It’s kind of amazing how hard it is to find time to write. I’m on vacation from my actual job right now, and my day still gets eaten up with, well, everyday life. The other day I did my taxes. (Need to change my withholding.) Shopping, picking up cars from the mechanic, everything takes a little time.
I am making progress, though. The current project is at 66,615 words. And today we’ll begin something new here on the blog. I write with Scrivener, which will output a record of words written per day. I’m going to start posting that, and I’m going to try to post a short excerpt I’ve written today. There will be no context. Remember, it’s going to be from a first draft, and may not make it into the book.
Why?
Why do this? A few reasons. One, this sort of accountability is a common psychological trick you can use to push yourself. It’s like working out with a partner. If you skip the workout, you’re letting them down.
Another is to fight future accusations of AI use. If you haven’t been hanging around writer and self-publishing forums, there’s a lot of that. It’s the new way to try and hurt someone.
The third main reason – advertising. Maybe someone will read this and get interested in the book. Who knows, I might get lucky!
Complete Writing Record Up To Today
Without further ado, here is the writing record from the beginning. Today’s excerpt will come after.
| Date | Words (Draft) | Words (Elsewhere) | Words (Total) | Characters (Draft) | Characters (Elsewhere) | Characters (Total) | Session Target |
| 11/10/2025 | 0 | 324 | 324 | 0 | 1806 | 1806 | – |
| 11/11/2025 | 0 | 212 | 212 | 0 | 1163 | 1163 | – |
| 11/22/2025 | 0 | 220 | 220 | 0 | 1244 | 1244 | – |
| 11/25/2025 | 0 | 2216 | 2216 | 0 | 12599 | 12599 | – |
| 11/29/2025 | 0 | 853 | 853 | 0 | 4805 | 4805 | – |
| 11/30/2025 | 0 | 71 | 71 | 0 | 380 | 380 | – |
| 12/5/2025 | 315 | 0 | 315 | 1750 | 0 | 1750 | – |
| 12/6/2025 | 1013 | 559 | 1572 | 5684 | 3050 | 8734 | 786 |
| 12/7/2025 | 832 | 0 | 832 | 4648 | 0 | 4648 | 790 |
| 12/8/2025 | 275 | 0 | 275 | 1529 | 0 | 1529 | 790 |
| 12/11/2025 | 1290 | 0 | 1290 | 7170 | 0 | 7170 | 807 |
| 12/12/2025 | 40 | 0 | 40 | 234 | 0 | 234 | 803 |
| 12/14/2025 | 1816 | 0 | 1816 | 10107 | 0 | 10107 | 816 |
| 12/16/2025 | 328 | 0 | 328 | 1847 | 0 | 1847 | 814 |
| 12/18/2025 | 1546 | 0 | 1546 | 8615 | 0 | 8615 | 826 |
| 12/21/2025 | 1 | 153 | 154 | 4 | 845 | 849 | 834 |
| 12/22/2025 | 2368 | 162 | 2530 | 13000 | 936 | 13936 | 842 |
| 12/23/2025 | 874 | 0 | 874 | 4875 | 0 | 4875 | 828 |
| 12/24/2025 | 168 | 1072 | 1240 | 957 | 5856 | 6813 | 827 |
| 12/26/2025 | 2398 | 0 | 2398 | 13171 | 0 | 13171 | 841 |
| 12/27/2025 | 979 | 88 | 1067 | 5481 | 647 | 6128 | 827 |
| 12/28/2025 | 898 | 448 | 1346 | 4929 | 2479 | 7408 | 825 |
| 12/29/2025 | 1747 | 0 | 1747 | 9996 | 0 | 9996 | 824 |
| 12/30/2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 815 |
| 12/31/2025 | 1100 | 283 | 1383 | 5993 | 1778 | 7771 | 823 |
| 1/1/2026 | 54 | 0 | 54 | 295 | 0 | 295 | 821 |
| 1/2/2026 | 368 | 0 | 368 | 2041 | 0 | 2041 | 828 |
| 1/3/2026 | 1436 | 113 | 1549 | 8024 | 710 | 8734 | 833 |
| 1/4/2026 | 1502 | 33 | 1535 | 8329 | 189 | 8518 | 827 |
| 1/5/2026 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 89 | 0 | 89 | 820 |
