Here’s my monthly tally for May:

• 12,100 new words of fiction written this month. ¹
• 11 first drafts currently in progress. ²
• 2 first drafts currently “ripening” before second draft. ³
• 0 second drafts currently in progress
• 0 second drafts currently in the hands of “trusted readers.”
• 1 third draft currently in progress.
• 0 third drafts currently awaiting polishing.
• 0 fourth drafts in currently in progress.
• 9 stories currently submitted to markets
• 60 words in shortest story currently submitted. ⁴
• 14,000 words in longest story currently submitted.
• 1 offer of publication received this month. ⁵

¹ Better than April, but still not so good as February. Nearly all of the new words in May were for the first draft of a new “mainstream” story, currently at 10,300 words and now in its “ripening” phase (see fn. 3, infra). About half of my time this month was absorbed in writing a second draft of a shorter story, and responding to comments on it.

² I always have a lot of first drafts “in progress,” until one of them really grabs me and I work on it obsessively.

³ I employ a six-week “ripening” period for first drafts.

⁴ The 60-word story was submitted to a drabble contest.

⁵ Technically this was a contest win, but it carried a cash prize and did include posting on a Web site. 

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