Hello!

We're 23 weeks into 2026 ... how's it gone, in terms of your writing?

It's easy to get to this stage of the year and feel a bit disappointed.

Perhaps you had some big plans back in January, and it went smoothly at first, but then everything got busy, and now you're way behind where you wanted to be.

Or maybe your year started hectic, so you waited until you could focus on your writing, but that never happened ... and you still haven't written a single word.

Don't give up on 2026 just yet!

Wherever you're at right now, and whatever's happened over the past five and a bit months, it's okay.

This can still be the year when you write your novel.

Let's say you've got six solid months, or 26 weeks, left. (The last half of December might not be prime writing time.)

You could:

• Spend 4 weeks developing your novel idea and creating an overview of your plot.
• Write 3,500 words per week for the remaining 22 weeks, giving you a total of 77,000 words (an average novel length).

While 3,500 words per week might not be easy, it's do-able for most writers. If you write daily, it's an average of 500 words/day: around 45-60 minutes of writing, depending how fast you draft.

Some days, sure, there might be no way you can find 45 minutes. But on other days, perhaps at the weekends, you might be able to spend a couple of hours writing.

Later this month in Writers' Cafe, we'll be running our June workshop on "Planning for the Next Six Months", setting goals and looking at ways to fit writing time in. We'd love you to join us!

Everything we do in Writers' Cafe is designed to help you have the time, focus, and confidence to write your novel. We're here to help get you all the way to "The End" ... and beyond.

Find out all about Writers' Cafe here:

​aliventures.com/writers-cafe​

As soon as you join, you get full access to all our past workshops, including workshops on developing a novel idea, crafting your novel's plot, starting your novel, and more.

Ali

P.S. Don't let more time slip by ... let's make 2026 the year you write that novel. Writers' Cafe is the perfect place to have support, encouragement, and gentle accountability every step of the way. Find out all about it here:

​aliventures.com/writers-cafe​

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Use the password alinewsletter to get freebies at aliventures.com/newsletter-secret​

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