My goals for my current WIP

I seriously needed to write this somewhere public so that other people can hold me accountable to this. I plan to update it whenever I reach a goal. Since I'm currently writing a YA trilogy, with each book aimed at at least 100k words, I worked out how long it would take me to write that much and when I wanted to get it done.

2015
December- 12,500 words book 1

2016
January- 15,000 words
February- 14,500 words
March- 15,500 words
April- 14,500 words
May- 15,500 words
June- 15,000 words (total: 102,000)
July-October- hardcore edit book one
November- 50,000 words book 2
December- 15,500 words

2017
January- 15,500 words
February- 14,000 words
March- 15,500 words (total: 110,500)
April-June- hardcore edit book two
July- 50,000 words book 3
August- 15,500 words
September- 14,500 words
October- 15,500 words
November- 50,000 (total: 145,500)
December-ff- hardcore edit book three

So those are my goals. I'd love if I accomplished them early. But, since I've never finished a novel, my goal is just to reach them in a timely way.

 

That's awesome!! I'm glad to see you take a proactive approach like this. It really does help to write these kinds of things out so you can look at what needs to be done. Kudos! I'm rooting for ya!

 

Do you have a spreadsheet for recording your words/day? I love mine - make a fresh one every year, record my words at the end of each writing session. Very satisfying!

 

Oo the spreadsheet is a good idea! I think I'll end up doing that. Thanks!

 

Great idea to give yourself monthly targets! Could be a new years resolution for me...

 

You could also try "pages per day." I had a habit of constantly checking my word count every after paragraph, which cut into my writing time. So I switched to counting pages instead, roughly estimating what I had written. When you format your document to the standard manuscript format, each page is roughly around 270-320 words.

 

I've tried to do pages per day in the past, but for some reason I get less done that way. I started doing words per day earlier this year and found that I progressed more quickly and steadily through my story.

 

Just wanted to check in since it's the middle of December. Currently, I'm at just below 8,693 words, which is crazy! I've been writing a ton lately, and I'm so glad! Hopefully, I'll be able to get past my original goal for the month and finish the book all the sooner. I'll check in again either when I reach the goal or when the month is over, whichever comes first.

 

So I guess I totally forgot I was going to check in when I reached my goal for the month, which was 12,500 words. I reached it a while ago, actually, and am now currently at 19,562. I'm amending my goal for the month, since I did a great job getting where I am to 25,000. I think this will probably be where I end the month, but if I want to stay super positive, I'm going for 27,500. We shall see where I end up, but by the end of the night I'll have hit at least 20,000 words.

 

In December I wrote 22,000 words, surpassing my original goal. For January I plan for at least 15,000. I'd like to challenge myself a little more but school starts up again on the third and I don't want to over-stress myself at the very start.

 

So far I've been managing at least 500 words a night, sometimes over a 1000. Not quite as much writing as I was doing when I was at home and not at school, but I'm still rather pleased with my devotion to the story so far.

On a side note, a story I haven't worked on (since it was meant to be a spin-off to another story I had started a while ago but didn't continue) just nudged its way back into my consciousness. I won't drop what I'm doing to write that story, but it's got me wondering if it would be a good idea to write this, originally a spin-off, before the idea that had been the original story. And, if that story actually works, I can someday go back and write the original as a prequel. When I conceived both ideas I knew they wouldn't have to be read in order. Their plots don't really interact, they just share a world and a relatively minor character in the original trilogy is the main character in the spin-off. Just a thought I've been thinking.

 

Squints eyes! Have you made your December goal? Just kidding. lol I see that you did.

Nice way to use the journal. I wish you the best of luck, but I do wish to interject something. Planning your goals is a lot easier in theory. Two years is a awfully long time to predict ahead. I just want to be the little voice to say "don't get discouraged if life pops up."

I don't mean that in the sense of life keeping you from writing. I mean, as you write. You might realize things and want to edit before your edit date. Which isn't a problem. You might learn more as you get there and as such you might have better goals later. I hope I don't sound mean. I just like to be the little voice to say not to take a good thing too far.

That being said I do think this is a good thing and want to wish you the upmost luck.

What is a spreadsheet?

 

Does anyone have a sort of opposite problem - they get so far into their story that they can't stop writing? This is me. I have a problem of sitting down to write and then spending the next two to four hours writing, writing, and writing some more. I think the best plan for now is to set a word limit cap for myself, like maybe 1,000 words per day. Anyone share this problem?

 

Spreadsheets are programs where you can enter a formula and the program does the math for you - usually in chart form.

So if you look at the screenshot below... ignore the 1,2,3,4,5, on the left, and the A,B,C,D along the top. Those are just the key so you can label a specific cell (eg. cell B3 on the grid)

So ignoring those, on the left hand column there's the date. Then a bunch of zeroes in most of the other columns b/c I have columns for different genres but haven't written anything in those genres yet this year. I've been writing m/m, so the first number for m/m ("m/m start" column) is the wordcount at the start of the day - the program automatically writes this for me (b/c it's the same as the end-of-day wordcount from the previous day). Then I enter the "m/m finish" number at the end of each writing session, and then the program calculates the total written that day for "m/m net", adds it to my "daily" total, and adds it to my "running" total. And if I have days when my word count is unusually low or high, I write a little comment off to the right so I can figure out what interferes with or supports my writing.

I also enter the beginning or end of specific projects so I can track how long I spent on them.

It takes a bit of time (ten minutes, maybe, once you know Excel) to set up the spreadsheet at the start of the year, but after that it's just the time of typing in the word count each day. I like it!

 

Why is it bad to write more?

If it's interfering with your life, a time cap might make more sense - you could write 1K words in thirty minutes one day, three hours the next, and the second day is more likely to interfere with your life!

But if you have plenty of time, why do you think it's a problem to write a lot?

 

My problem with the time limit is that I'll always think, "Five more minutes!" after I run out of time. And then this turns into another two hours. If I set a word cap, then it's over, it's done. Easier to honor.

I'd write all day if I could, but the problem is that everyone around me will ultimately get sick and tired of a.) me talking about the story 24/7, b.) never, ever coming out of my room, and c.) never doing any of my homework. I get REALLY into it.

 

I get what you mean and I used to, when I came up with plans, get really upset if I couldn't keep up with them, but I've sort of grown out of that since I've been writing constantly and let myself change the schedule when needed. I don't fully expect to keep to this schedule, it wouldn't make sense if I could predict the exact way things played out anyways. But I like being able to look at it and realize that I do have a plan and that it's a reachable goal that I don't have to stress out over. Thank you for being concerned though, since it is quite a bit of planning I've done!

 

I totally wish I had that problem! Some nights I do just get carried away by the story, but it's honestly one of the most pleasant experiences I can have.

 

Maybe before you set the 1k word count cap you can actually measure about how many words you do in half an hour or an hour, and then set it at that knowing it's more of a time limit but still has the word limit to keep you from going five more minutes over.

 

I didn't mention it, but I completed my goal for the month! Yay I feel so great about it!

 

I've decided to take some time and work on another project of mine. It's just a couple character summaries for a graphic novel series, but I think I'm getting a little of an overdose of Sand and Storm and I need the small break.