All About the Three R's

I just finished my draft four edits!!!! Woot! Woot!  Hell yeah . . . in your face . . .  HAPPY DANCE!!!!   But wait, there's more!! I managed to burn the playlist for my virgin beta readers.  Gotta give them the full Diyari Chronicles experience. Did I tell you that I am excited?  I'm not even tired. That is a lie.  A total lie. But I have to push through. I still have 8 bags of baked goods to put together.  That's right! Not only did I edit the last three chapters of my 79,000 YA novel, I went to church, I ate lunch with friends, and I was kicking butt and taking names in the kitchen.  Puppy Chow, Margarita Cookies (my own recipe), and cupcakes with pumpkin cheesecake frosting for EVERYONE. Who cares if I fall asleep on my clients tomorrow (I mean later today).  I was an excellent writer and baker today (yesterday).  Who am I kdding . . . when 6:45am rolls around I'm going to be cursing the gods. 

But in this moment I'm the master of my little universe.  Woot! Woot!! Hugs & Encouragement!!

I have noticed something and I wanted to toss the question out to you guys and gals.  Do you think in daily word counts when you sit down to write?

Before I did NaNo this year, I never thought about my word count (for a book) . . . until I finished the story or saw I had a ton (100 plus pages).  I hated thinking in word counts. I got more caught up in the number of words and lost my story (on some days).  I know publishers say the general WC rule varies for genre. The general rule for YA is 75,000 (I believe). But I see a number of books exceeding that word count.

When I write I tend to aim for time.  "I'll write for two hours today." I'll write until noon."  Or I think: "That scene played in my head all night. I've got dump it on the page or chop off my head."  Daily word count just does not come up on my radar.  I think in scenes. I'll know my characters are going to have lunch today in a cafe.  And I know they will talk about the bad guy and how he's ruining their life.  And I'm gonna do some foreshadowing stuff that will blow my mind (and hopefully my readers').  Then I write the scene. Then I fiddle-fart around and mull over it in my head.

I know everyone does their own thing, there is no one way to write.  But I see a lot of comments about daily word goals. I was  . . . I don't know  . . . feeling like the kid who forgot to listen to the weather report and shows up to school in shorts when cold front comes in by lunchtime.