As I hoped, I got a good word count down this week:
MONDAY 8,095
TUESDAY 6,399
WEDNESDAY 5,338
THURSDAY 6,680
FRIDAY 8,489
SATURDAY 1,452
SUNDAY 0
Sunday sits at zero because I finished the book on Saturday and immediately rolled over into production and plotting the next book.
This book ended up longer than I had planned by nearly 20K, but I’m still not behind. By keeping up this loping pace (somewhere between a jog and a full-out sprint), I will be able to move ahead of the production schedule and build in some sick & vacation time.
My plan at the moment is to work up to six weeks ahead, so I can take off time at Christmas when relatives from Australia are visiting. I also have a conference coming up in August and would like to not bother with word counts while I’m there.
With summer coming up, many people feel the urge to relax. Until I had moved to the northern hemisphere, the concept of mass migration for summer vacation was just that–a concept. Australia has such congenial weather, it’s possible to take a vacation at any time of the year and enjoy it.
Everyone needs downtime, but have you planned for yours?
Can you squeeze extra word counts into your normal writing schedule, to give yourself guilt-free down time when you want it? The earlier you start to bank word counts, the bigger the stash. I’m working toward Christmas already.
What can you stash between now and your planned time off?
Meantime, back to work — all of us.
t.