Hey y’all! I’m talking about Writing Subplots at Open Door Writing Group today! Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel! Hope to see you soon!
Category: Organizing
In February 2026, I wrote an unreasonably tiny amount of words (4422). Of those words,
- 416 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 1972 were for my journal (27 entries),
- 722 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1134 were on various social media accounts,
- 0 were poetry (none! at all! alas!),
- and 178 were in a single short flash fiction piece.
There were only 2 days that I didn’t write anything, but most of it was tiny little journal entries on my phone because it was a terrible, no good, very bad month. I got Covid again and then developed Adhesive Capsulitis in what used to be my good shoulder (while doing physical therapy for my bad shoulder). So either I couldn’t breathe or I couldn’t move. It was an agonizing month. I didn’t go to most of my writing group meetings and I didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere. I was a lump. A painful lump. (My kids redecorated my house for various holidays – the Super Bowl is a holiday, right – for me because I was so pitiful. They are such good kids.)
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Kimmerer Walls (audiobook; non-fiction)
- Write Smart, Write Happy by Cheryl St. John
- How To Make a Living as a Poet by Gary Mex Glazner
- Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag
…and I finished reading:
- An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn (audiobook; romance)
- The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- THOtE Bonus Chapters by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- THotE Further Scenes by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- Traditional Culture Days at Uni by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- Feonie and the Islander Regalia by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- The Return of Fitzroy Angursell by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- Saint of the Bookstore by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
- At the Feet of the Sun by Victoria Goddard (e-book; fantasy)
Some of you may quibble about the bonus chapters and further scenes and short stories as being separate books, but I’m not having any of that because The Hands of the Emperor should have been about 5 full size novels by itself, as should At the Feet of the Sun. So I’m counting the rest individually. Sue me. Bwahahaha. (please don’t. why would you?) So I have finished 16 books so far this year (and read parts of another 7, mostly for research.).
In January 2026, I wrote 6066 words. Of those words,
• 802 were for this blog (3 short posts),
• 1230 were for my journal,
• 2156 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group and one for Asher Point Independent Living Facility),
• 585 were on various social media accounts,
• 214 were poetry (2 short poems and 1 long),
• and 1079 were in short stories (4 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything. Mostly weekends and holidays, but also a few sick days. I submitted one poem online and heard back from a couple of places, one of which accepted a piece for publication. I also had two speaking engagements, lots of physical therapy appointments, a trip with my family to see my youngest perform with NOVA Independent Guard, the Icepocalypse of 2026, the purchase of a cover for my first indie-published poetry anthology (of just my work), and attended a ReCraft & Co Zine Making Workshop.
As for reading, I read parts of:
Secrets of the First School by TL Huchu (audio book; fantasy), Braiding Sweetgrass by Robyn Kimmerer Walls (audio book; non-fiction), The Relaxed Author by Joanna Penn and Mark Leslie Lefebvre (trade paperback; non-fiction), How to Make a Living as a Poet by Gary Mex Glazner (trade paperback; non-fiction).
…and I finished reading:
• Bee Sting Cake by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Whiskey Fool by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy), • Plum Duff by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Blackcurrent Fool by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),• Love in a Mist by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),
• Olive and the Dragon by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy),• Seven Dials by Agatha Christie (e-book; mystery),
So I have finished 7 books so far this year (and read parts of another 4, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve just not finished yet.).
I’ve been very bad about tallying up all of last year’s writing, but I think I’m finally done with it.
- In 2025, I wrote 114,741 words. Of those words,
- 5559 were for this blog (29 short posts),
- 3,660 were in 2 essays
- 26,396 were for my journal,
- 43,436 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (15 lessons),
- 15,692 were on various social media accounts,
- 12,094 were poetry (68 poems – a lifetime record),
- and 8004 were in short stories (40 pieces of flash fiction).
- If you tally all those numbers up, I wrote 154 discrete items, not counting social media posts and journal entries because those don’t really get published. (So 154 items in 215 days, which means about 1 item every 1 and a quarter days)
- There were only 120 days that I didn’t write anything, mostly due to illness, travel, or moving my kids from house to house. So I wrote on 2/3rds of the days of the year, which basically comes down to working on writing 5 days a week and leaving myself weekends for living, if I were the kind of person that followed a schedule like that. I mean, I try, but there were loads of weeks where I missed several weekdays and wrote straight through the weekends.
- I only submitted about 5 items all year because it was just sooooo much chaos. I had 2 acceptances and the last 3 items are still well within their response timezones (there’s a better word for this, but the phone in the next room keeps ringing and ringing and I cannot think of it). The two acceptances will be published in early to mid 2026.
