309,157

WIP, with coffee.

• Colorwise, #309157 is a soft evergreen. Closest web-safe color is #339966.

• 309,157 is the 26,736th prime (this is me, squeeing because: prime number).
  

• US Patent #309157 was awarded to one Eliphalet O. Norton of Boone, IL in 1884 for an improved hay-carrier. Which does exactly what it says.

• For me, 309,157 is the number of words I wrote in 2013, minus those I’ll write this morning. It includes revisions to my novel, Bone Arrow, drafts of the first four chapters of Bone Arrow’s sequel, as well as another in the series, twelve new short stories (several of those are flash, several of those are dismal and will never see the light of day) and one novella, revisions to three stories, and a thoroughly gutted and re-visioned draft of the novel Moon with an additional POV, which is somewhat like writing a new novel in between the pages of another novel.

• 309,157 works out to a somewhat more manageable 847 words a day, but a look at my tracking tells me I averaged 2,500 on weekdays. I did a lot better at my goal of writing every day, even if it was just a couple hundred words. (Thanks, Mur, for the encouragement there.)

• Included in that 309,157 is my first sale to Asimov’s and my first sale to Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Also big swaths of a few yarns you’ll be seeing from Tor Books in the future.

• 309,157 is a bunch of words. It doesn’t count the blog posts I’ve written here – including ten Cooking the Books interviews – and for Apex (my favorites are still the My Little Shoggoth post, because: Jello mold, and the DIY Zombie Apocalypse Home Design class with Seannan McGuire, because: Seannan McGuire) and GeekMom.

Thank you, coffee. And tea.

Last year, my goal was to write more, better words. This year, I’m sticking with the ‘better’ side of that goal. I want to write consistently, and to learn new ways to tell more powerful stories every day. I don’t need to write more words, though if that happens too, I’ll be glad for it. Consistent words. Better words. In pleasing arrangements. Goal.

What are your goals for 2014? What makes you happiest from 2013? Drop me links (& numbers, if you’re a numbers person), below, if you’re a linking person!