Annual Writing Goal Progress in Q2, 2025 (Ditched Daily Writing Goal … and Wrote More!)

We’re halfway through 2025 – how’s your writing been going so far this year?

If you’re hitting your goals, fantastic! Take a moment this week to celebrate. 😃

If it’s not going quite how you wanted, that’s okay. You’ve still got six months left of 2025 … plenty of time to make solid progress. 

Here’s how my writing’s been going … and why I decided to ditch my 250 words/day writing goal. (Spoiler alert: I’m writing more words without it. 😅)

Recap: My Writing Goals for 2025

Back at the start of January, I wrote about my writing goals for 2025, which were:

1. Write 250+ Words of Fiction Every Day
2. Get a Publishing Deal for Reaper OR Self-Publish
3. Write Six Short Stories
4. Write Weekly Posts and Newsletters

Here’s how those have been working out during the second quarter of the year:

Goal #1: Write 250+ Words of Fiction Every Day

I kept this goal up until Thursday 8th May, when I finished the first rough draft of my children’s novel. In the year to that point, I wrote 44,157 words, an average of 337 words/day.

I mentioned last quarter that “short, daily writing sessions aren’t the most natural fit for me” … and once I finished drafting the children’s novel, I decided I just wasn’t enjoying this rhythm of short daily writing. I also wanted to take time to brainstorm before diving in on my next novel idea.

So I ditched this goal, and decided to focus on time spent, rather than words written, for the rest of the quarter.

I ended up taking 11 days to brainstorm, and didn’t write every day after that … but I wrote more on average.

From Tuesday 20th May until Monday 30th June, I wrote 26,954 words—which works out to 641 words/day.

Here’s how my word count looks across the first six full months of the year:

Next Quarter

I’m going to continue tracking my writing, aiming to increase this to around 7,000 words/week. I’m finding that having a rough outline is helping me a lot, so I’m also taking time each week to refine/adjust the outline – that way, I’m not running up against a “what happens next?!” roadblock.

Goal #2: Get a Publishing Deal for Reaper … or Self-Publish

I had another form rejection during Q2. I’d planned to find more agents to query but didn’t get round to this, partly because I’m now strongly leaning toward self-publishing Reaper: it fits within the same genre as my other self-published work (contemporary fantasy).

Next Quarter

During Q3, I’ll probably self-publish Reaper. I’d like to do one last proofread/tiny edit, commission a cover design, then get it formatted and out there into the world.

Goal #3: Write Six Short Stories

I’ve still failed to go back to the short stories, mostly because I got quite into writing the new novel, but also because I didn’t spot any competitions I was that excited about.

Next Quarter

During Q3, I want to rewrite my long short story and tackle a new one too.

If you’ve got a goal around short stories too, I’m going to have a new workbook ready soon: Zero to Story. It’d make a great summer project! Make sure you’re on the newsletter list to get all the details when it launches.

Goal #4: Write Weekly Posts and Newsletters

I kept up with the weekly posts and newsletters pretty consistently this quarter, despite some busy freelancing times. I got a little bit ahead with outlines, too (as per last quarter’s plan) which made things easier.

Next Quarter

During Q3, I’ll keep up with the blog, and possibly look at making some tweaks to the newsletter to make it even more helpful and supportive. 🙂

What’s Coming Up on Aliventures

Last quarter, I created the second set of writing prompts for newsletter members, and ran the Aliventures Spring Survey.

I didn’t quite get to tweaking Editing Essentials, so that’s on the list for this month! If you’ve already bought it, you’ll automatically receive the updated version.

During Q3, I’m also planning to:

• Launch a new offer for novelists who’re stuck at the beginning of their story (half-price beta version comes out tomorrow, then the final version will be ready around the end of August).
• Run the annual summer sale on all Aliventures products, including a “goodbye” sale to Get Writing (I’m refocusing Aliventures specifically on fiction writers, and Get Writing is 50% nonfiction).
• Run a free online writing workshop in September – make sure you’re on the newsletter list to vote on topic options nearer the time!

How about you? How did April, May, and June go for your writing? Drop a comment below: I’d love to hear what you’re working on and what your plans are for the next few months.