Fuzzy Boot Camp: Week Two
Do I actually know how to set goals?
With only nine planned chapters left in my fantasy WIP, I know can finish this draft by August 31.
The problem is, I’m just not living up to my highly optimistic potential. But this is a lifestyle challenge as well as a writing challenge, so credit where credit is due: I’m making some real habits, and fourteen days is around when I should start seeing them stick.
After last week, I needed to set a lofty goal of 3 chapters, but I made it seem easier by capping them at 2000 words each. I kept all the daily baby steps, with the caveat that if I want to exercise, I need to schedule it. And I allowed for some creative bundling of treats instead of rewarding each baby step individually.
So how did we do?
Well, we got about 66% of the way to the writing goal. And hey, it’s about progress, not perfection. The daily goals went ok, despite going camping for half the week. Here’s how each day shook out:
August 8
✏️WIP update: 0 words added
✅Read: 17 pages of JatYWaS
❌Write: nope
❌Hydrate: maybe 36oz?
❌Move: lol
Well, they can’t all be winners. Today was supposed to be pickle canning day, and it was, but it went about as badly as it could have gone without breaking any glass (although I did set a cutting board on fire). I’m being flippant because it’s my coping mechanism, but honestly, failing so spectacularly was a massive blow, and I didn’t recover all day. Luckily, reading in bed is an easy habit I already have, so Day 8 wasn’t a total miss.
August 9
✏️WIP update: 387 words added
✅Read: 14 pages of JatYWaS
✅Write: 2 pages by hand
✅Hydrate: 64oz plus a lemonade from the kids down the block
✅Move: walked into town and back
Yesterday sucked, but I’m so glad the mood didn’t last. I was busy cleaning and running errands all day, but the list didn’t feel as overwhelming as it did when I was feeling sorry for myself. And I’m still zonked, but at least I wrote a little!
August 10
✏️WIP update: 250 words added
✅Read: 19 pages of JatYWaS
✅Write: just the 1 page
✅Hydrate: I’m including the large Diet Coke I had for lunch
✅Move: walked the pups a couple times
My husband and I booked a campsite for a few days, and though I could have written on the long drive (typing doesn’t make me carsick, but everything else does), I started to get sneezy allergy symptoms about halfway through. Benadryl dried up my sinuses along with every ounce of energy, but I made myself do a page before bed.
August 11
✏️WIP update: 735 words added
✅Read: 40 pages of JatYWaS
✅Write: 4 pages
❌Hydrate: but I got pretty close
✅Move: 2 beautiful hikes in Shawnee National Forest
Great day for reading! We lounged at our campsite for a while in the afternoon, enjoying some air and peace, and I switched to reading when the writing started to dry up. Hydrating while camping is hard because I’m frustratingly picky about the taste of my water.
August 12
✏️WIP update: 831 words added (chapter completed)
✅Read: 32 pages of JatYWaS
✅Write: 2 pages
❌Hydrate: erm, are we counting beer?
✅Move: had a lovely swim
The thing about camping in the summer is that it’s hot, so lots of strenuous activity is out, and sitting around daydreaming is in. I finished the chapter I was working on and got farther in Jane and the Year Without a Summer, which is so cozy it makes up for how slowly the action unravels. My goal of capping chapters at 2000 got surpassed by a few (seven) hundred, but at least the chapter’s done! Can I write two more in two days? Only if tomorrow’s road trip goes better than Sunday’s.
August 13
✏️WIP update: 740 words added
✅Read: 30 pages of JatYWaS
❌Write: didn’t make time
✅Hydrate: too hot not to!
✅Move: walked the doggos
After packing up camp, driving for almost eight hours, unpacking, making dinner, and practicing piano music for an upcoming gig, I was not going to write a 2000-word chapter today. Unless I can somehow write 3000 words tomorrow (I’m not sure I’ve ever written that many words in a day), I won’t be getting my reward sushi. But let’s not give up yet!
August 14
✏️WIP update: 1415 words added, chapter completed
✅Read: 20 pages of JatYWaS
✅Write: 3 pages
❌Hydrate: got over halfway, but it was a busy day
✅Move: walked into town for a patio dinner with the pups
I was so ready to write crazy amounts today, but my morning session went quickly off the rails because of an afternoon piano gig that had me practicing my anxiety-ridden butt off. I rallied a bit after dinner, but it’s nowhere near the 3000 words I needed. And I’m not blaming my cat, since it was my idea to hang out with him, but his cuteness was highly distracting.
Week Two story progress: 2 chapters and 4358 words added
Goal: ❌ not achieved
BUT. I didn’t distribute any rewards in Week Two. Which means I have—pardon me while I tally up the marks in my transaction register—21 baby step prizes piling up. Instead of bingeing 21 pieces of candy, I’m spending them on a re-do: When I finish the three chapters I started last Friday, I’ll earn my sushi. Think of it like a roll-over. But it’s sushi themed, so a spicy-tuna-roll-over.
Also, one of those chapters will count toward next week’s goal. We love a cheat code.
What’s ahead for Week Three
Pedal to the metal next week, I guess. It’s looking fairly light, responsibility-wise (praise be to summer), but the last week of August will be busy (boo for fall). I need to try for 4 chapters, 8000 words total. It’s a satisfying chunk, because it’ll be the four chapters leading up to the big climax, which I’ve already written, and that’ll leave the three denouement chapters for Week 4. Boy, I’m so pumped to write THE END at the bottom of this document.
This is the soggy middle of the challenge, and just like in plotting, I have no idea what’s going to happen. Stay with me, though! We’re halfway through! It may be time to start planning a September challenge, too. What goal would you set? And what awesome rewards would you line up?