Writing Stats For 2019

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Written by Kodi Wolf at 11:27 AM

2019 was slightly insane.

After my wife and I bought our first house at the end of 2018, we ended up doing more renovations than we'd initially planned on, which took a lot of my time and energy away from my writing, but I still managed to maintain my daily writing schedule and I even surpassed my basic goal of writing 500 words per day.

Here are my stats for 2019.

Compared to last year, my total dropped by about 49,000 words, which is a lot, but given that my total time spent writing dropped by about 127 hours, the loss is actually kind of low (at 707 words per hour, it should've been closer to 90,000 words less). But just like last year, my average words per hour increased, so I seem to be getting faster. I don't know if I'm just typing faster or I'm figuring stuff out faster, but I'm happy about it either way.

I also managed to post almost 50,000 words, just like I did in 2018, so it took less words to get to the same amount of postable content.

I only had three basic goals for my writing in 2019, mostly due to knowing I would be splitting my time between renovating the new house and writing. The first two were the bare minimum I wanted to achieve for the year, while the last one was mostly me being hopeful.

• I wanted to maintain a daily average of at least 500 words. (Done - see above)

• I wanted to keep my streak going and write every day. (Done - 1,476 days, including today)

• I wanted to post new story chapters. (Done - posted almost 48,000 words on A Bondage Primer)

Considering all the craziness of my health issues and trying to renovate a house, I think I did pretty well keeping up with my writing.

Now, for 2020.

I kind of feel like even though I got a lot of writing done in 2019, I didn't get much finished (or at least not as much as I wanted to). So, that's my overall goal for 2020. To take my outlines and notes and turn them into finished scenes and chapters. To help me achieve that goal, I've realized I need to shift my focus away from my word count. I don't need new words, I need edited words.

On the other hand, maintaining my daily writing streak is really important to me. I feel like if I let that slide, I'll just go back to allowing days of not writing to turn into weeks, and then months.

So, I've come up with a dual daily practice I'm going to try to implement and see if it works.

For at least 15 minutes every day, I'm going to work on one of my outlined scenes to turn it into story text. If I want to continue beyond that, I certainly can, and if it sparks me to write new text, that's fine, too, but if my energy is low, I don't have to push it.

When I'm done, I'm not going to try to keep track of what I've deleted or count the new words interspersed in the previously outlined text. I'm just going to count the words for the part of the scene that I completed and that will be my word count for the day. This will push me to get bits finalized without being so focused on my word count that I feel compelled to come up with something new in order to meet a specific word count goal. I do kind of think it's a cheat, but whatever gets me to my goal, you know? :)

For another 15 minutes every day, I'm going to work on more admin type stuff. These are the things that are connected to my writing, but don't actually involve writing story text. Like copying my stories from Word into Scrivener so I can make Kindle mobi files. Or editing the code on the 200+ pages of my website to implement the site redesign I came up with last year to make the site more mobile friendly (and in the process, hopefully, more search engine friendly). Or organizing my brainstorming session notes that are in Scrivener and moving them to the appropriate sections of my scene outlines so it'll be easier for me to write those scenes when I get there.

I know I came up with some of this last year, but I found it very difficult to let go of my word count. I think part of that was because I was stressed from having to put most of my energy into the house renovations, so by the time I would get around to writing, it was easier to just fall back on my usual habit of brainstorming a new sex scene for A Bondage Primer (I have 201 days to fill and they almost never stop at one orgasm, so that's a lot of sex scenes to imagine... Damn, I love my job... Anyway... :) )

I've also realized I've been letting a lot of admin stuff fall by the wayside as well. I really want all of my stories to be available in various ebook formats, but it isn't as simple as 'Saving as...' from my Word files. It takes time to transfer that text into Scrivener and make all the formatting adjustments, and if I feel like I only have enough energy to do one thing, I'm going to choose writing over formatting every time.

But if I can put just 15 minutes a day towards getting some of those admin tasks done, I might actually get some of those tasks completed and off my plate by the end of the year, which would be nice.

Well, wish me luck. :)

I Have a Patreon Account

Thursday, February 27, 2020

Written by Kodi Wolf at 10:44 PM

At the request of one of my Site Members, I opened a Patreon account over the Christmas holiday. They wanted to be able to support me beyond the one-time membership fee and while I was surprised, I wasn't going to turn down the offer.

