So Saturday was my birthday, and that means an outing of my choice with my family, cake, and way more food than our guests could eat. Most of my family came over, and while my beloved dog was beside himself with so many people over, we all seemed to have a good time. This also means… BOOKS! GLORIOUS BOOKS!
I am pitifully excited about this, and the lit-related clothes and goodies I got too. Currently, I am reading Cold Fire, but I cannot wait to get through everything else. Of course, I cannot wait to color as well. I’m dying to color. Also, one of my friends, who is a fabulous artist (look her up on Deviant Art or Facebook at Fi-Di or Fiammetta De Innocentis) drew a picture of Hadley from The Earl of Brass and sent it to me on my birthday. I was beyond surprised and could not stop showing it off because I was thrilled to get more art of my characters.
Shockingly, through all of the festivities, I have been writing. This may not be shocking to others, but for me, I haven’t always been the most consistent author in terms of writing. One of the things I am trying to achieve this month is getting into a schedule and having some discipline. This week I also hit the 10,000 word mark for my writing goal, which means The Earl and the Artificer is now over 25,000 words, and it should be between 30,000 and 35,000 words by the end of the month.
Succeeding with Camp Nanowrimo has made me see that I am a goal-oriented person, and I really ought to use that to my advantage. I have decided to give myself a word count goal each month that I should be able to meet. Keep in mind that these are modest for a reason. When I don’t hit the goal, I tend to get discouraged and abandon the idea. If I set myself modest goals at first, I can build my confidence in the process and eventually stretch my goals out progressively. These are the goals I have decided to set for the rest of the year:
Jul 30,000 (15K) [484/day]
Aug 45,000 (15k) [484/day]
Sep 55,000 (10K) [334/day]
Oct 65,000 (10K) [323/day]
Nov 75,000 (10k) [334/day]
Dec 85,000 (10k) [323/day]
More than likely, I will probably exceed these goals each month (hopefully), but it gets hard during the semester when I have school work, textbooks to read, my graduate assistantship on top of my writing. Overall, these goals seem more than manageable. What I hope to do is finish The Earl and the Artificer by January 1st, and have it edited and ready to go by March. If I can get it out earlier than that, I will be thrilled, but I don’t want to push it too far yet. I’m hoping that with a steady-stream of inspiration with my reading material and encouragement from my fellow readers and writers, I will be able to push through and get it done.
I hope you are all having a good July, and I will check-in again soon. Until next time, Awkward Authoress out.
Kara Jorgensen 
Having a sleepy July thank you for the concern. There is nothing pitiful about book live, dear. You are in a literary heaven. Congrats on the writing. Does your mail and jump ahead to thoughts of book four?
Most definitely. I am trying very hard not to think of Adam and Immanuel because they make me want to put aside book three and dive head-first into four. This is part of the reason I haven’t touched my short story in a few weeks 😛 Also, book four will be more… fun than three. Eilian and Hadley bring out my more literary side while Adam and Immanuel make me want to fight monsters.
I hope your teeth aren’t giving you any more trouble and that you are making a speedy recovery.
Thank you. Still need two root canals and one mor surgery. Yeah Book Two for me is a real dire event, not the more adventurous tone of One and later Three. Bad with the good or serious with the funny.
Ugh, I hope those go smoothly and then that is the last of your dental misery =(
Yeah, every book has its own tone and storyline for sure. It’s amazing how different they all are even in the same series.
True. I love the differences in books even when I get writers block. Glad to see you survived twenty-four years. Write on.
Only an author would give herself a word count goal as a birthday gift. 😉 Congrats on bulldozing your word count–lotsa books seem like a great reward.
Lol! That is too funny, I never thought of it that way, but it’s true.