Writers write. That’s the bottom line.
I wrote a fair amount last week, but slowed down in terms of published output. It was the first week I only posted three pieces to my blog, though one of them was an introduction to a piece I wrote for Christianity Today about the stay on the deportation of 100 Indonesian Christians in New Jersey and New Hampshire. I also wrote about why the Church is uniquely suited for the work of caring for and coming alongside refugees, along with a few other side projects related to preaching and teaching, and the emotions that dominate our culture. Look for posts about those things in the not too distant future!
Words Per Day
Sunday, February 4: 200 words (blog)
Monday, February 5: 2,015 words (blog and journalism)
Tuesday, February 6: 842 words (blog and journalism)
Wednesday, February 7: 1,319 words (blog)
Thursday, February 8: 1,316 words (blog)
Friday, February 9: 883 words (blog)
Saturday, February 10: 0 words
Week 6 (Feb. 4 – Feb. 10) Totals
Last week, I wrote 6,575 words and spent 5 hours writing, averaging 1,315 words per hour.
2018 Totals
Since the beginning of 2018, I’ve written about 44,500 words and spent approximately 29 hours writing.
Published Writing From Last Week
The Church Is the Best First Responder – This is my favorite post in the Refuge series so far. While we often expect the State to takeover the business of caring for society’s poor and needy, it is really the Church’s mission. In this post I write about why the Church is better suited to respond to refugeeism than the State. Of course, both are needed and ought to be allies in the work, but while responding to refugeeism is the State’s obligation, it is the Church’s joy and honor.
Judges: ICE Can’t Deport 100 Christians to Indonesia (Yet) – Here’s the piece I wrote for Christianity Today and previewed on the blog. It’s the story of about 50 Indonesian Christians in New Jersey and another 50 in New Hampshire who are fighting to stay in the country they’ve been in for two decades. Temporary stays have been granted, but the fight to remain with their families continues.
Writing Tracker – Week 5 (Jan. 28 – Feb. 3) – Follow along as I track progress toward my writing goals. Here’s an update from the fifth week of the year.
Here’s What’s Coming Up
In the near future, I’m planning to write more in my series about Black Mirror and the Kardashev Scale, and how both of these interact with the Kingdom of God. I’m also working on pieces about sharing one’s testimony (and how to do it with different audiences) and how we can think about ourselves and our relationship with the Lord at the start of Lent. Please share and read along!
Why Sharing Your Goals Is Important
Accountability: Because my writing goals for 2018 are to 1) post at least twice per week on this blog and 2) publish a book online, I know that I need to hold myself accountable and be held accountable by others. Making my writing statistics is one way for me to do that. With my writing production out in the open, others can see if I’m keeping up and, if I’m not, give me the necessary encouragement/kick. Posting my stats also keeps me personally motivated, as I don’t want to be embarrassed by falling behind my goals in public.
Inspiration: Assuming I can maintain my writing production at a level I’m satisfied with, I hope it will be an inspiration to other writers. I work full-time and have a number of ongoing commitments, but because writing is important to me, I make the time. You can too. Even 15-minute writing sprints over the course of weeks and months really adds up.
Data Tracking: I love seeing trends in data almost as much as I love writing. Amateur data analysis is incredibly easy today, and I love to see my numbers crunched. It’s fun and fascinating, but it also helps me write. Tracking my writing means I know how much I can write per genre, per hours; I know my pace; I know how much time I’m actually dedicating to writing; and I can see how my writing accumulates and improves over time.
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