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I have found these writing challenges have been quite useful at preventing me from getting distracted by shiny new projects all the time. On that note, Over the next month, my goal is to pass 50k words on Infobarrel, as well as have at least 50 articles published to that database.
Here is my starting point:
January 8 word count: 25500
January 8 article count: 31
My focus will still be on writing good original complete articles without any outsourcing. I am guessing some parts of the process, like optimal promotion (backlinking) will become secondary over the next month, but that will give me another important blogging goal for February.
I do not plan to do daily or even weekly updates here for this goal, but you can check out my article total at Infobarrel.
It is ten past three in the afternoon on the last day of my writing challenge, and the last day of the year. I would say that I have my work cut out for me, and perhaps I do, but I still predict a win. I did 4200 words on the penultimate day, with the penultimate amount of motivation. I have fewer words than that remaining now, so I should be okay, baring a minor or serious catastrophe like a secret Nostradamus quatrain showing that he moved up the date of his Armageddon in order to edge out the competing Mayan armageddon and stay at the top of the news cycle, along with casting the first brimstone.
Since this the last day of the challenge, I have moved to a single progress bar, since they will both display identical information now. The only thing I have to remember now is that I can’t simply stay up late writing, since the clock stops at midnight.
Writing tally:
- 23 articles
- 3 blog posts
- 10 bookmark posts
- lots of e-book pages
Progress meter:
Final notes: this may be my last post of the year and I do not expect to do a challenge similar to this next month, although I will do some kind of challenge(s) in 2012, perhaps related to e-book publication. I will update here with the win, or else at midnight!
———————-WIN
with nearly 3 hours to spare!
So I am back from my holiday sojourn to the South Okanagan and as feardicted my writing output for this challenge was nil, although I did get a very good slice of research done. Now, here I am down to the last three days (also secretly feardicted) with a not insurmountable, yet somewhat mammoth hump to climb in order to reach the keystroke mountaintop. Nevertheless, I press on, the rare brew pot in lieu of tea pouring hot down my gullet, mixed with spirit steeling cocoa powder and coconut cream…
P.s: The graphs will be back when I finish my first significant writing task for the day.
This Month’s Project Tally (UPDATED Dec 30th LATE) :
- 20 articles
- 2 blog posts
- 10 social bookmarks
- 20 e-book pages
Today’s Projects:
- 2 or 3 articles
- 1 blog post
- Undetermined amount of e-book pages (more than zero).
- About 4200 words (which is about my best Nano day output this year, I think). I only need 3800 words per day to win, but I am assuming I will be preoccupied with end of the year activities at some point that will cut into writing time.
Percentage of minimum writing pace!
(note: I just deducted two days writing from 25k for this total, so I have eliminated the 600 word buffer that was included in the previous totals).
Overall progress:
UPDATE DEC 29th late: I finished with fewer than 2200 words today, so it looks as though I will have my work cut out for me. I will have to do over 4700 words on Friday and Saturday in order to win the 25000 Non-fiction Writing Challenge. I still believe that it is very possible, since I have gotten close to this number with much less number during Nanowrimo, but it will be ultra-grindmatic.
I am beginning a new personal writing challenge today that will continue through the end of December. After finding the Nanowrimo an effective tool and procrastination buster, I will be doing a December 14-31 non-fiction challenge of 25000 words. Acceptable sources will include blog posts (but not comments), articles, and e-book pages. I will not include outlines, poetry, fiction, post-its, notes written on my hand, etc.
For me to achieve this 25000 word goal, I will have to write approximately 1600 words per day, assuming that I begin today and take Christmas day off. Feel free to post comments or questions or email with pledges (which will again go to support the Young Writer’s Program). As an additional incentive for myself, I will be trying out the Write or Die web app. I will let you know in a few days how that works for me as a speed-based motivational tool. I will still be focusing on quality writing, without any outsourcing.
This post, in addition to outlining my plan and writing goal is also the first time I have used the Write or Die software. I am using normal mode, where an annoying sound is played if you stop writing too long. This app at the very least ought to help silence my internal critic, as well as prevent too much editing on the fly.
Unfortunately, I do not have a cool widget for this post to automatically track my progress (there may be one somewhere, but I would rather get some writing done than search for an hour or two and test and add it to this blog. What I will do instead is post updates every day or two, including my word counts, as well, what the breakdown of my writing consisted of (eg two articles for 1200 words, plus a blog post for 400 words.).
Let me know if you want to join in and try to meet this goal, too!
Check back for updates and progress!
UPDATE DEC 16th late PM: 8 articles and (this) one blog post so far. As you can see, I am running pretty close to the pace I need to for the win. I just need to keep it up for two more weeks now.
