#LeapAheadWritingMarathon Day 25: A Checkup and a Challenge
I said yesterday that there were only five days left in the Marathon. But that’s only if you look at it mathematically. If you look at it on the calendar, as of today there are five days left (today, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday) in the Leap-Ahead Writing Marathon. Look at that, I just gave you an extra day for writing! Yay! 😉
So after writing my 2,500+ words yesterday in my two 1k1hr sprints, I decided it was time to do a little number crunching. So I went over to my word-count meter on StoryToolz.com (which is the site I’ve been using for years to keep track of my word count and for my blog widget) and pulled up my numbers (on the “History” tab) for The Spymaster’s Daughter, the historical romance I’m writing.
(I have to play around in Excel every so often—it’s hard not to let the other 50% of my brain out to play after I’ve spent so long exercising the right/creative side.)
It looks like I’ll easily hit the 30k mark before the end of the month. But in looking at this and doing a couple of calculations—including taking out the numbers from January—I’ve written an average of 884 words per day in February, with a total of 21,220 for the month. Of course, there were a lot of days when I didn’t write. My goal for myself, to really live up to the “Leap-Ahead” part of the Marathon this month, is to write a total of 29,000 words for the month—or an average of 1,000 words per day.
That means I need to write an average of 1,556 words (total of 7,780) starting today and ending on 2/29 to reach that goal.
And that’s very doable for me, especially with my goal of doing at least one 1k1hr sprint every one of the remaining days of the Marathon. If I’m on a roll, I can easily bang out between 1,200 and 1,400 words in an hour—even more if I’m in the middle of a really good scene of action or dialogue! (And we all love those, don’t we?)
How have you done so far this month?
Remember, this marathon isn’t about word-count (though that’s nice), but about having made a commitment to work on your story in some way every day this month.
What is your goal for the last five days of the marathon?
Again, this doesn’t have to be numeric. Just something to help you “leap ahead” with your writing.
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KayeDacus.com 
Wow, Kaye, you’re doing great! My goal for the month was to increase my commitment to taking a more professional approach to writing. I am well on my way. I have not only written something most days of the month, I have worked hard on some bare bones plot outlining. You know I’m a total pantser, so outlining is H.A.R.D. for me. I am actively reading about craft and working on suggested craft exercises. And, I’m journaling more. I seem to write better overall when I journal more-longer journal entries + more often. My goal for the rest of the month is one 1k1hr writing session per day and at least 30 minutes per day on the craft of writing.
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You’re doing great too, Carol. Your enthusiasm for this marathon this month is what’s kept me motivated!
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Since I need to write about 1,600 words today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday; and since I can’t always churn out that many words in one 1-hour sprint, I’m doing two today.
I just finished my first of two planned 1k1hr sprints and got 1,101 words in, which means I only need 499 more to hit 1,600—but of course I’m going to shoot for more than that. I’m doing another 1k1hr sprint at 8 p.m. tonight if anyone else wants to participate!
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