It’s Wednesday. I am home sick, but my COVID test is negative, so it’s just a normal cold. And my voice is gone, so it’s pretty pitiful. 

Here at the Story Factory, we value quantity over quality. 

More words, more hours, more stories. The goal is 52 stories at the end of the year. So far, we are on target. Which, I know, isn’t much to say at this point of the year, but on the other hand, this time last year, I was already behind. So, Wednesdays, we will report production and celebrate the little victories.

Wednesday 2/10/2021 Production Report:

Words for the week 2/3-2/9 – 10,337

Hours for the week 2/3-2/9 – 33

Cumulative through 2/9

Words – 65,977

Hours  – 221

(That includes Morning pages each day, prewriting on either the week’s story or the novel that I am re-writing, and this blog. I only count the short story once, so there is the total for that, and I don’t count the blog on Story Sunday. )

Analysis

This was a decent writing week. I got a bit behind in creative hours, as I do not consider the Super Bowl a creative endeavor. And there were some nights that I was just exhausted, and scrolled Instagram and Twitter. But, that was an exception, not the rule. I also got two six-mile walks in over the weekend, which is nice for creative noodling. (I count the time walking when I am thinking, but not when listening to podcasts.) 

I am hoping to have a first draft of this weeks story done tonight, then it can rest a day and I can revise. Reading over my work, I have notices that I need work with endings. As one friend said, “Is that it? I guess always leave them wanting more.”

I have never been really good at endings. I am fighting the urge to wrap everything up neatly in a happily ever after things, because truth is, nothing gets totally resolved. On the other hand, yeah, I need to have endings, and not just stop writing.  I will ponder this as I read this week, and maybe have a few endings to analyze later this week. There are not a lot, rather, I can find NO, books on endings. Lots of resources for the first five pages, and beginnings in general, but nothing on endings. I may investigate that for a Medium story. One of my March goals is to submit a story to a publication once a week in March. How to find time for that? Well, I am saying goodbye to Twitter and Instagram for Lent. There, now it’s in writing, out on the Internet, so I have to do it, right? But scrolling isn’t helping (see above) so I will cut it out for forty days, then if I want to add it back, it all be scheduled like an appointment. I can do this. Really. If I miss Molly Jong Fast that much, I can just read the Daily Beast and read long form, not just 280 word blips.