As stated to my coworking group on our monthly goal-setting call last month in February, my goal was “Write First” every day for March. Because the days that I don’t get as much work completed on my novel are when I start on some other personal life task–finances, something for the kids, so forth–and never end up circling back.
February was a challenging month. I discovered something big needed to change with my novel and had to re-edit my first eight chapters. Painful!!!! But I got through it. ?
I got distracted by potentially writing a short story to publish in an anthology in the midst of all that. I plotted it and wrote the first chapter–and had many calls with friends but ultimately decided not to proceed.
BUT writing is writing, and don’t worry, that content will find its way in a different women’s fiction quadrilogy that I will write later around my happy place: Charleston, South Carolina.
And here we are, coming up on March goal-setting on next Monday. I have to figure out what my new goals will be. But the ones I set for March? Guess what–they worked! Squee! I’ve been very focused, and I’ve finally hit 50% completion of my novel!
I am both so proud and relieved–and also like, oh shit, now I have to do the same amount of work again, but in less time! ??? Because I have pitching deadlines, I want this first draft to be complete (if not edited) by then.
However, despite the currently projected 2,430 words I need to pump out every weekday to meet the current goal, I am optimistic. Why? Not because I output 3,131 words Monday or 2,387 yesterday. No, because I think my strengths are working for me!
I’ve spoken before about the great courses I’ve taken as part of The Better Faster Academy with Becca Syme. In it, you take the Gallup Strengthfinders test, and the coaches with this program essentially help you figure out how to leverage your strengths to be most effective.
I am a Patreon for the program, and one of the benefits I get at the level I contribute is monthly microcoaching. I had my session yesterday, and the coach basically said that my maximizer (#2 strength) and strategic (#3 strength) were doing their thing correctly. Everything has to be perfect for me early in the process, and I always feel that I can do more. But once I start approaching a deadline, it just has to be DONE, so those strengths kind of let up. What’s good enough now may not be the same as what was good enough a couple of months ago, but that’s perfectly okay and shows that those strengths are functioning well. ?
And we talked about how I’m good with boundaries (#4 relator strength), so I’ve been good about saying okay, I’ve met my word count. I can take a break, go for a walk. Work-life balance and all.
But I was concerned that I should be riding the wave, the juice, while I have it and continue pumping out words because there will be days when I am less productive. And the coach pointed out that since I mentioned I have childcare constraints, and since I seem to maybe be a mood writer, I should probably ride it out.
Hahaha. So that’s the understanding I’m at now. Here’s for the big upcoming April push. Send me all the good vibes, please!!!
