A Sample, and There's Always a History

In Today's Journal

* A Sample "Annual Production" Spreadsheet
* There's Always a History
* The Writing
* The Numbers

A Sample "Annual Production" Spreadsheet

Yesterday a writer asked for a "blank" spreadsheet showing the formulas I use, etc. Problem is, if the spreadsheet is blank, there won't be any formulas. (grin)

So I did a quick mock-up example derived directly from the Annual Production spreadsheet I use every day. It shows not only the formulas but how they work for both monthly totals and cumulative totals, day by day and month by month.

I also wrote a fairly detailed but also simple (I think) explanation to help guide you through it.

If anyone else would like that example and the accompanying brief explanatory article, send me an email at harveystanbrough@gmail.com and I'll send it right out to you. Free.

In case you're wondering, the spreadsheet does not discriminate between short stories and novels. You can keep track of everything about your writing on it. Even nonfiction if you write nonfiction.

Note: The spreadsheet doesn't do publishing records.

I have a separate spreadsheet for that (my IP Master spreadsheet) but that one doesn't have any pesky formulas or any of that nonsense. The good part about that one are the headings.

So anyway, if you'd like that Annual Production spreadsheet mockup and the explanation of how to use it, just let me know.

You would only have to delete my own entries (but don't delete the formulas!) and it would be ready to go.

There's Always a History

Especially if you are relatively new to writing fiction—if you've written fewer than say five or six novels or fifty or sixty short stories (in a relatively short span of time) this is good advice:

Wherever you start a story, double check the opening. I'm not saying you should edit it or that you should look at it critically in any way. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I'm saying read the opening with a mind toward what happened BEFORE that in the story. So maybe during your first cycling session. Particularly if you have that nagging little feeling that something doesn't feel quite right.

There is always a past, always a history.

No matter where you begin a story, always something happened in the seconds just preceding that. And of course, what happened in those seconds happened in a setting.

Maybe that should be your opening.

Likewise, something happened in the hours leading up to your present opening, and a week or a month before.

Chances are, your story might be fine as-is, with the current opening. But there's always a chance you maybe should have backed it up a little (or that the characters WANT to back it up a little).

And if not, if you look at what happened before the opening, you might even find a whole new story or a whole new twist on the current story. If you do, I urge you to write it.

This is also an excellent technique to use if you like to start writing in the middle of the action.

First, go ahead and start with the explosion or the car plowing through a building or him sweeping her off her feet and carrying her into a love nest.

Then back up and write what happened in the seconds, minutes, hours, or days leading up to that action.

The story will be more complete. And the reader will be fully grounded in it rather than only temporarily drawn to the bright, shiny object. Works every time.

The Writing

I have a short streak (three days) going of 4000+ words per day of published fiction. It's early yet, of course, but I want to see how long I can keep it going.

These are the little things that keep me excited about writing my characters' stories. (grin) It also does wonders for my average words per day.

Talk with you again soon.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 660

Writing of Blackwell Ops 34: Solomon Payne

Day 1…… 2005 words. To date…… 2005
Day 2…… 2992 words. To date…… 4997
Day 3…… 3998 words. To date…… 8995
Day 4…… 4591 words. To date…… 13586
Day 5…… 4503 words. To date…… 18089
Day 6…… 4499 words. To date…… 22588

Fiction for January…………………… 22588
Fiction for 2025………………………. 22588
Nonfiction for January……………….. 6950
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 6950
2025 consumable words…………….. 29538

Average Fiction WPD (January)……. 3765

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 0
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………….... 104
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 270
Short story collections……………………. 29

Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.