There is no such thing as a “typical” week.
Average is a mythical point mid-way between extremes. It tells you nothing except that half of everything you are measuring falls below that point, and half sits above it.
Essentially, it is meaningless, except to tell you if you are above or below the line.
As the average week doesn’t exist, every week is different.
The measure then becomes: Did you get done what you wanted to get done?
If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, then you’ll know that I don’t like to keep track of end goals, either. I like to keep track of habits.
In my case, then, the measure becomes: Did I successfully maintain my habit of daily writing, this week?
Let’s see:
MONDAY
6.30-noon: Concept work and series building for new historical series.
Evening: Concept work for thriller series.
TUESDAY
6.30-noon: Concept work and series building for new historical series.
Evening: Wrote blog post for KWL, upon request.
WEDNESDAY
6.30-10.00: Concept work and series building for new historical series.
10-noon: KWL blog post marketing and administration.
Evening: Research for thriller series.
THURSDAY
6.30-noon: Concept work and series building for new historical series.
Evening: Research for thriller series.
FRIDAY
6.30-noon: Concept work and series building for new historical series.
Evening: Research for thriller series.
SATURDAY
7.30-9.30: Research for new historical series.
9.30-noon: Plotting for thriller series.
SUNDAY
Derailed by family event.
Total word count for week: 7,710 (includes blog posts and newsletters).
KWL Post
The KWL post is a good example of why no week is typical. I had been given a deadline for the post of the first or second week in January. I presumed wrongly that such a loose deadline meant the post wouldn’t appear for several weeks.
I wrote the post and sent it immediately. Around nine the next morning I got an enthusiastic thumbs-up and a request for bio paragraphs, etc, etc. As I reported on the blog here, the post went live on Wednesday around 11.30am.
That required dropping everything and doing my bit to promote the post. I put the plotting and research aside for the day and got to it.
Family Events
I had a lovely family get together on Sunday, that necessitated cleaning (dammit) and preparation, so everything got short shrift on Sunday, including writing.
However, the stories of both series are coming together in cohesive structures now, so I find myself thinking about them in spare moments. Plus, many of my family are writers, too, or artists and story-tellers of different forms, so we often sit about deconstructing stories, which is all grease for the creative wheel.
I don’t begrudge family time. It’s a break from writing, and it’s time that I’ll never get later.
Back to work, all of us.
t.