Stat Tracking is Awesome, so are Macbook Airs

This is what a google search for "stats" brought up

So my buddy Jason is working on a totally awesome new web service for writing groups, and we (his current writing group) are sort of "pre-alpha" testers. Which basically means its currently only in GoogleDoc form on a spreadsheet, but it's still really neat.

The general gist is you set a word count and a time goal, and every day you put the numbers you accomplished in (words written and hours spent). It then generates a bunch of fun stats (overall word count, words per hour, words per week, how long your writing "streak" is), etc. The nifty part is that it does this for everybody in your writing group, then stacks the stats competitively. And, since everybody else can see your stats, your whole writing group knows when you skipped out on a day.

For those who don't like to think of writing as a competition, I'm pretty sure this software is awful. But for stats whores (like myself), being able to see a bunch of information I'd never think to track is pretty cool. I have a set goal to bump my words-per-hour up to 2,000, which is extremely difficult. I also want to have the most "words written in one day" stat, thanks to this thing generating healthy competition. Hey, as long as it doesn't discourage, it can't hurt, right?

Jason's idea would be to make it a web service, and then have famous authors (like Brandon Sanderson) track their daily stats through it (or market it to other writing groups). It would be pretty cool to see how many words Brandon Sanderson or Dan Wells write in an hour, or every day.

So yeah. Stat tracking for fun and profit. Because I have a very mathematical brain, and breaking stuff down into numbers makes a lot more sense to me.

The current object of my desire

On a completely unrelated note, I went to the Apple store yesterday (which is always a mistake) and found myself again really wishing I owned one of those 11-inch Macbook Airs. Yes, I already have four-year-old Macbook Pro, and I also have the Hackintoshed Netbook (which unfortunately doesn't get much use in the cold season, since I use it mostly to write outside), but recently I've been thinking that combining those things into a single, more manageable writing machine might not be a bad idea (especially since if I sold the both of them it would be just about enough to buy the Air). 

As an added bonus, internet legend John Scalzi posted on the same day about how the Macbook Air was the best purchase he made as a writer,  and how extremely useful it ended up being, even when compared to his other laptops. Thanks, dude. You aren't making this easier to resist. 

So yeah. Not super exciting over here, but I am writing every day. I haven't botched my "Write Every Day in 2012" Goal yet (good thing, it's only the 5th), even if my word count is pretty slow. Hopefully I'll pick up the pace soon.

That's it from me. Keep on rockin.