Staying On Track: Goals, Word Counts, and Accountability

 

Happy Friday and welcome back to Mayhem & Magic! I have about 8 million things going on today, so I'm going to try to make this quick. This week I want to talk about GOALS! Setting them! Sticking to them! Reaching them! 

Setting goals is, to me, one of the most important aspects of writing when you're serious about it. Word count goals, draft goals, and daily goals are what keep me on track, keep me writing, and get me the unmatched gratification of a complete project. 

First things first: I do not treat goals like they're chains. I am not imprisoned by my writing goals. They're flexible and they get that life happens. Keeping that mindset rather than treating personal deadlines as though some invisible hand is going to stab me with a knife if I don't write 30,000 words in a month makes the whole process so much easier. It takes off the pressure. It makes it feel less like the end of the world if I don't reach the goal I set for a day, week, or month. 

So what do I do, then? 

Each time I start a writing project -- one that I've decided to commit to and see through at least a first draft -- I set a draft goal. This is usually between 60,000 and 80,000 words, depending on how big or high concept the plot is. I normally set it low to start, and then go from there. 

Next, I decide where I want to be by the end of the month (or 30 days from my start date). Do I want a full draft? Do I want to hit that word count goal? This decision also depends on how big the book is, as well as how much I know about it. If I'm going in cold and only have a vague concept of where things have to end up, I set much lower goals so that I don't get overwhelmed. But if I have a pretty clear idea of where the story's going and I have a LOT of ideas swirling around up there, I'll aim a bit higher. Let's try for a full draft. Let's try for 60k in a month. Let's just go wild.

Once I know how I want to approach the bigger goal, I decide what I want to do on a daily basis. I don't usually set a specific word count goal for each day -- only during Nanowrimo so I can figure out if my big goal is reachable in 30 days -- but I do tell myself to get some words down every day. As I'm writing, I start out aiming for 500 words in the session. If that goes well, I up it to 1000. Most days I either stop there or push on to 1500. Maybe 2000 if things are going really smoothly. I rarely exceed 2k a day. Usually 1k is good enough progress for me, and that quickly turns into at least 30k in a month -- halfway to my draft goal of 60k! 

I've found that breaking things down like this makes the whole process of writing a novel a lot more approachable. Telling yourself you're going to write a whole entire book in like 2 months is a little mind-boggling. But break those numbers down to weekly goals, and then daily goals, and it doesn't seem so bad. If I'm not stuck and if I actually manage to focus, most days I can write 1000 words in less than an hour. Writing sprints work wonders for this; set a timer for 15 minutes and write as much as you can. After a short break, set it again and keep going. I can usually get around 350-400 words in 15 minutes if I don't get distracted. At this rate, 1000 in less than an hour is easy-peasy. 

Are you giving me a look? Are you staring at me like I've lost my marbles? Fair enough. I know these methods won't work for everyone, especially if you have a busy life and/or job. I'm lucky enough to work afternoons and evenings most days, so I have a good chunk of time in the morning to work on my books. But honestly, I think setting goals and holding yourself accountable with them is all the more important when you don't have a lot of free time. If you're like me, and you're serious about publishing, making time in your day to commit to your projects is so, so important. 

Obviously not everyone is going to have the time and/or braincells to write every day, and that's okay! Forcing creativity never got anyone anywhere. In that case, I recommend spending time with your project in some other way. Even if you're not actively writing, maybe plan out your next scene or chapter. Draw a map of your world/setting. Go on Picrew and design your characters. Practice describing them. Make profiles for them with their name/age/gender/orientation/appearance/family/friends. This all counts as "writing," because you're devoting time and energy to things related to your WIP without actually writing any words. It counts!! Maybe it doesn't contribute to your word count, but it gives you valuable information that you should know about your book even if this stuff doesn't make it into the draft.

