The third quarter of 2012 ended several weeks ago, but I’ve been reluctant to review my progress on my annual writing goals.  I know Q3 wasn’t a great quarter for my writing, and putting together this review has confirmed it.  I’ve manage to stay on pace to meet or exceed two of five goals, and I’ve fallen behind on two of them.  The final goal, completing National Novel Writing Month has only just started, and I’m not very confident I’m going to make it this year.  Anyhow, here’s how I’ve done in Q3 on my five goals for 2012: 

1. Write and/or edit at least 700 words per day:  I wrote or edited 64,374 words this quarter, which averages to 700 words per day.  For the years I have now written or edited 208,669 words putting me on pace for 303,069 words (including NaNoWriMo), which is above my end-of-the-year target.  While the third quarter was a little disappointing, I still met this goal for the quarter, and I’m still on target to meet my annual goal.
2. Complete NaNoWriMo (50,000 words in November):  Check back in about thirty days to see if I made it.  Wish me luck.
3. Finish at least twelve short stories:  In Q3, I completed only one short story, which puts me at eight stories completed for the year.  I’ve fallen off pace to meet this goal and it may be difficult to catch up.  The silver lining, however, is that have several stories in draft still sitting on my desk, so I might still be able to make my target if I can get into a groove over Q4.  Of course, the bad news is that I still that have several stories in draft still sitting on my desk….
4. Make at least 60 story submissions or five sales:  I made 17 story submissions this quarter, which actually surprises me because so many of submissions seemed languish this quarter.  I’m on pace to make 69 submissions this year.  Unfortunately, I made no sales in Q3, so I still sit at nine sales for 2012.
5. Revise and submit my draft novel:  I’ve not started revising my novel.  Time is running out, and there’s still a lot to do on this one….

The third quarter was a tough one for me.  My day job got crazy during this quarter, which made it difficult to focus my writing efforts.  While I have fallen behind on several my annual goals, I’m hoping I can finish with a strong fourth corner and make up some of the ground I’ve lost.  Here’s to a good fourth quarter.  Now back to writing.