Word counts, that is what has mostly been occupying me this week. I want to keep a more accurate count of my words as a way of both motivating and holding myself accountable. I’ve set myself a ridiculously low word count of just 327 words per day. Where did I get that figure from, you may be wondering? Well, I calculated the number of words I’d need to write to complete various writing projects (novel, articles etc), and then just divided it by 365.
And I want to be able to measure whether I hit that target daily or not. In some apps, like WordPress this is easy but in other document writing apps, it’s more difficult or clumsy or just annoying to have to do. And in some cases, like Trello, there is no word count whatsoever (which is disappointing). It also means that I’ll spend more time writing in WordPress just because it’s easier to word count even though it’s not a great platform for novel writing.
I also read this week that some writers like to write mobile. In other words they use a tablet or phone to get in their sentences. I’m all for trying new ways of working but again until it counts the words for me and allows me to access from a cloud-based platform then it’s still no easier to do. Regardless of how easy it might be (or not) to type out on a phone (I’ve not tried this yet).
In the end, I decided word counting isn’t easy and I probably shouldn’t be spending so much time worrying about it anyway.
What am I reading?
I’ve now finished reading – A Passionate Sisterhood: The Sisters, Wives and Daughters of the Lake Poets by Kathleen Jones. It was good. Coming to the book I thought I’d learn a lot about Dorothy Wordsworth, and I did. And what I read wasn’t as inspiring as I’d hoped it would be. Dorothy was of course human but also rather set in ways that weren’t always positive or as creative as I thought she would be. I imagined her to be more courageous but she was just trying to get through what must have been extremely tough times (in those days) and did what she needed to do. The whole relationship with her brother was the biggest feature, as expected. And while I’m still not sure how far that relationship went I’m airing on the side of devout brotherly love without it getting sexual. I say that because I don’t think being sexually motivated was something she really was. Her life was more about making others happy and keeping a respectable house so anything that brought gossip would not have been taken well.
However, that book has now led me to another person that I want to find out more about – William Wordsworth daughter – Dora Wordsworth who appears to have also led a difficult life but managed a few adventures of her own in-between and was known to have had feelings for other women although never a full-blown relationship.
Women without a doubt struggle hardships in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The expectations on them combined with the pressures of society must have been awful. It was a common theme in Jones’ book. Women were utterly exhausted half the time and went stir crazy from it all. And while Wordsworth himself gained some notoriety from his poetry he was never rich until inheriting money. Food and clothes never played a big part in his life, and he could only afford to employ one part-time housekeeping staff. He never had horses or carriages and so would travel on foot most places. His was a life stuck very firmly in the middle classes. Interesting to read because usually I’ve only read those of the rich so to read about someone less flush was an eye opener. While lack of funds may not have seen his family living in luxury it didn’t stop them being creative, travelling or reading books. Something I very much take away from that read.
- Villette by Charlotte Bronte
- My Antonia by Willa Cather
- Solomon Gursky was Here by Mordecai Richler
A couple of new books to move onto now. My Antonia I found as a kindle book, tried the first page and enjoyed it. And Solomon Gursky is taking a bit longer to get into. It’s a big read though at 528 pages.
Thank you for reading.
Growing the Green Life - doing something good every day 