November 2015 - Progress Update #2

I'm at the halfway point in the month.  Let's see how I've done:

Plan: write 50,000 words as part of National Novel Writing Month.  I would need to average a minimum of 1,667 words a day.

Progress: through the first 15 days I've written 30,802 words.  After restructuring the project in Scrivener I lost a few dozen "words" (creating folders in that app seems to add to the word count).  The smaller folder count means my totals are more accurate.  My worst day in terms of output was yesterday, the 15th.  I wrote 1,773 words.  My best day was the 8th, with 2,570.  The average is 2,053 words per day.  I've passed the 2,000-word mark on seven days, or almost half of them.

Comments: At this point I'll reach the 50,000-word mark before Thanksgiving, and if I keep up the pace I'll surpass 61,000 words.  I've gotten much better at writing without stopping to make changes.  I also have not missed a day, working right through the last two weekends.  I wonder how long I can keep that pace up.  I mean, two hours of writing each day isn't strenuous, but I haven't suffered writer's block or hit one of those stretches where a story is so badly mangled that I want to give up.

I did notice that I've gone well off of my story outline for the novel, but I made sure to plan out the new direction the story is taking.  In the future I might be better off checking my outline every day before I write, or I might be better off going with a very loose outline and letting the story take me wherever it will.  I like outlining a story before I begin to write it, so that there is less of a chance of writing myself into a corner.  Re-writing a 2,500-word chapter isn't so bad.  Re-writing half of a 75,000-page manuscript could be a disaster.

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Plan: post 60 new drawings, split between my dA and Tumblr accounts.

Progress: through the first 15 days I have posted 32 new drawings (17 here, 15 on my Tumblr page) and two or three old ones.

Comments: I've slowed down a bit over the past three days, but I'm still ahead of my goal.  My intention was to create at least two drawings every day, instead of getting way ahead and then stopping before the month was over.  I've done that so far, creating three or four drawings on some days.  I've seen some improvement in my drawings, where I am getting the same quality level in less time and effort.  I've also made some strides in coloring, and am pretty excited about reaching a level where I will feel that I'm good at it and not just learning.  That day may still be far off but I can imagine it now, whereas in the past I just whined that I'd never be able to do it.

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The next 15 days might be the real test, because I've slowed a bit over the past few days.  But if I'm going to make this a true daily routine, I knew that I would eventually reach a point where my mind would try to change course.  I am going to need to grit my teeth and push through.  Once I do that it'll get easier, but until then I'll need as much willpower and self-discipline as I can muster.

Either way, my goals for next month and the months after that are going to get a bit more ambitious.  I consider this the "walking" stage, based on the idea that you can't run until you learn to walk.  December will be the, uh... "brisk walk" stage?  I hope to be in full gallop by next summer.