Day 17 (Including All of the Missing Days)

In case you have been wondering what happened to me, well, I've been writing. A lot.

Sadly, my Spanish learning project has taken a backseat but my writing has taken off.

I have surpassed my original goal of fifty thousand words for this month and I am now aiming for my first ever one hundred thousand word month.

I have created a little chart with each day's actual written words, total written words and the initial or recommended daily word count based upon the 1,667 words per day rule. And now I have added a double word goal in parentheses after that to show where I want to be on average each day in order to hit my new target of 100,000 words this month. I am including my month to date so you can see that I have been doing something, I just haven't been sharing.

Day 1
My Current Word Count: 5,467 words
Words Written Today: 5,467 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 1667 words (3,334)

Day 2
My Current Word Count: 7,036 words
Words Written Today:   1,569 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 3,334 words (6,668)

Day 3

My Current Word Count: 9,546 words
Words Written Today:   2,510 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 5,001 words (10,002)


Day 4
My Current Word Count: 10,928 words
Words Written Today:   1,382 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 6,668 words (13,336)

Day 5
My Current Word Count: 12,570 words
Words Written Today: 1,642 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 8,335 words (16,670)

Day 6
My Current Word Count: 16,034 words
Words Written Today:   3,464 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 10,002 words (20,004)


Day 7
My Current Word Count: 19,659 words
Words Written Today: 3,625 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 11,669 words (23,338)

Day 8
My Current Word Count: 23,934 words
Words Written Today: 4,275 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 13,336 words (26,672)

Day 9
My Current Word Count:   27,366 words
Words Written Today: 3,432 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 15,003 words (30,006)

Day 10
My Current Word Count:   31,222 words
Words Written Today:   3,856 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today:   16,670 words (33,340)

Day 11
My Current Word Count:   34,945 words
Words Written Today:   3,723 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 18,337 words (36,674)

Day 12 (Write-a-thon)
My Current Word Count:   39,553 words
Words Written Today:   4,608 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 20,004 words (40,008)

Day 13
My Current Word Count:   45,277 words
Words Written Today:   5,724 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today:   21,671 words (43,342)

Day 14
My Current Word Count:   48,487 words
Words Written Today:   3,210 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today:   23,338 words (46,676)

Day 15
My Current Word Count:   49,330 words
Words Written Today:   843 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today:   25,005 words (50,010)

Day 16
My Current Word Count:   54,751 words
Words Written Today:   5,421 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today:   26,672 words (53,344)

Day 17
My Current Word Count:   58,344 words
Words Written Today:   3,593 words
Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today:   28,339 words (56,678)

Day 8

Day 8

My Current Word Count: 23,934 words

Words Written Today: 4,275 words

Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 13,336 words

Blog Post – Day 8

Day 8 – Further Refinements to the Plan

Tags: self-directed learning, Camp NANOWRIMO, The Office of Letters & Light, writing, goals, word count, blogging, NANOWRIMO, priorities, editing, publishing, 

My Current Word Count: 23,934 words

Words Written Today:  4,275 words

Camp NANOWRIMO goal for today: 13,336 words

This blog was originally designed to chronicle my experiments with self-directed learning in general (through predominately openly available and free resources) and also with language learning specifically (usually through commercially available resources but free materials will also be discussed and used as time allows). My desire is to document, both for myself and for others who share my interests, what methods I use, my successes and any changes that I make along the course to mastery, assuming that I actually get that far! Nobody can master everything and sometimes along the way you discover that you aren’t that interested in the first place; no one should expect anything different from anyone else either. 

So far during this introductory month I have been forced to make many changes to the structure of my experiment, predominately in order to accommodate all of the other factors that are a part of my life. There are only so many hours in a day. As such I wanted to address where I stand now and how I intend to progress—as of now anyway—until the end of this month. 

This first month of my blog is being written in conjunction with Camp NANOWRIMO, or for the uninitiated, Camp National Novel Writing Month. This is a semi-annual even put on by the folks at the Office of Letters & Light, a non-profit organization founded for the purpose of promoting writing. The basis of the annual NANOWRIMO, which takes place every November, is that virtually anyone can write a fifty thousand word novel in thirty days. Since the initial years of NANOWRIMO, the event has continued to increase in popularity and a July “Camp” was added to the plan. As popularity continues to grow, a second Camp has been started in April with the ability to select not only genre but also word count goals. If fifty thousand words in a month intimidates you, you can set your sights lower and write towards a smaller goal now.

My initial goal was to edit and publish my writing as I went along this month. As it turns out (and I really should know better) this takes too much energy and time so I am reverting to a back-up plan that I have since created. As originally envisioned, this month’s blogging event was designed as a test for my language learning and writing skills. It seems that I have only twenty-four hours in a day and so while I continue to write, I will be limiting my posts until after this month is over. As of now, my posts will include my current word count (I will also be adding these refinements to my older posts), the number of words I’ve written that day, and the recommended NANOWRIMO word count goal for the day. I am including this last metric as a means to quickly assess my current word count based upon the recommendation of the fine folks at the Office of Letters & Light. This daily cumulative goal is simply created by multiplying the day number against the average words per day it takes to reach fifty thousand words in a thirty day period. It is included here simply as a guideline and to help maintain focus on the bigger goal. 

Currently I am also planning to go back through my writing and select portions that I have written for any given day and, after editing them, post them on the appropriate day. But that will have to wait until after May. I will probably also post a few things from time to time during the month but I will no longer be focusing on this as it takes too much time away from my other priorities. 

I apologize for repeating anything that I’ve already mentioned but I wanted to be clear here. I also don’t want anyone to be too disappointed about my failure to post more regularly but everyone has to have priorities. 


Best wishes on your own learning journey!