The Word Count Fiasco

Everything I've read, learned, and seen in publishing requests has told me to aim for a word count of 125,000 or less, and not to exceed that limit. For some this is an easy task. For me this is the most difficult thing I've ever struggled with in my life. I've never just been able to write short stories. Doing so makes me feel claustrophobic; like I'm getting stuffed into a 3x3 cell with electrified bars. 

Being so close to done with all the suggested edits of my book that I'm currently trying to get published, I thought for a hot minute there I finally managed to achieve a word count of 121,000. Until I realized I also needed to change the ending. In doing so I nearly doubled my word count. My first solution to this problem was to keep erasing the ending trying to find a quick solution to keep my word count in its recommended range, but ten times over—I kid you not—returned to the ending I knew "just worked". 

With my ending in the final stages of being written, I keep getting discouraged to stop, to rework the whole book (again!), or even scrap the whole thing. None of which I'm going to do, which is why I'm officially taking a new and daring approach: I'm not going to worry about my word count right now. I'm going to strictly focus on getting my ending completed, and then I'll go back, examine the areas I feel like could be eliminated. I think I also do what I did with the first version of my book and find beta readers as well as editors outside of myself to see if they have any feedback to offer. 

I also have a backup plan for if my word count is still too high for publishers to accept: I'll go the self-publishing route. A daunting and daring task as it means I'll be in charge of all my personal marketing details, I'll be my own agent, and book creator, but it'll be worth it if I can get my book successfully out there. 

For anyone struggling with achieving a word-count goal in the final stages of their manuscript—whether you have too many words or too few—I encourage you to ignore that goal and instead focus on the most important goal: getting it done. Once it's done, then you can go back and search for areas where you can add or subtract.   

Website Update: Fixed Website Buttons

I appreciate those who have recently informed me about the broken links located at the top of this page that have been encountered as of late, the details of which can be found at the bottom of this post. Apparently these buttons and their subsequent links have been giving an error notice every time they've been clicked. I greatly apologize for the inconvenience this has caused anyone. Fortunately these issues have all been fixed and will now appropriately link all interested parties to the proper locations. 

As much as I try to keep up with all the minute details featured on this page, there are unfortunately little things that do occasionally fall under the radar. So please don't hesitate to point these issues out when they arise. After all, convivence and availability is what I aim for. 

Thank you dear readers and subscribers for helping me achieve those goals 💖✍ 

A Unique Way to Unblock the Mind: IFS Therapy

The weather has cooled, the air is smog, ozone, and pollution free once again, and I can finally work outside which has revived my creativity streak. 

But there was something else that really did it for me. I was talking to my IFS therapist the other day about my writer's block not long after my last post and she had a very unique idea. But in order to explain the idea and why it worked, I first feel I must explain what IFS is: 

According to IFS breakthrough systemic family therapist, Richard C. Shwartz, he says on his IFS Institute website and in his book, "Internal Family Systems [IFS] is a powerfully transformative, evidence-based model of psychotherapy that proposes that individuals' subpersonalities interact and change in many of the same ways as do families and other human groups." Therefore nearly every aspect of an individual is treated as a "part" including but not limited to our thoughts and feelings, even certain aspects of our physical selves, and then give these parts a voice allowing them to tell us why they exist, how they were formed, etc. 

So when I told my own therapist about my writer's block she suggested we treat it as one of these parts by going into it and writing down everything that comes to mind as I sit with it and focus on it. What came up was a list of worries and judgments sometimes stemming from my own core self, while others came from externalized voices—things that very destructive people were telling me—that I then internalized and that then grew until it became a weight I was carrying around with me.

Therefore I'm now recommending everyone do this*—it might seem strange, but talk to your writer's block without judgment, as if it were a stranger worth getting to know, and ask what it wants, why it's there, and what factors are making it run rampant. Then write down everything that comes to mind that might be contributing to your writer's block existing. 

For me, it took a few hours after writing it all out for the block to lift, but once it did, I finally got going! And keep in mind you might have to revisit this practice because the reason it's there might not always be the same as new stuff could easily come up. Still, if it helps it lift, this unique practice could very well be worth it! 

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*Disclaimer: Please note that I am not a therapist myself in any form. Though this practice came directly from my own clinically and professionally trained and licensed therapist, proceed with caution when practicing this yourself.