11,384
Revise/Plan: 330 min.
DWGM: 71 percent
Nov:
Words: 13,671
Revise/Plan: 60 min.
DWGM: 50 percent
Dec:
Words: 26,027
Revise/Plan: 60 minutes
DWGM: 71 percent
2nd half 2021:
Words (total): 89,964
Words (monthly avg.): 14,994
Revise/Plan (total): 825
Revise/Plan (monthly avg.): 138
DWGM (avg.): 58 percent
2021:
Words (total): 176,146
Words (monthly avg.) 14,679
Revise/Plan (total): 2,115
Revise/Plan (monthly avg.): 1,058
DWGM (avg.): 58 percent
This is... actually an improvement over from the first part of the year.
Now, the year-by-year count:
Yearly writing statistics, 2018-2021:
2021:
Words (total): 176,146
Words (avg.) 14,679
Revise/Plan (total): 2,115
Revise/Plan (avg.): 1,058
DWGM (avg.): 58 percent
2020:
Words (total): 208.919
Words (avg.): 17,410
Revise/Plan (total): 4,290
Revise/Plan (avg.): 358
DWGM (avg.): 62 percent
2019:
Words (total): 193,881
Words (avg.) 16,157
Revise/Plan (total): 8,865
Revise/Plan (avg.): 739
DWGM (avg.): 78 percent
2018:
Words (total): 53,878
Words (avg.): 4,490
Revisions (total): 8,955
Revisions (avg.): 746
DWGM (avg.): 52 percent
So, 2020 is still the leader among all years for total words. It is lower than 2018 and 2019 in revisions and planning. It is considerably better than 2018 in meeting my quotas, but it fell off from the 2019 averages.
And, of course, 2021 is not better than what happened during 2019-2020. Not even close.
I'm not going to put too much analysis into the results. The first half of this year was a massive downer because I realized that I was in the wrong full-time job for me. It got so tough for me that I was honestly considering leaving the teaching profession altogether. It was only a slight comfort for me that I was not alone with these thoughts. I was prepared to sub full-time for a while or eventually transition into something else, and I think there would have been a lot of demand for those services.
However, in the end, I lucked into full-time work with a district where... I sort of feel at home. Certainly, it has been nothing like the negative environment I was in, and I have been getting used to finally being an empty-nester after a few stops and starts.
What I feel like needs to happen this year is that I need to focus more on personal writing, more on producing writing without feeling pressure to complete it at certain times. All of this is going to have to compete with my efforts to begin to actually try self-publishing. and some other projects. As some of the people who have read this blog before can attest to, I tend to lose focus when there are more than a few things going on. However, I think that if I tackle things one at a time, it will work out better for me in the end. If I have a clearer plan, I'll write about it later. The more I talk about it, the more I think it helps my focus.
As the numbers tell you, I can do a lot better. That's my wish for 2022 going forward.
All you writers keep writing and everyone keep safe.