Almost two months ago, I attended a very inspirational writer’s meeting, and returned home to inform my husband, “She writes a million words per year!” He happened to be sitting at his PC with a calculator in hand (no joke!), and he looked at me then punched in some numbers on the calculator. Looking back at me, he said, “That’s doable for you.”
Um, say what!!?? That was my thought and very likely my verbal response! He’s a born numbers cruncher, so he followed that with “It’s only 2,740 words per day. Your current daily word goal is more than that. You could do it.”
Okay, so fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. At the local romance writers holiday party, we went around and announced our goals and intentions for 2019. Another writer and I both intend to write 1,000,000 words in 2019. However, when I returned home and announced this to the husband, he said, “Really? You plan to write a million words?”
To say I was appalled is an understatement, and believe you me, I reminded him that a month prior he said “You could do it.” However, he responded that, “Yes, you could do it. You could do almost anything, but like lots of other things, it’s the consistency that’s hard.”
Okay, so he’s right. Consistency is where the rubber meets the road, whether your goals are writing focused, weight-loss focused or other habit changing types of goals. I’m itching to revise my lofty goal, but I’m not gonna do that just yet. It must be said though, in 2018, I really only wrote two books. I had two written by the end of 2017…my hold up was finding an editor. So, while I may have listed four books for sale by the end of 2018 (Beta Test is up for pre-order! Don’t forget to order yours today. 😊), I only wrote roughly 200,000 words. Now, I think I can quintuple that!?
You may be saying, “Karen you’re crazy!” And you may well be right! But, I keep reminding myself, I have ten books I want to write. If all ten hit the 100,000 word mark, then I’ll hit a million words. Now, will you the reader get all ten books by this time in 2019…probably not. Sorry, editing can take a while; plus, I may hit the word mark, but I’m not going to water down my finished product. I’ve always been a firm believer and proponent of quality over quantity, which doesn’t go hand in hand with my lofty word goal, but a writer has to start somewhere!
What I can tell you is that four of the ten books I intend to write are Riot MC romances.
Two more books on the docket are in the Beta Series: Beta Sights and Beta Baby (working title).
I intend to write books for Vamp’s biological brothers, Brock and Gabe.
I’ve been stewing on a standalone romance that may or may not use the enemies to lovers trope.
Rounding out the ten books, I want to tell the story of Warren and Marnie who appear briefly in Inciting a Riot, but they may tell me to buzz off, so it remains to be seen.
I don’t know what your goals in 2019 might be, or if they’re all that lofty; but I wish you much luck no matter what those goals are. I love the comic strip Pearls before Swine and recently the character Pig, had said it’s important to set realistic goals. We’ll soon see if a million words is realistic or not! If nothing else, I’ll see where I stand come April and I’ll keep you posted. After all, accountability is nearly as key as consistency. Happy New Year!