October... Again

So somehow, I've gotten into a yearly habit. That's tough to do, but I've managed it. I start writing in early October, I push all the way through the month of November, make it partway into December maybe... and then I fizzle.

I started this post intending to brainstorm how to extend that time, but you know what? I've got a good thing going. I've got a solid six weeks where tradition and habit tell me it's time to write. And that's awesome. The reason I fizzled out in December last year was because of the holidays, and that's not going to change.

See, I love writing in the fall. Something about the cooling weather, the rainy vistas, the darkness of the early morning, has gotten encoded into my DNA as Writing Time.

So what I need to do instead is to start new yearly habits starting in January, lasting another six or eight weeks. Then another, and another. I need to write in seasons, each with their own traditions and habits.

I am about to start the Fall 2010 writing season. And when it's over, I'll start planning the Winter 2011 season, and so on. I look forward to writing in the fall, and with a bit of effort and planning, I can capture a feeling for the other seasons. Not the same feeling--that's the point. A different, individualized feeling I can look forward to.

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I'm going to continue keeping statistics about my writing, but not necessarily in the same form. A cumulative word count graph, NaNoWriMo style, will definitely be in there. I'd like to see a graph of my daily word count too, with a trend line and boundaries above and below to indicate standard deviation. Then there will have to be a target graph, with its own target line, and perhaps a few more esoteric ones, like a graph showing what percentage of my writing comes from each day of the week.

Why do all these graphs? They do kind of sound like a distraction from the business of writing, don't they? Early on, at least, I need to have things that show I'm making progress. The feeling that I'm not accomplishing anything is one of the things that kills my writing the fastest.

So here's my plan. This week, I'm going to work on a project for Writers on the Verge, where we take turns writing in the style of each member in trun. This Sunday's meeting features Abbey, and I have to do an extra special job given that she's my fiancée and all.

Once I'm finished with that, I'll start plotting out my graphs, and then worming my way back into writing for Bryony. I plan to hit the ground running on Monday, October 11th.