That is the number of words written today in Genie Memories.  I’m proud of that.

This is because after two days of not writing at all, I was able to pick up the story without a problem.  In the past, this has been an issue.  I used to miss the flow of the storyline and it upset my ability to continue.  It might explain my abandoned works. I think I’ve figured out a pattern and it’s helping a lot.

I write basically four days a week.  The days I have off are Monday, Thursday (Tae Kwon Do and Sparring nights) and Sunday.  I’m not sure the last counts.  With NASCAR season, I tend to watch the race and not really write, but I always have some paper in front ofme to jot down ideas or flesh out story lines.  If something good comes of that, I sit down and write it out.  That’s the exception though.

A lot of writers make sure they write something every day.  I’ve tried that.  Over on Absolute Write, Uncle Jim suggests writers do at least 250 words a day.  This is a very good idea.  That is about one page of text each day.  In a year, you’ll have a 365 page novel.  Not bad.

It works for some people.  It didn’t work for me.  I found myself struggling to keep in front of the keyboard and getting frustrated.  That’s when I remembered something else Uncle Jim said – “Do what works for you.”  Every day didn’t work for me.  Four days a week, yeah, that’s working.  So I’m keeping at it.

In other news, I had two chances to go to Tennesse this year.  One with a family trip (cancelled due to economy) and the other for a conference.  I decided to pass on the conference and instead look to the fall one.  That’ll be in St. Louis.  We have friends down there, so Steph’s excited about that.  Program schedule isn’t posted, so we’ll see.