My goal when I started writing Novel No. 5 on January 1 was to finish it in 6 months. Going into June, I did not think I would hit that goal. There was so much of the story left to write, that it looked like it would carry over into July.

More importantly than finishing the book is how it came out. I am so pleased with how Novel No. 5 came together. It is a suspense/murder-mystery novel that really delivers. Despite my extraordinarily thorough spreadsheet that I created for the story to outline the story and keep up with the various elements, the novel was in a constant state of evolution. I’ve sent the rough draft to my Alpha Reader, who has given me great feedback. I can’t wait to really make it shine in the editing process.

For some context on my productivity, here’s a month-by-month breakdown of how much of the story I wrote:

  • January — 11 chapters
  • February — 5 chapters
  • March — 11 chapters
  • April — 8 chapters
  • May — 9 chapters
  • June — 16 chapters

I had such strong finishing energy in June. Those 16 chapters amounted to 20,928 words for the month. I’ve only had one other month (November 2020) when I’ve written more words.

That brought my to 78,700 words for the year so far. I’ll pretty easily eclipse 100,000 for the year … as long as I can decide what my next novel will be. As it stands, I’m waffling between another fantasy novel or something that follows up on my short story, The Murder Tree.

J. W. Judge June Was Extraordinarily Productive

Also in June, Barbara Hinske and I released three new episodes of The Write Approach. Here are the links to the podcast website, but you can also find the interviews on your favorite podcast app or our YouTube channel.

July has in store for me a great deal of editing. So much editing. In fact, I’ve already started the first round of edits and have gone through the first 6 chapters making revisions.

For some recreation in June, I bought a kayak, which the kiddos and I have gone fishing in a couple of times.