Okay, it was easier than I thought, albeit without the panache:
Progress bars update Dec 19th, PM. I’ve been doing E-book notes and outlining, which does not count towards my word count goal, and I am a bit behind now. Ready for a surge! UPDATE2: Okay I’m done for the night at 2200 words today, still behind, but looking better. 11 articles, 6 pages of e-book, and one blog post, so far.
Progress bar update Dec 20th: Just 5 bookmarking posts so far today. One of the reasons My 25000 Word Non-Fiction Writing Challenge is more difficult than it appears is first that a half month is less forgiving than a whole month. There is less time to get behind and then recover. Also, Christmas is usually a busier time than people think. Running around slices deep into writing time. P.s.: OVER ONE THIRD of the way to a WIN!
Update Dec 22nd, Afternoon: Trending quite a bit behind after additional Christmas activities yesterday. Today is a writing day, though. I will probably have to write about 2000 words for each of the remaining days this month, not including Christmas Day.
Update Dec 23rd, evening: OVER HALFWAY! I made a bit of progress today against my backlog, get up to 80% of where I ought to be to finish on schedule. I will be heading to the Okanagan for Christmas, leaving my house the night of the 24th and getting home the night of the 28th. As a result, this graph probably will not be updated. It remains to be seen how much writing I will actually do, and I am aware that I could get home with three days remaining and a 10000+ word deficit. Time will tell. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Percentage of minimum writing pace!
Overall progress:
Here is my progress widget with word count for 2011
Note: you can still sponsor me until the last week of the month. All pledges go to charity for the Young Writer’s Program.
Go ahead and write less practical and philosophical blog posts. Write it as it occurred to you, in an organic way. You don’t have to structure your post into a short series of bullets with a one line intro and a terse, pithy conclusion. You don’t have to write posts consisting of three short dumbed down paragraphs in under 400 words. Just keep in mind one thing if you are bothering to post something at all, and if your real intention for posting is not pure vanity. If the concept you are writing about has some value to you, usually there was some process involved for you to “get it”. It might have been trial and error, a spectacular failure, a hard-fought victory, or whatever else life might have serendipitously delivered to you. Remember to deliver some process to your reader, if you give a damn. You don’t have to hold their virtual hand and parade them all along the journey that brought you to the keyboard this moment. Go ahead and point out the road, though, show how it winds to get to this shiny morsel of wisdom you hope to transmit to the rest of us.
Update: July 19th, 2011
I finally removed the remainder of my archived content from CortCaldwell.com. I was leaving much of it up primarily for posterity, where I haven’t republished it elsewhere. I found that this decision caused too much confusion for readers about my current projects, even though I haven’t promoted or linked to this site in over a year. These old, poorly edited posts were getting too often forming the basis of current readers’ first impression. I plan to republish my 2009 and early 2010 articles in edited digest form at some point in the future, when I have no major projects in development. Let me know if you want more info, if you came here looking to find out about Subliminal Lies that Wreck Goals, The Myth of 100%, or other “classics”.
UPDATE: You’ll find 23 articles at IB now. You can find a complete set of links to them by clicking the tab at the top of the page! For the past couple of months I have been focusing on my niche sites. I may not do another article series on IB for a while.
Hi,
Just a quick note that I have begun to migrate the content from cortcaldwell.com to three places:
For the most part you will be able to guess where each article on this site will go. As of this writing, only glutenfreevegan.org has no added content. I will add more articles to Infobarrel than might be expected where it would go against the obvious rubric of glutenfreevegan.org, even if it is on the topic of gluten.
Very soon, I will be launching two new sites dealing with wellness. I won’t talk to much about these projects yet, but one will be dairy-free info and one will be gluten-free info. At that point, you will see this site change a bit (although I expect I will maintain an article archive). I will slightly repurpose this site to be a more dedicated personal development hub, although my starting point will usually be GFCF living and restricted diets as it relates to wellness. Ultimately, I will aim for clearly, more discrete messages on three sites, versus one stewpot. I believe in the work I have shipped so far overall, even though so much has been a learning experience (web 2.0 marketing and SEO, for example). I will post updates as I pass my goal milestones. Thank you to all of you who have frequented cortcaldwell.com over the past one year. What? Is this our one year anniversary?
Build well,
CRC
You do not need a credential to speak about your experiences. The experience is the right. If you go through pain often, or if you suffered but now feel better, I have news. You are already the hub of a community waiting to happen. Your real experience is valuable. Never let someone convince you are not qualified to establish a voice and express what you wish– what you feel most deeply. We need people willing to stand taller than pure commerce and reach out to others beyond academics. Speak today about what you care about. Honesty is the credential of your voice. It will carry farther than you think.
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