My college-aged daughter appeared briefly at our house in early May.
And I do mean briefly.
She unpacked, repacked, and headed off for her summer study abroad session. But before she left, she helped me with a major writing-related item: a tracking spreadsheet.
How is this relevant to writing, you ask?
Let me tell you.
Excel is my daughter’s jam. She understands it in a way I never want to. Her listening and problem-solving skills are also top-notch, which is how a casual conversation about my highly sophisticated scratchpad system turned into something much more useful.
For the record, my scratchpad method was tried and true.
Was it efficient?
No.
Did it involve me adding numbers by hand and then wondering if I had added them correctly?
Yes.
After listening to me explain how tedious it was to track writing time and word counts, my wonderfully talented daughter created a spreadsheet and pivot table using my scribbles.
Now, instead of doing math, which I can do but prefer to avoid whenever possible, I tap Refresh All and magically have statistics without the hassle.
If this is the only thing she learns in college, I’m calling it a win.
But really, she’s learned a lot more. It’s scary how much she knows.
Anyway, back to the writing stuff.
Writing Stats for May 2026
New words written: 4886
Time recorded: 37 hours and 30 minutes
What I Worked On in May
The secret project was fine-tuned, and I’m happy to say I’ll be able to share details in mid-June. If you aren’t on my newsletter list yet, now would be an excellent time to sign up. Newsletter subscribers will be the first to hear the news.
I also tightened up Run Around, which releases June 4. A lot of my time went to administrative tasks, including formatting files and uploading books, which is necessary and exciting and also not exactly glamorous.
Still, progress is progress.
I even managed to do a little work on the third book in the Running with Friends series. Not as much as I hoped, but enough to keep the story moving in the right direction.
Which brings me to…
June Writing Plans
I didn’t get as much written in May as I wanted. And looking at the June calendar, I suspect writing itineraries may take up a good chunk of my writing brain this month.
But my priority is still Book Three in the Running with Friends series.
I’m working on the title and cover now, with the goal of having something to share in July or August. I’m excited about this one, and I can’t wait to tell you more.
For now, I’ll be over here tapping Refresh All and pretending I have my life together.
Stay tuned.