I feel like I am chickening out a bit.
I’ve been having a hard time making my word count. Part of it is that I don’t start writing until nine at night. Now, by then, I’m tired.
Lotta people with day jobs who are morning people1 will get in their word counts the second they get home from work, and not emerge from their creative caves until they get their writing done.
I did that on my last book, but my living situation was a little different — for one, I had more time with my kids than I do now. I’ve been saving my writing time for after nine in the evening because of this.
I have several options. I could choose to write 500 words a day. That’s an easy word count to make, let me tell you!2 I could go back to hitting the word processor the second I get home, doing my word count, then socializing!
If I cut back to 500 words a day, I don’t get my first draft done until sometime in February. My original schedule had me done in late October/early November. If forcing myself to meet the more intense goals meant I was writing crap, though, I’d be cutting back and screw how long it takes. Thing is, when I’m forcing myself to write, I write better. It goes against a lot of fluffybunny “writer advice”. Funny thing is, I don’t see the professionals I actually read giving it. <snerk> Which is really my answer, innit?
1 And oh, God, am I a morning person!
2 I seem to recall it was James Michener’s daily word quota, and he seemed to do all right in the prolific department, I think.