Back On Schedule

Well I think it's an improvement from previous entries that I'm back on Copious Notes less than two months since my previous update. I'd say that's a good move so far! Of course based on what I've seen on traffic and lack of comments, I'm more getting my words out there just for the sake of blogging. Right now, that's okay since I'm not expecting much traffic here. The fantastic people who's blogs I used to read every day are people I interact with on Facebook & Twitter. Unfortunately life doesn't allow me to get as involved as I used to.

Anyhow... onto what I am up to. I kept seeing a fantastic Twitter Hashtag from writer Jen that said #1k1hr. This intrigued me and I asked her what exactly it was. What then happened was inspiring: she sits down and writes for one hour. The goal is 1,000 words or 60 minutes, whichever comes first. At that time the writing stops. I was instantly inspired.

Of course you've seen the progress (or sometimes lack of) with Spirit Hackers and I felt this was the best way to kick-start a writing schedule of some kind. I made some changes in my podcast and then rearranged some time in my personal life so I could make time to write. Soon, 9:30 PM - 10:30 PM were declared 'writing time'. My writing schedule was born.

I am insanely impressed with my progress in just a short amount of time. Previous to #1k1hr, I had written only 3-4 chapters of my book. Since then, I wrote six chapters in six weeks totaling approximately 12,000 words. Amazing. My progress has me in a groove and something great has happened: my mind has been 'trained' to be ready for creative time when I need it.

I cannot stress enough the productivity a writing schedule allows. There's been plenty of times where I went over 60 minutes to keep a thought going and some times where I fell a little short. This is fine though because I'm writing more than I did ever before. At my current pace, this book will be done by the end of this year. THAT is exciting.

Before I wrap up this post I wanted to write up some big updates happening:

-I've completely overhauled my website and I think it looks pretty cool.

-While my time with Demand Media was good, that freelancing thing takes up WAYY more time than I can devote. That and I exhausted most of their tech articles they were offering.

-I once again MUST stress that if you're on a Mac, you should be using Scrivener to get your writing done. It is the best program ever for writing.

-I'm hoping to blog slightly more often but I did update the description of this place to reflect my sporadic nature.

Here's my word count update since my last entry:

June 5th: 36,148 words

September 11th: 50,890 words

Progress: 14,742 words

Average: 150 words per day

Oh, and by the way: I'm more than half-way done!!! 80k here I come!