Writers write. That’s the bottom line.
Here’s the good news. My fiction writing is going great. It’s also what I enjoy writing the most, and I’ve really jumped into it totally. The bad news is that means my blog writing has decreased, as many of you have noticed. It’s a give-and-take. For the first four months of the year, my blog was booming. I put out 74 blog posts in the first 120 days of the year. But looking back to my initial writing goals for the year, I knew I needed to recalibrate if I was going to put out a quality ebook in 2018. That’s my priority now.
My blog is still rolling. I will still be publishing in my “Refuge” series about how the church should think about and respond to our world’s refugeeism. That’ll happen every Monday. I’m also continuing this writing tracker. And I’ll keep posting blogs from week to week, but blog output will be lighter for a little while as I get a novel or two under my belt. Readers here won’t see as much content–because fiction takes a lot longer to write than a blog post–but keep coming back. There will be regular new content. It’ll still keep churning! Check out all the new words and please share!
Words Per Day
Sunday, April 29: 0 words
Monday, April 30: 1,190 words (fiction)
Tuesday, May 1: 0 words
Wednesday, May 2: 2,213 words (fiction)
Thursday, May 3: 2,931 words (fiction)
Friday, May 4: 1,702 words (blog fiction)
Saturday, May 5: 0 words
Week 18 (April 29 – May 5) Totals
Last week, I wrote 8,036 words and spent about 5 hours writing, averaging 1,692 words per hour.
2018 Totals
Since the beginning of 2018, I’ve written about 137,870 words and spent approximately 94 hours writing.
Published Writing From Last Week
Empowering Refugees to Stay Close to Home: Part II – Disciples of Jesus of are rarely called to stay put. Even when we are meant to remain in our towns, we are not called to remain comfortable. Jesus not only lived, ate, and worked with society’s down-and-outers, he sought them out. The Church is blessed to have the same mission.
Writing Tracker – Week 17 (April 22 – 28) – Follow along as I track progress toward my writing goals. Here’s an update from the sixth week of the year.
Here’s What’s Coming Up
In the near future, I’m planning to continue plugging away at a couple fantasy novels. On the blog, I’ll soon be posting a little series about the first chapter of the book of Matthew. I read it recently and some things struck me anew. This isn’t an online Bible study, but it’s sharing some of my thoughts as I read through the first gospel. I’ll also write more in my series about the Kardashev Scale, which I’ve been steadily plugging away at, and how it might come into contact with the Kingdom of God. I’m also working on pieces related to Bonhoeffer’s theology and how it may be applicable today, and what the gig economy might mean for Christians specifically.
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. If I’m not, they can give me the necessary encouragement/kick. Posting my stats also keeps me personally motivated. 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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