I had actually been considering doing something like this for over a year, since it costs me at a bare minimum $900/yr to maintain this site (monthly web hosting, domain name registration, filing taxes, etc.), never mind wanting to improve my writing by taking courses or buying books or software, or needing to update that software, or even get compensation for the time I spend writing. Adding in those other costs, the amount is closer to $1,200/yr.

The reason I didn't do it sooner was because I felt weird about asking my readers for more money. They'd already paid their membership fee and I didn't feel right asking for more.

But getting that request and knowing my wife is set to retire in about 5 years and multiplying that ~$1,000/yr x 5 years... That's $5,000 that won't be in our savings when it comes time for her to retire and I was seriously considering either having to take my site down or put more time and energy into marketing than I was my writing. Given my social phobia and the more I learned about marketing, I wasn't too hyped up about that course of action.

The simple fact is that I'd rather write than market and if my costs are covered, then I don't have to spend my time on marketing. That stressor is removed. Instead of writing being this thing I do that costs money, it becomes this thing I do that makes me happy. That thought was really freeing and since I know my readers want to read more story content from me, I considered that a win-win.

I don't have to make money from my writing. I just need it to not cost me any money.

Anyway, when I let the person know I'd created the account, I was expecting maybe $1/mo or possibly even $5/mo, but they signed up at $20/mo, which just blew me away. I just about cried when I saw that amount.

Then I sent an email to my members to let them know that this option was available, though I didn't expect to get more than 1 or 2 signups, if any.

Instead, I got 6 new pledges, including another $20 pledge and a $15 one, with the rest at $5 and $1.

All I can say is, "Thank you. Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me."

My goal is to hit about $75/mo (though it's set for $100 because Patreon does take out some fees). That would cover my basic costs so that writing was no longer a financial drain. It wouldn't be actual profit, but I'm okay with that.

Just knowing there are people that eager for my next post is a huge motivator. That in conjunction with my goals for 2020 has helped me to already complete quite a few new scenes for A Bondage Primer, Lights of Life, The Vampire Hunter (which I haven't worked on in ages), and Xena: Warrior Slave (I'm so close to having some new chapters ready for you I can hardly wait).

I'm currently at $69 in monthly pledges (as an erotica writer, please <insert joke here>), but I'm hoping maybe a few more people will see this and will want to help me out.

Seriously, even $1/mo would be amazing. It would let me know you want to read my stories as fast as I can write them.

Also, even though I don't have tiers on my Patreon, I am offering a kind of bonus, which works particularly well if you can't afford to pay for a $10 Story Membership all at once or a $50 Site Membership.

If you sign up for $1/mo, then every 10 months, you'll receive a new Story Membership to the story of your choice (or at $2/mo, it would be every 5 months, etc.). Once you've reached $50, I'll convert your Story Memberships into a Site Membership, so you can access everything (including A Bondage Primer, which isn't available as a stand-alone Story Membership).

If you're already a Story Member, the same applies. Just let me know which story you'd like added to your account next when you reach the $10 mark. Or if you're a Site Member, you'll get a free Story Membership you can gift to someone (or Site Membership if you wait until you hit the $50 mark).

And to those of you who've already pledged your support, thank you again. I mean it. I'm thinking of you when I set my keyboard in my lap and start writing. I want to get my work finished faster because of you, so you can read it.

I'll even stop requesting feedback because you've basically already told me you love my work by supporting me so I can focus on just writing.

Anyway, I just wanted to publicly say thank you to my Patrons. You guys are amazing. :)

New ABP Chapters Posted

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Written by Kodi Wolf at 3:23 AM

I've added Days 24-25 to A Bondage Primer. Day 24 is pretty short, but Day 25 turned into a frickin' monster. Between the two of them, they're over 52,000 words. That's about a novel's worth, which is why it took me so long to edit.

But I'm really happy to be posting so much again so soon after posting almost the same amount back in December. Posting 100,000 words in four months feels awesome. I don't know if I can keep this up, but I'm certainly going to try.

Apparently, my goals of getting my outlined scenes turned into story text and editing them have been working. Having my Patrons on board has also been incredibly inspiring and has helped me to stick with those goals, despite everything that's been going on right now, so thank you. You guys are awesome. :)

I'm not sure what I'll be posting next or when, since I have several different stories close to being ready to post or update. It all depends on where my muse wants to play the most.

And I know it's a little crazy right now, but I hope everyone is doing okay and that maybe my stories can take your mind off our current reality, at least for a little while. Stay safe.