- I had 15 speaking engagements last year. The vast majority did not pay, but were for a group that both feeds my soul and lets me practice my topics with them. Two were for free for the library (who I love and who graciously supports two of my writing groups), but I got several paid teaching side gigs out of them, so that about broke even in terms of payment, really.
- As for reading, I finished 65 books and read parts of another 13, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF because I didn’t like their take on the topic or the writing style or something.
That’s it! One more year as a writer in the books. 🙂
In November, I wrote 16,268 words! Yay! Finally a good writing month after months and months of delays, trips, moving kids, etc. I’m so happy I finally got to sit down and just write. Of those words,
- 409 were for this blog (2 short posts),
2777 were for my journal, - 1234 were the essay for that anthology I talked about last month,
- 2426 were answering questions to help make my essay for the anthology, many of which did not end up in the anthology because they were excised from the first draft to make way for words that did not sound like they were answering questions,
- 0 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (I reused an old one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1572 were on various social media accounts,
- 3327 were poetry (16 poems – a new record!!),
- and 1073 were in short stories (2 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything, but that’s not bad because I wrote A LOT on the days that I did write. I did host part of Thanksgiving and a board games night at my house this month, as well as building shelves and moving my husband’s entire board game collection from The Living Room to The Library.
Another one of the books I beta read for came out this month, so once again I’m feeling that weird sense of accomplishment about that.
As for myself, I had one piece accepted for an anthology that will come out early next year (probably around graduation season, I’m guessing, since the topic of my essay was “advice I’d give a teenager who wants to become a volunteer coordinator for a non-profit organization”).
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer(audiobook; non-fiction)
- West of Yesterday, East of Summer by Paul Monette (e-book; poetry – I finally got it back on Libby!)
Memory’s Daughters: The Material Culture of Remembrance in Eighteenth-Century America by Susan M. Stabile (hardcover; non-fiction – written by my Women’s Diaries professor at TAMU while I was taking her class) - How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse by Thomas C. Foster (e-book that I have AND trade paperback at my dad’s house; non-fiction)
- Poetry’s Data: Digital Humanities and the History of Prosody by Meredith Martin (e-book; non-fiction)
…and I finished reading:
- The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (audiobook; historical romance)
- Poetry Magazine Jan/Feb 2025 by Poetry.org (paperback; poetry)
- Let Loose the Dogs by Maureen Jennings (e-book; historical mystery)
- The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (e-book; mystery)
- The Comfort Book by Matt Haig (audiobook; self-help)
- The Carrying by Ada Limon (e-book; poetry)
- Stargazy Pie by Victoria Stoddard (e-book; cozy fantasy)
I really am trying to finish most of the unfinished books I started earlier in the year. I have finished 56 books so far this year (and read parts of another 12, again mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
In October, I wrote 4350 words, which is so little that I could cry. But I was busy! More about that later. Of those words,
- 320 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 667 were for my journal,
- 0 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (I reused an old one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1204 were on various social media accounts,
- 1652 were poetry (9 poems),
- and 814 were in short stories (4 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 12 days that I didn’t write anything. I spent 10 days on vacation, traveling to, then staying in North Carolina, and driving home. I used every morning as a little writer’s retreat and wrote a lot while I was there. I’m still having trouble with my shoulders, so I spent several days either at the doctor, at the physical therapist’s office, or off getting X-rays and a couple of MRIs. I do have an essay that I found out about an anthology for on the last day of October that I’m going to start writing this week (but that counts for November). I still didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere.
As for reading, I read parts of:
- Let Loose the Dogs by Maureen Jennings (e-book; historical mystery – I’m having trouble getting this book again through Libby, hence taking a break from it)
- The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn (audiobook; historical romance)
- Stargazy Pie by Victoria Goddard (e-book; cozy fantasy)
- The Man with Two Left Feet (e-book; I’m not sure the genre)
…and I finished reading:
- The Honey Witch by Sydney Shields (trade paperback; cozy fantasy)
So I have finished 49 books so far this year (and read parts of another 18, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
In August, I wrote only 3811 words. I was sick the first half of the month and then moving kids from house to house and editing the second half (so technically I lost a bunch of words off my novel, but we’re not counting those as a negative number of words those days). Of those words,
- 206 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 0 were for my journal (which I cannot find my paper journal, so that might not be true),
- 1612 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 1042 were on various social media accounts,
- 217 were poetry (2 poems),
- and 734 were in short stories (4 pieces of flash fiction).
There were 17 days that I didn’t write anything. Mostly I spent the month either ill (the flu, bronchitis, and a sinus infection, oh my!), moving one kid over a room in the house he’s in so another of my children could move into his old room (and helping that second child as well – child #2 in this scenario was far easier to move) or trying to edit my novel Caro’s Quest down to a reasonable number of words so I can turn it into the editor (today, I hope!). Also, life was still too chaotic, so I didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere.
