The Writing Life, 6 January 2024
Looking back on (successful?) goals of 2023, and what's on tap for the start of 2024.
New year, new cycle, etc. etc. Let’s talk about what’s been going on over the holidays with me and the family, what I wrote over the past year, and what I need to get going and write in the weeks and months to come1.
The Home Front
As you can see from the top shot, the transfer of my family to Fort Madison is continuing to progress. My wife and I just signed a new lease for an apartment located in a former junior high school there, which is quite the irony given my current profession/day job. It reminds me a lot of the former Central Middle School of Muscatine, which first served as Muscatine High School and then Central Middle School for most of the 20th century, but which will soon be facing the wrecking ball (except for its elegant auditorium and gym) later on this year. The Fort Madison school now serves as an apartment complex, and the local movers who expertly hustled our belongings inside reminisced about their past school days in the building.
I also got a new machine to work on after my old one died out one too many times. It’s an HP, it connects to the Internet, I can use Microsoft Word on it, and I got it for a good price. I’ll be fine with it. Sometimes I wonder if I’m like some of the old medieval knights who didn’t bother to name their horses because there was a good chance they’d get killed and they didn’t want to attach themselves too closely to it.
Enough about the cutesy stuff. I had some serious goals set for 2023. Did I even come close to them?
What I Wrote in 2023 (Goals)
My goals for 2023 were relatively simple and straightforward. I had wanted to write at least 200,000 words of original fiction and/or nonfiction for the year. Given my performance over the five previous years, I believed such a goal was easily reachable. I also wanted to reach my daily writing goals at least 75 percent of the time. For reference, when I talk about daily writing goals, I’m referring to the quotas I want to meet of at least 500 words written in a day or 30 minutes of revisions and/or planning.
Here was my performances through 2018-2022.
2018:
o Words (total): 53,878
o Words (avg.): 4,490
o Revisions (total): 8,955 minutes
o Revisions (avg.): 746 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 52%
2019:
o Words (total): 193,881
o Words (avg.) 16,157
o Revise/Plan (total): 8,8652 minutes
o Revise/Plan (avg.): 739 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 78%
2020:
o Words (total): 208.919
o Words (avg.): 17,410
o Revise/Plan (total): 4,290 minutes
o Revise/Plan (avg.): 358 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 62%
2021:
o Words (total): 176,146
o Words (avg.) 14,679
o Revise/Plan (total): 2,115 minutes
o Revise/Plan (avg.): 176 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 58%
2022:
o Words (total): 214,385
o Words (avg.): 17,865
o Revise/Plan (total): 3,300 minutes
o Revise/Plan (avg.): 275 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 73%
Again, I managed to hit an all-time high last year regarding word count, and I came close to setting an all-time high when it came to meeting my daily goals. Could I manage to knock it out of the park in 2023?
Well, I have to admit I did not have as successful a second half of the year as the first3. Here they are:
First half of 2023:
o Words (total): 117,182
o Words (avg.): 19,530
o Revise/Plan (total): 4,645 minutes
o Revise/Plan (avg.) 774 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 91%
2nd half of 2023:
o Words (total): 97,970
o Words (avg.): 16,328
o Revise/Plan (total): 2,550 minutes
o Revise/Plan (avg.): 425 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 78%
Admittedly, this was a bit of a drop-off in the second half. I’ve had a lot of things going on, including the impending move and health issues for my wife’s family. I’ve been on the road a lot during these past two months, and I’m expecting more of the same in the weeks and months to come, but that’s an entirely different story. When I put the two halves of 2023 together, the result was 😁.
2023:
o Words (total): 215,152
o Words (avg.): 17,929
o Revise/Plan (total): 7,195 minutes
o Revise/Plan (avg.): 600 minutes
o Daily Writing Goals Met (avg.): 85%
So… I ended up with an all-time yearly word count record. I ended up shattering my previous record of meeting my daily writing quotas. Both of those goals are safely in the bag. And as a bonus, I wound up with the most amount of time spent revising and planning my writings since 2019.
Great. Fantastic. Take a lap, Liegois.
However, I don’t plan to get complacent in the slightest. 200,000 words and meeting my daily quotas 75% of the time are now my expectations, or quotas, going forward. I know I can get it done, and I plan to get it done, writing blocks or in real life (IRL) issues or no IRL issues. My intent is not to stand still, but to continue to improve with my craft. Otherwise, what’s the point? I talked about some of my tentative goals earlier, so feel free to read them here.
My Writing Goals for 2024
When I set my goals for 2023, I decided to keep them relatively modest. For those who didn’t care to click on the link, I decided to set a few modest goals. Since I made it to 200,000 words the previous year, I decided (based on my writing data of the past several years) I could reach 200,000 words again. Also based on…
What I’m Writing Now (Somewhat)
Not bloody much except for this newsletter. Once I get off the road this weekend, I will need to buckle down and start continuing to work on The Yank Striker 2 and some continued efforts on my as-yet not officially entitled pro wrestling fiction project.
The Birth of a Wrestling Story
Fiction is the lie that helps us understand the truth. - Tim O’Brien I’m not really an expert on other people’s creative processes. Having been in different writing groups for more than a decade, I’ve heard everything from those who proudly call themselves “pantsers” (as in seat-of-the-pants) and those who meticulously pl…
Hopefully, you will see the fruits of this labor next week. And as for a publishing schedule…
When (and How) I’m Writing
Unless otherwise noted, I will be publishing my regular posts at 5 p.m. Central time on Saturdays. My monthly schedule will be:
First Saturday of the month: The Writing Life newsletter.
Second Saturday of the month: Prose Night at the Writing Life. This will be original short fiction, essays, or excerpts from works in progress.
Third Saturday of the month: The Writing Life newsletter.
Fourth Saturday of the month: Poetry Night at the Writing Life. For these posts, I’ll be posting my original poetry past and present, usually one or two poems at a time.
In the event of a Fifth Saturday of the month: I might take the week off. Or not4.
Writing Quote of the Week
This quote is definitely true, but there’s an art in selecting where to begin and end, just as there is selecting what precise words to use or what details of description to share with an audience.
A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.
Graham Greene, The End of the Affair
Where You Can Find My Books
For direct links to purchase my books in paperback and ebook form, including The Yank Striker: A Footballer’s Beginning and The Holy Fool, click on the links in the Substack sidebar or the links on my Substack author page. Or, you can go to this page on my Wordpress site, Liegois Media.
You can also get them in person at these fine Iowa bookstores:
Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave # S1, Des Moines
Pella Books, 824 Franklin St, Pella.
The Book Vault, 105 S Market St, Oskaloosa.
All three are great independent bookstores who deserve your support. However, I’m always looking for some new places to place my books (especially in eastern Iowa), so feel free to hit me up in the comments if anyone has a suggestion.
Final Thoughts
That’s about it for this week. I’m hoping and praying I’ll have a fresh fiction excerpt or two for everyone next week 😅. See you then.
-30-
Lol.
This was during the time I was starting to revise The Holy Fool: A Journalist’s Revolt. Check out the links on the sidebar to find out more about my debut book.
I’ll spare all of you the month-by-month totals.
I sure didn’t last week. 😅