In my last monthly update post, I set a goal of 18 writing days per month for the rest of 2026, and I mentioned that I’m also seeking a sustainable pace.
What does that mean in real-world terms?
February 2026 gave me a good answer.
My word count, at 28,036, was significantly less than January. But I’m all right with that for two reasons: the first is that it was still well over the monthly goal of 18,000; and the second is that I was able to maintain a consistent pace throughout the entire month. I had a total of 21 writing days in February, and they were a good 21 days of work.
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During the first weekend of the month, much of the Southern United States was hit with a once-per-generation snowstorm. I was almost at “ground zero” for Winter Storm Gianna; my town’s official snowfall total was just under 12 inches. To give some context, we usually only get a couple of dustings (totaling less than an inch to an inch-and-a-half) per winter. As it happened, I actually was living in this town the last time it got this much snow…which was in 1989.
It was the first time I’d ever actually seen powdery snow in person. Winter storms in the Southeast almost always include a layer of ice on top.
I wasn’t the only one who took hits from Winter Storms Fern and Gianna, and in keeping with that, one of the members of a Scarecrow and Mrs. King fan fiction group posted a challenge about writing a story about Lee and Amanda being stuck in a winter storm. My response to that became the single item I’ve posted this month: Tell Me a Story. It’s one of the few pieces I’ve done strictly “by the seat of my pants” with no outline.
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But that definitely doesn’t mean I wasn’t writing! On February 1, I was still finishing up the last bit of Act II of All that Mattered. By the end of the month, I’d finished both that and Act III, which means that going into March I am coming into the “home stretch” of Act IV. At this point I feel pretty confident that I’ll finish it in time to start posting on March 29th.
All That Mattered is going to be noticeably shorter than Standing in the Dark; right now I’m estimating between 60K and 70K words (as opposed to Standing’s 81K). But that is still well within the definition of “novel,” so I’m satisfied with it. Given that it was originally the second half of the story, that’s a more-than-reasonable word count.
- In addition to fiction, I kept up my once-per-week posting schedule on both the professional blog and on this one. I’ve been able to sketch out a post calendar that gives me ideas through the rest of the calendar year, while remaining flexible enough for me to react to various events or situations. (Neither of my two blogs are about current events specifically, although both of them can be affected.) I also revamped the Q&A section of this site, which sparked an extra post. Thus, my total post count for February was 9, which is definitely in the acceptable range.
During February, I also did some structural thinking about my writing schedule and how I could keep it sustainable. Now that I’m into my third year of tracking word counts, I’m beginning to be able to see both averages and trends. This means I’m able to start planning my writing work, and that means I can actually set firm goals instead of just declaring things I will try to get done.
It’s no wonder, then, that my pace is still higher than I’d expected it to be. That said, I’m still going to keep both my monthly and annual goals where they are. I’m fully expecting at least two or three weeks where I won’t be able to write for various reasons, as well as other “downtime” periods during the year where I’m not producing at a high rate.
This is a good place to be, and it keeps me confident enough to stay energized and excited about writing. After a couple of years that were far more unstable than I liked, that feels really, really nice.