Peter Germany

Being A Statistic Junkie

I often worry that I’m a little too obsessed with numbers. Mainly how many words I’ve written and how many views I’ve had on my blog, I check the stats at least ten times a day(sad I know lol) but for me it’s something that is quite important to how I work. Having a goal of how many words to write is a motivational tool. For instance I know for the next two nights I really need to hit about 1700 words per night to hit the target that I set myself this week.

Another target that I had set myself was 20,000 words a month, which I did not hit for January. For a big part of the month I was editing, so should I not count that as work done? It is as important as a word count but I don’t measure it and should I measure it? Should I have a separate stat for time spent editing? I can write about 500 words in half an hour when I’m flying. Can I adapt that so I can count time editing? So for every half an hour editing ahold I think of it as 500 words? Then I think, no I shouldn’t. A word count is easy to track, time spent editing would mean pretty much timing myself and that wouldn’t work for me. When I’m editing it’s on paper and I’ll do some when ever I have a few minutes to spare.
So I think I’ll just stick to obsessing over my word counts and blog views. Have a good day everyone 🙂

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Published by Peter Germany

I am a writer living in merry old England. I don't earn a living from writing so work in a supermarket, which I love! But my passion is writing. I'm a much happier human being when I'm being productive and nothing feels better than getting stories finished. This is a blog I write mainly for myself, but I appreciate each and every view, like, and comment my posts receive. Mostly what I will be posting is a sort of writing journal, detailing my progress. I don't hold back. If I've had a bad day, I'll say so. I'm not going to sugar coat what my journey is. I will share my highs and lows. I'm not just going to talk about writing, I'll occasionally talk about other things from movies to my personal life. There are things that I will not be talking about, we all have parts of us we wish to remain private. I'm no different. Trust me, I am not an expert in any field at all and will no doubt ramble a lot, but that's what you'll all come to love about me!

8 comments

  1. To me it is like this:
    The number of blog views is as consistent as me writing. If I don’t write a couple days it goes down MAJORLY. My average is between 20-50 a day but if I don’t hit that benchmark to keep them interested then I get a week of maybe 5 a day. OUCH
    My quality of writing is what I want it to be is what gets me Likes and Comments. I don’t get many comments, ever, but I do get likes and star votes. As long as someone out there other than my husband likes a piece I feel justified. Now I wouldn’t have quality of writing without editing much like I wouldn’t have likes, votes, or comments if it wasn’t for my followers. Now, if I didn’t edit and put my all into my work then I wouldn’t have the numbers I do here, on RSS, on Twitter, and on Facebook. It truly astounds me that I have followers. But, why wouldn’t I? I put all of myself into a piece and I’d like to think it shows.
    SO, on days I get discouraged because my blog views are low or no one has yet to comment on my blog, I have to step back and look at the big picture. If I didn’t edit and make my work exceptional and cohesive I wouldn’t average the new follower+ weekly. To me being followed and checked up on is a bit more important than just a drive-by view…

    Catch my drift?

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  2. Yes I do and that is kind of how I look at it as well. I’m looking at building a fanbase, for lack of a better word, which is more far more important then the drive-by views (love that analagy btw) I’m just getting to the point where I’m getting views everyday so I’m trying to build them up to at least 10 a day but as you say it has to be good and it has to be engaging as well. One of the things that used to hold me back was, why would anyone want to read about what I’m talking about, but I’ve just got to the point where I’ve realised that no one has to if they dont want to.
    Thank you for the well thought through reply. It made my day if I’m honest 🙂

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    • No worries and I am glad it did something other than annoy! Sometimes I think I am annoying… That is bad if you find yourself annoying… But, it doesn’t stop me 🙂 I like reading your blog. I find it interesting because one day I will be in your shoes. Writing over 5000 words. Making the time away from everyone/thing to make it happen. Having beta-readers etc… Someday. So I hope to learn a few things from your experience!

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      • I am really glad you find the blog interesting! 😀 I promise you that you are not annoying, some of your comments are very well articulated and make me really think about how to answer which is great! 😀 I’ve been writing for about seven years but it’s only in the last eighteen months that I’ve gotten serious about it.
        I’m glad that I am helping you with you literary journey 🙂

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      • I’ve been writing poetry since second grade. This year I turn 30. I just started with short stories this past year. I want to pursue some novella/novel ideas, but that will come when it is time for priorities to shift. AKA when a majority of our children are in school and I can find time I can truly devote to it. So, this is like research before a project! And, it is helpful!

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  3. I’ll be turning 30 this year too. When I first started with me and Owen jumped head first into a huge novel and had no idea what we were doing. I think that my writing has got better since I’ve been writing short stories which I’ve been doing for about 3 years now. I listen to a lot of podcasts like Mur Laferty’s I should Be Writing http://isbw.murlafferty.com/ which i found really helpful, but also Adventures In Sci-Fi Publsishing http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/ which I’ve mentioned before I find helpful because there are a lot of interviews with writers which i do find fascinating myself.
    I’m looking forward to following how your getting along 🙂

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