How do you track your progress when you're writing ... if you track it at all?
While I sometimes enjoy just writing in an open-ended way,
without any particular goal in mind, I most often have a specific target.
With short pieces, like blog posts, this target is normally "a finished piece". With longer works, though, I'm not going to finish them in a single session.
If you're working on a novel, non-fiction book, longish short story, or a
long article, then you'll probably want to have a specific goal for each writing session.
There are two ways writers typically do this:
Some writers feel unsure which is better. The truth is, there's no "right" or "wrong". You need to figure out what works best for you ... and for what you're writing.
Wordcount goals are good for:
A definite sense of achievement – "wrote 1000 words today" takes you a measurable distance towards the end of your project (e.g. if you're working on an average-length novel and you do that on just 2 days a week, you'd have a finished novel within about 10 months).
Staying focused on your writing – if you're aiming to write 1000 words then stop, and
you finish after just an hour, you can knock off for the day! However much you enjoy writing (and I really hope you do enjoy it), you may well find you like to work fast and stop early.
Projects that are at the first draft stage – while some bits might be trickier than others to write, you can probably cover 1000 words in a fairly consistent amount of time (e.g. 1 - 3
hours).
Time goals are good for:
Fitting writing into a hectic schedule – I spent a good couple of years writing most of my fiction in half-hour chunks, between the kids' teatime and their bathtime. I couldn't guarantee meeting a wordcount goal, but I could at least write for
30 minutes!
Getting increasing numbers of words written – most writers speed up over time (as they become more practiced), so if you aim to write for, say, one hour each day, you'll probably find that you're gradually adding more and more words during a given day.
Projects that are at a
planning or editing stage – you might not be adding many words (in fact, during editing, you may well be taking some away) -- so it makes more sense to track time than words.
Of course, you can combine both types of tracking. For instance, you might aim to write for an hour and to complete at least 500 words in that time.
On the other hand, you might decide not to track your time spent writing or your wordcount at all. You don't have to! If you find it makes writing feel stressful, then don't ... or at least have some times when you're writing for fun, without a specific target in mind.
If you're working on a novel and want a guided plan for getting it
done, make sure you check out the free mini-ebook The Two-Year Novel: Plan, Write, Edit and Publish Your Novel in 24 Months. You can download it from the library of mini-ebooks here:
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