Wondering about... Two years on

Hi everyone,

It's been a really exciting week so far for me, with my first book coming out on Monday. (Yay, me! - no there really isn't any chance I'm going to stop talking about it any time soon.)

But today I'm not going to talk about now, I'm going to talk about the past. Today is something of an anniversary for me. Two years ago today was the last day I didn't write at least 1000 words.

Now, I know that statement isn't going to make the least bit of sense to anyone who isn't me, so I'll have another go at explaining it.

The advice given out to anyone who says they want to be a writer, is that you should write every day.

Two years ago, I took that advice.

1000 words a day. Every day. No exceptions. Ever.

And, what's more, those 1000 words had to be on my main work-in-progress. No more flittering around between different projects and never finishing any of them. 1000 words on that project every day until it was done.

Tomorrow, I'll be starting my third year of keeping that commitment.

So today I thought I would do a re-cap of everything making that commitment to write every day has brought me so far.

1,841,000 words written in total.

3 stories that I didn't finish. (2 sweet, vanilla regency romances - wonder why they didn't work for me... and a story with a premise that wouldn't let the characters get kinky or having sex without turning into people I didn't like)

2 projects that have been set aside (meaning I know the ending, but other things have nearer deadlines and had to take priority for a little while)

72 finished first drafts.

22 re-written stories.

9 accepted and contracted novells and novels (plus 1 that I was offered the chance to extend or contract and which is going to be extended)

1 published novella. (The Gift - you might have heard me mentioning it a hell of a lot...)

And 1 wip - the story I'm working on at the moment. (It's going quite well.)

So, all in all it's been a really fantastic two years for me and my writing.

Considering I spent the first of those years not even being aware that there was publishers out there that accepted the type of stories I was writing, let alone that they would ever publish me, it really was a leap of faith that started me on the way.

I've never been more thankful that I lept.

Thanks go out to everyone who's helped me over the last two years, and all those who've put up with me too. You know who you are.

Have a great Wednesday everyone.

Kim Dare.