Changing My Goals (Day 11)

Today I came to what I consider a very important decision.  Up until this year, my goals have always been word count oriented.  Even this year I went into nano thinking that 320k was what I personally needed to feel as if I had accomplished nano.  (Despite all of the things going on this year that were going to detract from the time I have to spend on my writing).

No wonder when I started getting behind I started getting depressed and thinking that this was the year I wasn't going to even accomplish my goals, rather than exceeding them as I've done in previous years.

It was starting to feel a little bit like the entire world was against me hitting that 320k goal.  Up to and including the very novels I was writing, which refused to come in at the total I had budgetted for them.  The first one came in at 69,554 instead of the 8k I originally though, and the second is hovering around 30k with only about 5 chapters left to write.

So, on Friday, I was pretty sure that this was going to be a pretty depressing November.  When I woke up Saturday I was feeling refreshed and sure that I was going to hit my goals, no matter what it took.  I was going to catch up this weekend, even if it meant writing 40k in two days.  Today, though, all of that motivation disappeared and I found myself back where I was on Friday.

That was when I realized that I was looking at this nano all wrong.  As great as it is to have a goal for word counts for my novels, trying to stick to them and the amount I needed to write each day I was making myself more than a little depressed, and possibly driving myself insane in the process.  So I stopped, took a step back (okay, pushed my chair back) and gave myself a little perspective.

It's day 11 and I'm on my second novel of the month.  I have four planned out.  None of my novels are reaching the word counts I originally thought they would, so rather than trying desperately to stick to those goals, I'm going to throw them out the window and stick to a different goal: Finish my four novels, no matter what word count they end up being.

This could be easier said than done, but I'm actually caught up one where I need to be (if I finish Aliens Stole My Socks tomorrow).  So we'll see if I can accomplish this goal without making me hate my life.

Now, I have a room to unpack.  My mother is coming to stay with us tomorrow, and she's taking my office, which means I need room in my bedroom to write.  Happy novelling!!

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Daily Word Count: 4,972

Total Word Count: 100,847