As we reign in the end of Q1 of 2025, I have taken my goals for the year and adjusted based on my Q1 progress. This means dialing back my goal of 10,000 words per week to 8,000 words per a week to align better with everything else I have committed to in my life. As much as it pains me to dial back my goals, this is more realistic based on what I have been able to accomplish thus far in 2025.
The good news is that I have written more in Q1 of 2025 than I wrote in Q3 and Q4 of 2024 combined. I take this as a sign that I am truly committed to finishing the first drafts of my first three novels this year. My secondary goal with regards to writing this year was to submit six to twelve short stories for publication, and I am on track to submit my second for consideration this coming week.
My tertiary goal is to collect feedback from my alpha readers and editor (wife) for my first drafts and be able to get through a first pass of editing as well. This part has not started yet, although I have a dozen alpha readers who are receiving chapters weekly - sometimes every other week - for their review as I go. Once I finish the first draft of novel one, I plan to continue on to the second novel. I expect feedback to my first novel in roughly 4-6 weeks so I will start by spending my weekends on reviewing comments and editing while writing during the week.
All-in-all, I am glad and pushed hard in Q1 to see what was possible and what is sustainable. I feel confident that this adjustment will still see me cross the finish line in Q2, but I cannot wait to see how far into book 2 that I can get as well. If you are interested in reading some of what I have been working on this year, jump over to my Blog tab for Progress Posts and read the first several thousand words in my debut novel.
And as always, keep writing!