Word Count update # 1

Right, my writing goals were posted, and I realized that one way to stay honest was to keep people apprized of how I was doing. So, hopefully, I will be posting one of these every week to keep myself honest.. We shall see if this works....

Now, my writing falls into two categories: Writing for the Battletech Gaming Universe (My latest Battlecorps story was published last week on the Battlecorps site, plus my first solo product for the gaming universe should be out soon) and my original writing.

An explanation of my writing style, which can best be described as chaos. Unless I am working with a deadline, I tend to work on several stories at a time, spending a hour on one story, thirty minutes on a second story and forty-five minutes on a third. I won’t bother going into detail with my Battletech efforts, as I have a separate blog for those (I don’t know why, I just do.)

I worked on two original novels this week. The first is Merlin’s Courtship, the third novel of the Merlin Chronicles and my NaNoWriMo entry for 2012. As of now, the novel is over 82,500 words, and I can sort of see an ending in sight. But even as I write the novel, I see major structural changes that need to be done to it, but I am determined to press on and complete the first draft of the novel, then go back and complete the first drafts of the first two novels in the story. Those three are the core of my original writing goals for this year, and if I can get those three written to at least a first draft stage, then I can rewrite on those days I am ahead on my word count.

The second is novel that has the potential of being the first of a science fiction series, with strong elements of cyberpunk and I would be lying if I didn’t say there were elements from animes like Ghost in the Shell, Bubble Gum Crisis, and Appleseed in it. I’m still trying to get a feel for this world I’m creating, so the only thing I have solid knowledge of it right now is the title: Mind Wipe. That’s going to take some thought as I create this new world where my characters are playing. At least that’s set on this earth, sometime in the future.

I have not forgotten the Death Throne series, but as high fantasy, that’s going to take more world-building as I have to create at least three different societies from scratch. When I have a few idle minutes, I will give it some thought.

Now, to the purpose of this blog. This "week" started January 1, and has six days in it. To reach my goal, I have to average 1,285 words a day. This week, I spilt it – three days I exceeded the average and three days I didn’t. And the numbers:

Battlecorps words written this week: 3,488
Original words written this week: 3,898
Total words written for this week: 7,386
Target word count for this week: 7,710 (six days @ 1,285 words/day)
Over/under word count for the week: -324 words
Over/under word count for the year: -324 words

So, there you go. One week, and I’m already off the pace by three hundred words. Multiply that by fifty weeks and that’s over 15,000 words off the target. This next week, I must see if I can make up that difference (which works out to a little less that an extra fifty words a day this week.)

Later!

Craig