So, this week’s category is “Writing Process,” and my schedule says today’s topic is supposed to be about writing in a season/episode format. I’m struggling with writing that, though, mainly because this time of year is when my day job gets super busy and stressful. Writing gets pushed to the side in November and December, so writing about writing can feel… hollow. I’ve been mostly doing simple copyedits for the last month or two, along with the newsletter and this blog.
The good news is the busy season is over in January. So while I have no current writing to really talk about, today I’m going to talk about my exciting plans and goals for 2026!
Writing Categories
When I (and most writers, really) talk about “writing,” there are three main activities involved: plotting/outlining, drafting, and revising. There’s also research, but that’s somewhat of a side activity. I’ve never been good at doing all three (or four, if you count research) activities on an ongoing basis. I’m sure it’d be easier if I could write full time, but I’d still like to come closer to a place where I’m simultaneously outlining one project, drafting another, and then revising another still.
Sure, it’s perfectly reasonable to start a project and see it through, one stage after another. The thing with that, though, is that it starts to feel less productive after a while.
I spent most of 2025 revising and editing, and even though I was very productive (I finished the last five episodes of The Nexus Season One as well as got the next-to-last revision of Between the Worlds done,) I still feel bad that I didn’t generate more new words. In 2026, I hope to find a better balance.
Word Count
“New” words are a big deal to writers. As any writer about their “word count” and they’ll either regale you with more detail than you ever wanted to hear, or will run away screaming. A lot of writers enforce a specific minimum number of words they must produce every day or every week. I’ve done that, but this past year rather proved it doesn’t always work out.
In 2024, I set myself a goal of 1,000 words every weekday. I cut that goal roughly in half for November and December, because of the day job issue I mentioned above, and increased the goal number a bit during months where I knew I’d have a bit more time to write due to vacation time, holidays, etc.
I didn’t quite hit the goal, but I wrote over 230,000 words. That’s a lot; I was, understandably, proud of myself. So I set up my word tracker for 2025 with a similar goal, and started my year happy and excited.
I wrote about 18,000 words in 2025.
Why? because I spent all year revising and editing the quarter of a million words I wrote in 2024! And that was, again, very productive–I released ALL of The Nexus Season One over 2024 and 2025, after all. But a whole year spent editing means a year of not producing new words, and it feels… less.
Balance
This year, I’m aiming for a better balance. This coming year, I’m cutting my word count goal in half: 500 words/weekday, for a yearly goal of 130,000. I should be able to meet that while also getting in plenty of plotting, revising, and editing.
I think I’m in a good place to try this. I don’t have a huge surplus of drafts needing revision like I had last year, but I do have some: My beta readers are almost finished with Between the Worlds, so I’ll have that back soon. I also have (pretty rough) first drafts of the first four episodes of Widdershins, my new Barrow City series that’ll be coming out starting in late 2026. I also have a handful of short stories and side novellas to revise in 2026 as well. It’s plenty to work on without being an entire season of a series and a 500+ page novel like I had this year!
But I also only have those four drafts done out of the 9 planned episodes for Widdershins Season One, so that’s plenty of new words to be written, too. Widdershins has been running rather longer per episode than The Nexus, so those five episodes will easily use up that 130k goal.
And finally, there’s plotting. For that, I’ll be back to The Nexus for Season Two, which I’m super excited about! I don’t think I’ll get to draft any of it in 2026, because I’m not planning to let myself even start that until Widdershins Season One is all drafted, but I’ve already started plans for Season Two and it’s going to be so much fun! I’ll be spending most of my “plotting” time in 2026 working on that.
Nexus S2 and Widdershins S1 will also likely involve plenty of research into various topics. I already know I’ll be digging into volcanoes for Nexus S2, which I’m pretty geeked about!
Checking In
I think I’m going to make a point of checking in on the above goals throughout the year, here on the blog, where my Sara Squad can be my accountability buddies! Each month, I’ll share my word count total, as well as my plotting and editing progress. (Not sure how I’m going to quantify the plotting, but I’ll figure it out!)
So, for now, I guess I’d better get back to work!
Thanks, as always, for stopping by!
