It’s the last day of July. As much as I would like to report that I have another 50K written, if not a complete piece (in this case, a memoir), that is not the case. While the 20K+ I have is still better than any of the other incomplete projects from this year, it’s still not a “winner” by the standards set out at the start of the year.
I’ve toyed over the last few days whether I wanted to continue at all, whether to press on and start the new projects for the remaining months, even if they didn’t end up being completed, or to do some hybrid plan. For what it’s worth, I’ve reached a decision, and while not as complete as I would have hoped before starting the year, it’s better than nothing.
I’ve continued to write every day, and I plan to do that throughout the rest of 2023, even if it’s only a handful of words on some days (as has been the case already sometimes). But, with perhaps the exception of Nano during November, there are no plans to start any new projects this year.
As it stands, I have 4 started pieces that haven’t gotten very far. I’d like to see them completed by the end of the year, if possible. It might end up being 8 total novels if November sees me starting (and finishing) something new, the planned fantasy project, or possibly the sci-fi one that I had slated for December. We’ll see what happens.
But when I consider that my memoir was never going to be contained in 50K, there is some joy to be gained with the knowledge that I’ll continue to push for these projects to be completed. (As an example of how much of my life still needs to be written down, of the 20K+ so far, more than 18K of that covers my relationships over the years, and I’m not even done with that.) By taking some of the pressure off, I’m allowing myself to still have a deadline five months from now, but the freedom to work at a pace and on whichever project I choose without worry. And that’s quite the blessing.
I know I’m the one who set myself up for this year-long task, and it’s really only me who has to answer for it if I come up short, but I still like the thought that I attempted this again. 10 years ago, I’m pretty sure I didn’t write every day, particularly in recovering from the massive amounts I’d write on the last days of several months. So, there is some improvement, even if the total “completed” novels won’t be quite as high.
It didn’t help that I started a replay of a video game that I love, but I think the happiness garnered from that made it clear that there’s more to life than subjecting myself to so much pressure, particularly when I’m not feeling the joy. And the fact that I don’t have it in me to write huge amounts in a day anymore, coupled with needing to preserve my sleep schedule amid my duties as a husband and father.
At least I got my historical fiction novel out of the year. While it needs improving, of anything that came of this crazy time of 12 Months, 12 Genres 2: Electric Novel-oo, thank goodness it happened. It’s been some time since I’ve been so proud of such a long piece, and I think I needed that more than I realized.