Achievement Unlocked: 100,000 Words

You may have noticed something a little different about the appearance of the Patreon front page today.

This week we hit 100,000 words.

(And thank you to Fraylim for the lovely new celebratory banner and image!)

This happened on Monday, after a surprisingly good day of writing. The target was very compelling, and I kept writing beyond my usual daily goal with the intention of reaching it. There was something very satisfying about watching the numbers tick over as I filled in my word count tracking spreadsheet.

(Yes. I maintain a word count tracking spreadsheet.)

Word count isn’t really an indicator of quality, but for me it’s been an indicator of success. Long-term readers of Constant will know my output hasn’t always been very consistent. I started writing the story in 2007, after all: before the global financial crash, Brexit, or Covid pandemic; before even the iPhone 3.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I started writing Constant as a personal challenge. I had hopes of someday publishing professionally but was nowhere good enough and needed practice. And I wanted to see whether I could bring a novel-length fiction to completion. Those first ten chapters of Constant went well; feedback was good and I think the quality of writing improved over time. I also wrote every day.

Then I reached the end of chapter 3 of the second series and stuttered, stopped and abandoned it for the next fourteen years. (Oddly, the same length of time between David abandoning Julia and being discovered by her in that bathroom stall at Noir.) My life changed in significant ways but looking back it didn’t justify giving up on writing. For most of my life I’ve wanted to be a writer, but clearly I didn’t want it enough.

Several things brought me back to writing post-Pandemic. It wasn’t the pandemic itself. There wasn’t any downtime during that whole horrible shit-show: no sourdough bread baking, no new hobbies, no writing. Afterwards, my work situation changed. My father died as well. In ways I haven’t really processed yet, this brought me back to writing. I rewrote the ending of chapter 3 and wrote chapter 4 and published it to FM and it was fairly well received (and surprised a number of people, I think).

But I faltered again. Long time subscribers will remember my disappearance for several months. To those who remained: you were entirely too generous and kind, and I truly appreciate your patience.

I haven’t faltered since. I’ve been writing steadily since the 25th of May, 2023 – or so the spreadsheet informs me. Setting a realistic daily target, achievable against the demands of work and real life, seems to have made the difference. 500 words isn’t much. Often I surpass that; some days, those 500 words are excruciating to get onto the page.

2,500 words a week is a glacial pace. Yet that glacial pace has brought me to this point: 100,000 words within six months, the length of a proper novel. True, this is split between two stories: 19k on A Song of Silk and Shadows, and the rest on Constant. Still. It feels like a significant achievement. It feels like proof that it’s possible to write against the backdrop of all the other demands of life. It suggests that someday, hopefully soon, I can take a crack at writing a “real” novel.

It may be that this dream of professional publication never comes true. Some success in a niche genre probably doesn’t translate to success in mainstream publishing. I may find that without the constant drip-feed of feedback I lose focus. Or perhaps I simply won’t be good enough and discover that I’ll be best sticking to amateur writing. And I think I’ll be fine with that, should it happen—disappointed, but okay, so long as I keep writing.

Of course, I still haven’t completed my second target: actually completing a novel-length story. I guess I better get back to that, then.

I told myself that when I hit the 100,000 word mark that I’d give myself a deserved break. Maybe the most significant shift from before is that I don’t want to take a break. I’m simply enjoying writing too much right now.

Finally, I’d like to say thank you. For everything written above, I’m fairly sure I would’ve abandoned the project some time ago without the very generous and kind support of patrons. Financially, it’s been very helpful. But it’s also brought an added sense of responsibility: I feel beholden to provide value for money, and that additional incentive has pushed me to write on those day when I really haven’t felt like doing so.

Equally, if not more importantly: the feedback, kind words, support and messages from many of you have helped more than you can perhaps imagine. Thank you.

Onwards, to 200,000!