Introduction, what was the big win last week?
Writing Successes
First full week of 2020. Here's what I managed to pull off:
- Sunday. As a single-car household, my days off from the library often end up being days for errands and appointments. That was true today. I published the previous post in the morning and didn't get back to writing until the evening after watching Dean Wesley Smith's lecture about attitude at the 20Books conference this year. I ended up adding 1,724 words to Synthetic Pain. My total word count for the day was 2,496 words, including the post and working on short fiction.
- Monday. Another great day! I took advantage of appointments today to get writing done while I waited and passed yesterday's word count with 1,737words added to Synthetic Pain. Later I worked on studying short fiction, adding another 863 words. Total words for the day, including a little on the blog was 2,652 words.
- Tuesday. Back to work today. I wrote 1,013 words on Synthetic Pain.
- Wednesday. Vacation day with family was great. We had a lot of fun. I sat down shortly before collapsing in bed to add 396 words to Synthetic Pain.
- Thursday. Another work day only I seem to have caught a bug. I wrote 275 words on Synthetic Pain.
- Friday. Stayed home sick from work. Mostly spent on the couch watching TV and playing Minecraft.
- Saturday. What happened?
Final thoughts on progress.
OKR Confidence Ratings
Thoughts
Write fantastic novels
Key Results
- Write 1,500 words (minimum) per day.
- 40,000 words (minimum) each month on the current novel.
- Complete 6 novels in 2020.
Even though I haven't hit my minimum word counts each day, I'm still fairly confident that I can reach it. As my streak increases and I am more consistent, my confidence in the second two results will increase.
Write Amazing Short STories
Key Results
- Write 500 words (minimum) per day.
- Complete a finished short story bi-weekly (26 stories).
- Submit or publish each finished story within one week.
I'm putting this at a 50/50 confidence right now. I tweaked the key results for a new story every other week because I want to study published stories in the alternating weeks.
Achieve success with my novels
Key Results
- 12 novels released on my store and retail stores.
- Average 10 sales per day, per title.
- Match my income from my full-time librarian job.
Releasing the novels is one thing—they're written. It's mostly taking the time to get them out, but given my track record I think 50/50 is fair at the start. I have less confidence in the other two results without a lot changing. That's fine! I'm going for it.
Build a Community of Engaged Readers
Key Results
- Readinary newsletter subscribers increase by 25%.
- Broadcast open rate averages 60%.
- Click rate averages 10%.
- Reach 250 Patreon subscribers.
I'm more confident about getting newsletter subscribers than patrons right now. My open and click rates have been near those levels, which makes me fairly confident I can average that with work.
This Week's Priorities
Plans for the week.
- Priority 1
- Priority 2
- Priority 3
Final words