Hello to anyone who happens to be reading this. As you may or not know, I made some goals last week to help hold me accountable in my writing endeavors. The biggest goal I set was to write five thousand new words each week.

Now I know this isn’t a large number of words for some authors to reach in a week, but for me it can be a bit of a challenge. Especially when considering my work schedule and obligations at home and to family and friends. But making this goal was important to me, and telling you all is a way to hold me further accountable.

So now it’s time for the first week reveal… Did I hit that 5k mark? Drum roll please?

(Insert drum roll)

No… I didn’t.

I know, I know… I’m disappointed too. First week out and already failing? But I did write 4,902 new words! While it’s not 5k, it is close enough for me to be excited and keep going.

Look, I’m nowhere near perfect. Just ask anyone that knows me. I make mistakes; but I learn from them and move on.

And, in some way to make me feel better about falling short of the 5k goal, I want to point out that that’s a 92% in your typical grading scale… that’s an A-minus! That’s better than I ever did in High School; again, just ask anyone that knows me.

I’ll be honest. I entertained the idea of including these words in the count, to pad it a little and maybe even hit my goal. But I said, NO! You will not lie to yourself and deceive the terrific people that spend a few minutes reading your blog!

What would the point be anyway? I could lie and say I hit my weekly goals all the time, but that lie would only hurt me and my long term goals. I want accountability.

So that’s the update… I failed the first week, but not by that much. And now I move in to week two. I won’t be whipping myself in some penance, but feel free to leave a comment either shaming me or cheering me on! Let’s all hold eachother up, but also hold eachother accountable.