I’m not a superstitious person, so I don’t believe in jinxes. My muse, on the other hand, feels differently.
In last month’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group post, I shared some statistics about my weekly word counts. I didn’t mean to brag, but the numbers were rather high for the past few years, and I was excited because they’d jumped even higher in 2016.
And then my writing productivity plummeted for the rest of December. Yes, part of that can be blamed on the holiday season. And part of it was because I caught a nasty cold. But there’s no denying that I got overconfident after reviewing my own writing records, and that led me astray. Does that mean I jinxed myself? I guess, in a way, it does.
Now I have a lot of catching up to do. January is going to be a busy month. My whole top-secret master plan for 2017 is in jeopardy. I’d tell you more about what I need to do, but… it’s a top-secret plan.
So long as I can get my weekly word counts back up to their pre-December levels, I think I’ll be okay. In fact, I’m confident that I can beat those pre-December numbers and really get my master plan back on track!
Hopefully I didn’t just jinx myself again. Wish me luck!
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Today’s post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop where insecure writers like myself can share our worries and offer advice and encouragement. Click here to find out more about IWSG and see a list of participating blogs.
Planet Pailly 
Your word counts were so high, I’m sure you can allow a little slack. Especially at Christmas!
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Fair enough. Still, I know I can do better, so I’m going to do better.
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Ups and downs. The key to stopping them from being an emotional roller coaster is to remember during the downs that there were ups before and that there will be again, and during the ups to remember that winter is coming.
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That is true. Although in this case, this particular down has motivated to work harder to get back up. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
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Ah yes, nothing like life getting in the way of writing. Sometimes I’ll be feeling good about the amount of writing I’m accomplishing and the next thing I know, a couple of weeks have passed with little to show for it. I’ve just learned to accept it..
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Yes, it does seem to be part of the process. I guess I got overconfident when I should have expected a slump.
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I do think you sort of jinxed yourself. The universe has a way of sometimes cutting us down to size. Happy New Year.
QueendSheena
2017 IWSG January Co-Host
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Indeed it does. It certainly felt like, after my moment of overconfidence, I got what was coming to me.
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I don’t think it was a jinx. You said you felt confident and probably relaxed a bit. And then the holidays and the cold hit.
But it’s a new year and you can hit the ground running again.
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Thanks, Alex. That’s exactly what I plan to do.
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Happy new year, James. Good luck with the writing Sometimes I wonder which is more painful, writing or not writing. Good luck! You can do it!
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As hard as writing can be sometimes, I’ve definitely found not writing to be worse for me.
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Same with me, and so, we carry on. 🙂 You can do it.
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Jinxing oneself..? Sounds like fun! 🙂
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I guess it could be, depending on the jinx.
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I say you just realized you needed a break! A lot of us fell out of our routines the last couple of weeks of the year. The new year gives us an excuse to start over!
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Maybe I did need a break. Whatever happened, I’m committed to doing better this month than I did last month, and doing better in 2017 than I did in 2016.
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You totally just jinxed yourself again. i’ll give you some advise:
don’t say that you will and be smug or something like that about it because you will just accidentally jinx yourself. but good luck!
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I think I’ve learned my lesson about being smug, and I don’t plan to do another post about my word counts. However, I do think there’s value in setting high goals for yourself and telling yourself that yes, you can achieve those goals.
It’s been a little over a month now since this post, and my productivity is back to where it had been. One big reason why is that I keep telling myself that I can do it.
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very true
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Good luck;)
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Every time I have a really productive writing day, I think “This is it! Now I’m going to start writing more.” Then a week passes and I haven’t written a darn thing. No more counting chickens before they hatch.
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