by Stephanie Morrill
As of today, most schools are back in session. The week after Labor Day seems to bring more change to schedules than January 1st, and it’s always felt to me like a fresh start. A time to evaluate goals and priorities.
“The daily recording of the number of words you write is an invaluable incentive to get your work done.”
When I’m in a writing season, I keep a spreadsheet of how many words I’ve written. The only reason I do this is for motivation. Because sometimes I’ve written 982 words, and I decide I could squeak out a few more to make it past 1,000. Or I’ll see that I’m 100 words short of beating my word count from the day before, and I’ll push out another paragraph. (My spreadsheet is really simple, by the way. Here’s a link.)
James Scott Bell advises having a weekly goal instead of a daily goal. This is really smart, especially if you’re in school or another busy season of life. Your weekly goal will be influenced by what you anticipate being able to accomplish on a daily basis, but that provides some cushion for a bad or busy day.