Even "Paltry" Adds Up

 
Last night I realized that my total word production for 2013, so far, (145,000) has already exceeded every previous year of writing except 2006. Which doesn’t say much for any of those previous years. Besides 2006, my record for any year was 140,000 words. And 2006 was hardly a gusher of new words (though it felt like it at the time) with only about 230,000 words.
 
Still, even paltry production adds up over time.
 
Since I started this “indie thing” in late 2010, I’ve added the following notches to my gun:

Finished Gunwitch: A Tale of the King’s Coven (2011)
Wrote New Fairy Moon (GoSH1, 2011)
Wrote Gunwitch: The Witch Hunts (Gunwitch2, 2012)
Wrote Living Ghost Time (GoSH2, 2012-2013)
Wrote Red Moon Nights (GoSH3, 2013)

 
And that doesn’t include 30K words of one uncompleted novel (that I plan to finish this year) and 20K words of an abandoned project (may it rest in peace), and a couple short stories.
 
My point is that even somewhat sluggish production of new words can still result in completed novels. Multiple completed novels, even, over the course of years.
 
Slow and steady may not always win the race, but you will at least finish the race–if you don’t stop. And then you can always run (or walk) another lap. Or two. Or three. And maybe you get faster with practice.
 
I set my writing goals for 2013 in tiers. The first tier is to hit 200K words. The second tier is to complete both GoSH3 (already done) and Gunwitch3 (now underway) and get them published before Xmas. The final tier was to set a new one-year word count record. So far, I think I’m on course to hit all three tiers.
 
I guess my goal for next year and the years that follow will be to stop obsessing about word counts so much and just get the writing done.
 
-David
 
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A Couple Firsts2011 – A Short Review by an Indie Author/PublisherA Scenic Outlook on the Evolving Road MapMarching to a MillionPiles of Words