As for reading, once again, I didn’t leave any books unread, but I finished reading a ridiculous number of short e-books, all by Martha Wells (the first published author that ever gave me advice – she worked in IT at Ocean Drilling Program at the same time I was a student worker in the publishing department – she was so nice about it when my boss sat me down at her table at lunch one day):
- All Systems Red
- Compulsory
- Artificial Conditions
- Rogue Protocol
- Obsolescence
- Exit Strategy
- Home
- Fugitive Telemetry
- Rapport
- Network Effect
That brings me up to 42 books finished this year and 13 partially read (that number went down because I finished two partially read books). 🙂
In July, I wrote 6569 words, which doesn’t feel like a lot. I did, however, take two of my kids on their first international traveling adventure, so there was a lot of kerfluffle for that, and I also took a few days off to go to the Poetry of Society of Texas Annual Conference.
Of those words,
- 251 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 478 were for my journal (which I may update later with numbers from my paper journal, which I cannot find today,
- 1276 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for the Open Door Writing Group),
- 2630 were on various social media accounts,
- 1346 were poetry (10 poems),
- and 588 were in short stories (3 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 8 days that I didn’t write anything, despite being out of town a lot this month. I just wrote a lot while I was traveling. There’s something about getting out of your regular every day patterns that gets the writing juices flowing. I wrote a lot in my paper journal, but I didn’t count any of those words because I cannot find it at the moment. Who knows where it is!
I didn’t get any poems or short stories submitted anywhere. I just wasn’t that kind of organized.
As for reading, I didn’t read anything that I didn’t finish this month, mostly because I read very little
…and I finished reading:
- Fire At the Exhibition by T. E. Kinsey (audiobook; mystery)
- Burnout by Emily Nagoski (audiobook; non-fiction – see, I’m dealing with my burnout by reading up on it)
- Wherever You Find Yourself by Tasha Gaines(manuscript; Christian fiction romance, I believe)
In June, I wrote 6604 words, which wasn’t that great, but I’m pretty sure I was burnt out most of the month after all the graduation nonsense. Of those words,
- 320 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 1258 were for my journal,
- 2854 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for East Texas Writers Guild and one for the Open Door Writing Group and one for the Tyler Public Library’s Try It Tuesday Class),
- 1033 were on various social media accounts,
- 35 were poetry (1 measly poem after last month’s record *sigh*),
- and 1104 were in short stories (5 pieces of flash fiction).
There were only 8 days that I didn’t write anything, so it seems like my count should be higher for all that. I don’t know – I guess my brain was only thinking in super short form this month.
As for reading, I read parts of:
- A Fire at the Exhibition by T. E. Kinsey (audiobook; mystery)
…and I finished reading:
- Jack Glass by Adam Roberts (hardcover; science fiction – do NOT recommend unless you like unexpectedly gory books)
- The Ghost of Marlowe House by Bobbi Holmes (audiobook; paranormal mystery)
So I have finished 29 books so far this year (and read parts of another 14, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
In May, I wrote 7505 words, which was all right, given how few writing days existed due to lots and lots of things to attend for my graduating senior. Of those words,
- 376 were for this blog (2 short posts),
- 380 were for my journal,
- 2778 were for handouts, scripts, and slides for lessons (one for East Texas Writers Guild and one for the Open Door Writing Group and one for the Tyler Public Library’s Try It Tuesday Class),
- 1282 were on various social media accounts,
- 2174 were poetry (15 poems, a lifetime record most probably),
- and 515 were in short stories (3 pieces of flash fiction).
There were 11 days that I didn’t write anything, but this month included 3 awards ceremonies, a band banquet, a pinning ceremony, our annual family BBQ, Mother’s Day, teaching a crochet class at the library, a graduation party, and the graduation itself.
I also haven’t heard back from any of the submissions I’ve sent out lately, so I’m assuming they didn’t want those pieces. I haven’t had a chance to prepare any others to send out this month.
As for reading, I read parts of:
- The Carrying by Ada Limon (e-book; poetry)
- Anti-Slavery Poems by John Greenleaf Whittier (e-book; poetry)
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (audiobook; non-fiction)
- The Poet’s Cookbook: Details for over 50 Forms, Types of Meter, Structure, Rhyme, and Over 100 Writing Exercises by Dan Gilbert (e-book; non-fiction)
- Poetry’s Data: Digital Humanities and the History of Prodosy by Meredith Martin (e-book; non-fiction)
…and I finished reading:
- An Act of Foul Play by T.E. Kinsey (e-book; mystery)
- The Ghost of Marlow House by Bobbi Holmes (audiobook; paranormal mystery)
So I have finished 27 books so far this year (and read parts of another 15, mostly for research, but also a couple of things I’ve had to mark DNF.).
Lisa Holcomb 