word counts and strange weather

 

A new thing that I have been doing since delving into the new year is keeping track of word counts in addition to income tallies each writing day.  Partly,  this is just for my own curiosity, but also, as I take on new jobs, helpful in figuring out what to charge for my time. I quickly realized I was running around 5K per day the past several days, which set my slow, little poet heart aghast.  Granted, some days one piece is like 2500 if it's longer, and lessons tend to be 1000 or more, with everything else slightly shorter, so it's actually easy to hit.  I've often speculated I don't have the endurance for writing long things like fiction or novels, but these counts are promising, though I imagine creative prose, like poetry, is a little tougher going.  I can write a 1000 word lesson or article in the same time I write a poem around a hundred words, each using a different part of my brain and a different set of creative muscles.  That poem, like they always have, takes much more out of me. Sometimes I need a nap even though I've only been up an hour. Last summer when I was writing some fiction I could get maybe 1000-1500 words out of a block of several hours.

We've been plagued once again by dreary cloudy days this past week, though the weather is holding pretty mild this first week of the year compared to past year, or hell even last month when we were slammed with snow and frigid cold. Because there isn't any sun and everything feels like sunset all day long, it's harder to get moving and functional and some days are more productive than others even with those good word counts (being motivated to do other things being in short supply). I have had the windows cracked at intervals and swear I heard thunder a couple days back. I did see something online that said in only a few sparse weeks the sun will be setting at 7pm. Those weeks cannot pass swiftly enough.

I am working on the series of poems I started in October that have been languishing since I put them on pause. some strange little relationship poems that number around a dozen at this point. I would like if possible to finish them up around Valentine's Day to make a little zine, but we'll see how swiftly I can get them where I want them. After that, I think I know where I want to go next on something new, though I am not sure how to start. I also need to return to the Persephone poems and see what that project looks like after a bit of distance since late last summer.