I’m doing it again. I’m moving the goal posts. This time, it has nothing to do with being distracted by something new and shiny. This time, it has everything to do with being caught up in a lot of stuff every week, and needing a bit more time to breathe than I currently offer myself.

My first weekly goal of 4,000 words was unthinkable. The second goal I set for myself of 3,000 words a week was attainable, but only if other things on my plate suffered for it. Things such as my dedication to my local church teen program, my family, my devotion to David Letterman, etc. So, I’ve set myself a brand new weekly goal. One that will end up making the novel project take far longer than I had originally intended, but I think will end up creating more quality content in the long run.

So, from now on, it’s 1,750 words per week. This is an easily attainable goal, one that I’ve hit almost consistently since day one; but each week, only barely. That says to me that this is a reasonable goal. One that I can hit with the right amount of effort, and still continue to be involved in other matters of life. With the exception of video games — I’m still not playing any of those these days, which, for the moment at least, is just fine with me.

I know that moving the goal posts isn’t the best way to ensure that tasks are eventually completed. My projected completion date is now nestled comfortably somewhere deep within the recesses of the spring-summery month of June. That far exceeds the original date of the end of 2008. However, to be perfectly honest, it’s probably much more realistic.

This whole exercise is completely new. I had absolutely no guidelines going into it that could give me an idea of how much I could reasonably write in a given week. Now that I am several weeks into this experiment, I have a much better understanding of what I can accomplish. Hopefully this new word count will work better for me, give me attainable goals, and with each new milestone, push me to further succeed at this whole writing business.

The novel itself is going swimmingly. It’s flowing very well from chapter to chapter, and I feel like I’m getting a firm grasp on my characters’ motivations and inner voices. I can already see areas that will definitely need improving once I’m done, and it’s taking an enormous amount of effort not to go back over those sections now, before it’s all written. But I know that if I go back and start editing sections before the new ground work is laid, I will only end up having more editing work to do later as the story progresses, grows, and improves upon itself.

All in all, it’s a fantastic process, and I’m happy with myself that I am finally through talking about writing a novel “someday”, and am actually knee-deep in the process of getting it written. It’s exciting seeing it come from nothing into being, and I will certainly feel the stab of pain once it’s completed and I quickly discover that no publisher will touch it.

Because, that’s what’s going to happen, you know. Just in case you were wondering.