| 1/6/2026 | 1187 | 0 | 1187 | 6711 | 0 | 6711 | 828 |
| 1/7/2026 | 950 | 0 | 950 | 5209 | 0 | 5209 | 824 |
| 1/10/2026 | 1161 | 0 | 1161 | 6178 | 0 | 6178 | 841 |
| 1/11/2026 | 2669 | 290 | 2959 | 14732 | 1566 | 16298 | 808 |
| 1/12/2026 | 1896 | 0 | 1896 | 10385 | 0 | 10385 | 817 |
| 1/13/2026 | 708 | 224 | 932 | 3979 | 1282 | 5261 | 805 |
| 1/14/2026 | 661 | 0 | 661 | 3635 | 0 | 3635 | 806 |
| 1/15/2026 | 166 | 71 | 237 | 859 | 357 | 1216 | 807 |
| 1/16/2026 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -11 | -11 | 815 |
| 1/18/2026 | 429 | 0 | 429 | 2385 | 0 | 2385 | 835 |
| 1/19/2026 | 1887 | 0 | 1887 | 10560 | 0 | 10560 | 817 |
| 1/20/2026 | 915 | 0 | 915 | 5007 | 0 | 5007 | 827 |
| 1/21/2026 | 1156 | 0 | 1156 | 6308 | 0 | 6308 | 826 |
| 1/22/2026 | 1024 | 0 | 1024 | 5667 | 0 | 5667 | 821 |
| 1/25/2026 | 0 | 435 | 435 | 0 | 2578 | 2578 | 840 |
| 1/26/2026 | 611 | 31 | 642 | 3377 | 200 | 3577 | 851 |
| 1/27/2026 | 1480 | 0 | 1480 | 8299 | 0 | 8299 | 855 |
| 1/29/2026 | 600 | 0 | 600 | 3329 | 0 | 3329 | 858 |
| 1/30/2026 | 774 | 0 | 774 | 4196 | 0 | 4196 | 862 |
| 1/31/2026 | 1890 | 171 | 2061 | 10394 | 978 | 11372 | 863 |
| 2/1/2026 | 1860 | 0 | 1860 | 10311 | 0 | 10311 | 848 |
| 2/2/2026 | 1004 | 1 | 1005 | 5588 | 2 | 5590 | 818 |
| 2/3/2026 | 900 | 0 | 900 | 5029 | 0 | 5029 | 830 |
| 2/4/2026 | 940 | 0 | 940 | 5161 | 0 | 5161 | 817 |
| 2/5/2026 | 657 | 0 | 657 | 3805 | 0 | 3805 | 828 |
| 2/6/2026 | 929 | 0 | 929 | 5149 | 0 | 5149 | 830 |
| 2/7/2026 | 1029 | 0 | 1029 | 5613 | 0 | 5613 | 829 |
| 2/10/2026 | 809 | 0 | 809 | 4439 | 0 | 4439 | 853 |
| 2/14/2026 | 1305 | 0 | 1305 | 7254 | 0 | 7254 | 899 |
| 2/15/2026 | 1044 | 30 | 1074 | 5942 | 187 | 6129 | 892 |
| 2/16/2026 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 41 | 0 | 41 | 889 |
| 2/19/2026 | 360 | 0 | 360 | 2004 | 0 | 2004 | 941 |
| 2/20/2026 | 329 | 0 | 329 | 1771 | 0 | 1771 | 953 |
| 2/21/2026 | 1701 | 244 | 1945 | 9411 | 1664 | 11075 | 966 |
| 2/22/2026 | 1101 | 18 | 1119 | 6139 | 105 | 6244 | 950 |
| 2/23/2026 | 795 | 0 | 795 | 4400 | 0 | 4400 | 947 |
| 2/26/2026 | 605 | 2 | 607 | 3327 | 41 | 3368 | 994 |
| 2/27/2026 | 1361 | 0 | 1361 | 7522 | 0 | 7522 | 1003 |
| 2/28/2026 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 994 |
| 3/1/2026 | 965 | 0 | 965 | 5365 | 0 | 5365 | 1018 |
| 3/2/2026 | 1300 | 15 | 1315 | 7191 | 78 | 7269 | 1020 |
| 3/4/2026 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1039 |
| 3/7/2026 | 221 | 0 | 221 | 1210 | 0 | 1210 | 1128 |
| 3/15/2026 | 1203 | 5 | 1208 | 6767 | 26 | 6793 | 1454 |
| 3/18/2026 | 1904 | 16 | 1920 | 10240 | 90 | 10330 | 1586 |
| 3/19/2026 | 1121 | 0 | 1121 | 6138 | 0 | 6138 | 1572 |
| 3/20/2026 | 1632 | 4 | 1636 | 9044 | 17 | 9061 | 1592 |
Future iterations of this will not have the whole thing, just a single day’s. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when it moves into editing.
Today’s Excerpt
As Patricia got to the main street, she heard what sounded like a squeal. She turned, and was surprised to see Wendy’s van still parked. When she realized it was rocking a little on its shocks and springs, she understood better.
“Oh, Wendy, what are you doing?”
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