Word Counts and Writing Challenges

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I didn’t reach my February writing goal last month and it sort of bugs me. So far, I’m not doing too well this month either. I guess that means I need to modify my goal to 250 words per day rather than 500. When I get so focused on writing posts and comments, I tend not to take time to let go and just write. Writing to publish a post every day is a different feeling, a different sort of goal or deadline. I need to spend more time putting words on paper but then I start feeling guilty about delaying doing the dishes or laundry or whatever. It is often during a free write at home or in a moment when I’m writing along with my students that ideas come and sentences leak out and flow. For me, volume is important. I need to get a lot on the page so I can cross most of  it off and find the heart of what I want to say. My daily word count is more of a formative dipstick than anything else. I’ve noticed that the higher my daily word count, the more satisfied I am with my writing. 

Needing a Pep Talk

I am woefully behind on my 500 words per day challenge. I’ve been avoiding. I’ve been blogging and playing around on Pinterest, which is addicting by the way. I’ve been working at mothering, sistering, daughtering, spousing, and teaching. Lots of shopping and wrapping, too. But I haven’t been writing as much as I want, as much as I need. I am reminded of Lindsey Grant’s pep talk about sick cats. Toward the end of NaNoWriMo, I received an email from Lindsey, and with her permission, I have reprinted it below:

Hi Wrimos,

One wordy week remains in this literary marathon, and I am in the weeds. Nothing I can’t recover from, but I feel chagrined all the same. I don’t much like being behind, and the 23,000 words I have left to write are weighing on me.

I could make excuses for this. I have a really sick cat, for example. Yep, Mufasa K. Grant-Bowen is having a really rough November. (To be honest, he’s having a pretty rough life.)

You know what, though? We all have sick cats. Maybe your “sick cat” is a term paper; it could be a business trip smack in the middle of this already-intense month; perhaps it’s a sick parent or child. Or a sick you!

The point is, we all lead lives that are outrageously packed with obstacles, obligations, surprise catastrophes, (or, in my case, cat-astrophes). But we keep at it, because what we’re doing is important.

How much time in a day, or a week, or a month do we usually set aside to work on a project that is important to us? A project that allows us to create and explore and tell the story we’ve been carrying around in our head or heart for ages?

I know I spend most of my spare time on maintenance: exercising, doing laundry, buying the groceries, cleaning the dishes, making the bed, getting the car serviced, going to the dentist. And lately, going to the vet. A lot.

This is our time! This is our moment! Think of all that we can accomplish in the remaining week.

From where I stand in these word-count weeds, I am so heartened to know that we are all in this together. You, me, my sick cat, and everything else that keeps us away from our novels. Let’s steer this boat toward November 30 and make the very most of what time we’ve got. (And hope that my cat doesn’t barf on us.)

Packing extra paper towels,

Lindsey

Even though Lindsey’s pep talk was meant to encourage novel writers, her words are encouraging for writers in general. The idea is to just keep going. Don’t stop. Keep writing. Creating conditions for young writers to learn how to stick to it even though it is hard is a powerful experience.  This is more than a writing skill. It is a life skill. Lindsey's pep talk impacted me because I knew she was in the writing boat right along with me.  Our students need to know we are in the writing boat with them.



Inspired by Amber Dusick's Crappy Pictures.

Friday Morning Weigh In: Writing Challenges

I’ve been thinking a lot about Stacey’s post yesterday about creating writing goals and challenging oneself as a writer. This coming February will mark my one year anniversary of starting my One Literacy Coach blog. If I hadn’t of stumbled upon TWT, I would never have started a blog. I didn’t believe I had anything important to say. At least not important enough that anyone else would be interested. I was too afraid to even post a comment on the TWT blog. I’ve come a long way. And it is exciting to feel that I can continue to develop as a writer. But I should know this. I teach young writers every day. They know that I believe in them and think their words are important. But the believing in myself thing comes harder. Not sure why that is.

I think making goals and writing them down is important. Stacey wrote a list of ideas from her NCTE presentation that I keep mulling over. For me, I want to take this next year and work at my writing. I want to identify writers I love and study their craft. I’ve been thinking about setting some reading goals to mesh with my writing goals. And I want to write a lot. So far, my goals are to study, risk, trust, and work hard. And because I spent so many years teaching special education, I will probably feel compelled to create measurable objectives to go with my big ideas. And I need to drop ten pounds. Just thought I would throw that last one in there.

Reflections on Using Word Counts

Hmmm . . . let's see, that makes
one word, two words, wait . . .
what's a word?

Up until my participation in NaNoWriMo 2011, I never really thought about word counts. In fact, my view of counting words as a motivational writing practice was dim, especially when working with young writers. Although, I’m still not sure how I feel about using word counts with kids, I’ve completely changed my tune about using them personally. So much that I am attempting another writing challenge for the month of December. My goal is to write 500 words a day. Since it is a personal goal, I get to make my own rules about what kind of writing I can include in my word count. I don’t imagine I would count emails or texts although I could if I chose to. I want to work at producing words that will help me grow as a writer.

The whole NaNoWriMo thing has had sort of a weird impact on me. Not at all what I expected. The biggest thing I learned is so simple I feel dorky writing it. Writers need to write a lot to get better at writing. Duh. I knew that, didn’t I? And writing fiction is very different from composing a blog post. But I was able to use many of the ideas that I played with in SOL’s in numerous scenes throughout the book. I still snort and chuckle when I write that. A book. I wrote a book. And I don’t care if anyone but me ever reads it. It is a piece of me. And with writing the previous sentence, I’ve gone from chuckling to blubbering like a bawl baby. Maybe I’m just tired or menopausal. I’m telling you, this thing has really changed me. By the way, I just wrote two-hundred-ninety-three words.