Happy Sunday, Readers!
As I promised Future Me, this year I am going to regularly review my goals for 2022 and to adjust them as needed.
As I was going through them this month, I discovered that I had nearly done myself a bit of an ill turn.
One of my goals this year was (is): Write more days than not.
That seems pretty simple, right? All I have to do is write more days this year than not. It’s a pretty simple metric. All it takes is a little bit of math and–ok stop laughing. I can hear you back there.
USING A CALCULATOR, I can figure out that “More Days Than Not” this year means that I’d have to write at least 183 days and I’m in the clear.
But what does “Write More Days Than Not” ~Really~ mean?
Here’s where that ill turn comes in. I could focus on the 183 days and that’ll get me to my goal, but that’s not really what I want to get done.
I want to Write more.
So, what does “Write More” Mean?
I could write a single word for those 183 days, getting me to my goal…netting me 183 words.
Letter of the law, right? Also an epically crappy thing to do to Future Me.
So I need a couple of definitions here. The simplest is the 183 days.
Internally, I need to decide what Write More means for me this year. Does that mean a set wordcount? Does it mean a set time, where wordcount doesn’t matter as much (Comes in handy while editing, since I’m typically removing words, rather than adding)?
I don’t want to set the bar too low (like those 183 words), because I want to feel like I’m getting stuff done (I know there’ll be days where I’ll still feel that way, but that’s another post). But I don’t want to set impossible expectations either. 5000 words a day for 183 days is nearly a million words a year. Yeah, no. Not even when I’m retired.
The expectation I need to set is something that I can reach and what’ll stretch me a little. The expectation also needs to be set that some days I won’t make it, but that’s not a failure because it’s still a day that I got some writing done, getting me closer to that 183 days.
Author’s Note: Unless something incredibly unforeseen happens, it won’t take me much to reach 183 days. This is more like establishing a baseline for next year.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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