So how do I keep track of all this? Personally, I use Nanowrimo's word count trackers year-round. Once you create a project, you can put in your draft goal, making it anything you want, and Nano will calculate about how many words you need to write per day to reach that goal by the end of your set time. It also gives you handy charts that map out your progress. I'm a visual person, so I love the charts. I've found this to be a great way to keep track of my daily progress and word counts, and it's very satisfying to watch the little bar graph increase day by day. I have also heard that 4 The Words is another great way to increase your writing productivity. I've never used it, but it's apparently something like a video game? Where you fight monsters by increasing your word count? Sounds like a fun challenge! 

Another small thing that I find helpful is telling your friends about your project!! And I don't just mean critique partners or beta readers. I mean your friends! Tell them about your book, tell them your goals for the book, and then when they ask how you're doing with it, hopefully you have updates for them! Honestly, my friends knowing what I'm writing is a huge motivating force for me. It's subtle accountability to get through that project so maybe my friends will read it.

Reaching the goals you set is definitely a challenge. It's not easy. Making this kind of commitment to a project is difficult, but in the end, it's so worth it. You're at the end of the draft before you know it, and then you can do a little happy dance because, holy crap, you reached your goal AND you have a full draft of a new book!! That's a whole entire book right there!! And sure, maybe it's just a first draft and maybe it needs some work, but it EXISTS and now you can build from there. There are few better feelings than a finished draft, tbh. The feeling of accomplishment is well worth the struggle to get there.

The best thing I recommend for setting writing goals is to start small. I've been doing this for a while, so to me, 60k is a small goal. But if you're like "Talli that's way too many words," then start with 40k! Or 30k! Or even lower! Start small and build up from there. 10 or 20 or 30k might not be your whole, complete project, but hitting those numbers is still a huge milestone, and having reasonable, reachable goals is a HUGE motivator. Each milestone, big or small, makes you believe a little more than you got this and you can totally do this. 

Currently, my projects are a hot mess bc I can't decide what I want to commit to. I think it's the pirate book, but I'm not quite sure yet. My draft goal for the pirate book is set to 70k, and I've been trying to write at least 500-1000 words a day for it. I haven't touched it in a few days, though, and I'm not sure if that's bc I'm just overthinking a scene or bc I lost the spark. I wanted to have a full draft by the end of June, but at this rate, idk if that's going to happen. But that's okay! It's fine! Right now, I just want to work on something, even if it's several somethings, to keep the words going until I turn back to my Demons book in July. Then I'll have something to commit to. 

Other than my queer fantasy pirate book, I've also been tinkering with The Secret WIP, which...just...ugh. Ugh @ that book. Idk about that one. I want it to work, but... ugh. I've also got The Secret Novella, which is giving me less trouble but is still slow-going. That one's heavy on the emotions, so I have to be in the right mood to write it. Which is why pirate book is taking the wheel most days: I'm just having fun with it. 

So that's where I am with writing! As for reading... 

I'm still crawling out of the slump, but I have Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke, Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley, Wings of Ebony by J. Elle, Switch by A.S. King, and Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan on my Currently Reading pile at the moment. Yeah. I know. 

"But Talli if you're in a reading slump, how the hell are you reading FIVE books at once?" Because I clearly can't settle on one thing I want to read, so I'm reading SEVERAL of VERY different genres, and it... is actually kind of helping. Knock on wood.

All right, that's all for today! Next Friday I've got another indie author interview coming at ya, so stay tuned for that! 

Also, one more thing (because there's always one more thing): my birthday is this weekend!! And it's also Pride month! And do you know what would be a great way to celebrate both of those things?? Supporting a queer indie author by buying their book!!! You can still get the ebook of THE ORACLE STONE through Amazon and Barnes & Noble for just $0.99! Grab em soon, because that price is going back to its usual $2.99 at the end of June! 

If you're more of a "I want a physical copy to hold in my little hands" person (like me), the paperback edition of THE ORACLE STONE is also available through Amazon, AND you can pre-order the gorgeous hardcover special editions through Barnes & Noble! The special editions will have a bonus deleted scene annotated by me, and one edition has a beautiful illustrated dust jacket. Pre-orders are live now, and the books will be released on August 1!

Okay, that's it for real. See ya next week! 

Twitter | Instagram | Website | Goodreads