Didn’t make word count today, mainly because I was busy doing promo for Evernight Publishing’s 5th birthday bash and blog tour (go check it out — I’m giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate as my personal prize), working on another editing project, and copyediting a friend’s novel (it’s a pay job — I’ve got a cruise coming up and I need all the shekels I can earn right now). Not making word quota is annoying but as I said earlier, it happens. I’m currently about 7K behind where I should be, which is still makeupable (is that a word? It is now), especially with a couple of weekends ahead of me. If I can get a good head of steam up this weekend I should be able to whittle that down to 2K or so, the gods willing and the crick don’t rise.

I won’t be working tomorrow night, though, because I have ringside tickets for an awesome burlesque show and I’m bringing Ramón, my buddy Stretch and her husband. I may be behind at the moment but I’m also a hair under 1/3 of the way through the book, and that deserves a reward.

Today’s stats:

Started With: 26,064 words
Wrote: 1,036 words
Total word count: 27,100 words
What else did you do today, Nicola: Cat chores, did knee PT workout, promo for Evernight’s 5th birthday blog tour, started copyediting a friend’s book, more editing on the video project, a touch of food shopping, made a big ol’ batch of tarragon chicken salad so that Ramón can continue to eat as low carb as possible while I’m working, and laundry.

Writing Tips: There’s a reason why the carrot and stick analogy works so well. Don’t be afraid to hold out rewards for various things — making word quota, reaching certain milestones in the book, and most definitely when you finish the book. Want to watch an episode of The Vampire Diaries? Finish a chapter. Want to play Solitaire? Finish a chapter. Etcetera. I always buy myself some jewelry when I finish a book, and I’m already on the lookout for what I want as my carrot on October 18th.