Lowering Word Count Goals

Like many writers, when I'm working on a first draft, I give myself word count goals. It's a great way to feel like something has been accomplished that day in the draft. Personally, since I outline quite heavily before I ever start with the first draft (which sometimes makes me wonder if I'm right in calling it a first draft, but that's a topic for another post), I don't throw big chunks of words away, so the final word count of my draft is almost always in the same ballpark as my finished product. This makes the word count goal that much more important to me (in my mind, anyway, and at this stage in the game, that's what's important, right?).

I tend to set my word count goal at 1000 words daily, though when it's all said and done, I make it a weekly goal. Therefore, my word count goal is actually 7000 words a week. Or was.

When I'm being productive, 1000 words are usually what I'm producing, on average. But at times that number gets to be intimidating. If I fall behind one day, it takes a lot to get back to my goal the next day. And two bad days in a row? It might spell disaster for the week, and I may decide to give up for the week, which is stupid, but that's how the mind works at times.

So what can I do about it? I've cut my goal in half. Instead of writing 1000 words a day (or, more appropriately, 7000 a week), I now put my goal at 500 words a day (or 3500 a week). I'll admit that it looks like I'm much less productive, but I've actually found the opposite to be true. 500 words a day, for me, is easy. And on days where I can't get to my draft for whatever reason? Making up those 500 missed words isn't nearly as hard as making up 1000. Heck, on good days, I write 2000 or more words, which instead of making up for one missed day now makes up for 3! Sure, it's all a mind game, but I'm guessing many of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And what's more, I've discovered I continue to write about the same number of words as before with the lower word count goal - it's simply that I have much less stress now, which makes for more pleasant writing experiences (which usually means a better quality writing session).

You may find this helpful, too. You might not make 1000 your goal, but whatever number of words you choose, halve them. If you normally write 2000 words, make your goal 1000. If you choose 500 words, now make it 250. Easy! But here's the kicker. Don't just stop when you hit your word goal. Keep going! You'll do so with the knowledge that you've already conquered your words for the day. Everything else is simply gravy! Try it for a few weeks. If you find you need the pressure, the stress, of a higher deadline, no one says you can't go back to your original word count goal. The whole key is getting your draft done as quick and efficiently as you can!

Set Goals and Reward Yourself

You have plenty of ideas about what you want to write, how much you plan to write each day, and other tasks that will further your writing career. But how often does the day slip away? All of your good intentions to write are easily erased by other things that pop up in your day, both important and trivial. This is why you need to set goals. And not only set them, but write them down where you'll see them. That way they'll seem official to your mind, something not to be missed or ignored.

Personally, I write down my goals in a notebook that I keep by my desk. That way when I see it, I know I have writing to do. And inside, I've written down exactly what that writing entails. I have my weekly time goal (which, at the moment, is 25 hours dedicated to writing type stuff), my daily word goal (which is 500 words, though that usually turns into over 1000), a reminder of which blog posts I want to publish that week, a reminder to read at least a chapter in a book each day, and a reminder to publish something fun on my Facebook author page each day, and other such things. You can see not all of these are pure writing, but marketing of sorts, too. In my 25 weekly hours, for example, I allow myself to count my time on Twitter provided I'm clicking on links, commenting on posts or links when I have something to add to the discussion, retweeting, and generally marketing myself as a writer. Since using social media is a part of being a writer nowadays, I have no problem counting this time as part of my weekly hours.

As you can see, goals don't have to be overly specific - I don't break down how I spend each of those 25 hours, and as long as I'm writing some type of fiction, be it a full piece of flash fiction or a part of a longer story, I don't worry about tracking those words. I also called some of my goals reminders. Anything to make the writing day and week productive. Try it yourself. Start small so you simply get in the routine of not only setting goals, but following through on them.

And speaking of following through on goals, the best way to keep yourself honest is to offer yourself a small reward if you complete them. Pick something that will motivate you. Personally, if I finish all of my goals (note I said all - if I get my 25 hours, but haven't finished my words, I didn't earn my reward), I download an episode of a television show on Amazon. I've been doing this for a month, and so far I've earned the first three episodes from Season One of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. For me, I figure I can afford to spend $1.99 for a week of completing all of my writing goals. You may do something like this, or you might choose to allow yourself to watch a completely frivolous movie on Netflix or DVD or whatnot. You may treat yourself to a movie in the theater, a new book download, a decadent cupcake from a local bakery, or whatever else you can think of. As long as it motivates you to complete your daily, weekly, or monthly goals.

Set goals. It'll help you accomplish more. And reward yourself, even if it's just something small. But don't cheat, either on your goals or your rewards. The main point is to become a better author. So good luck, and get started!

2012 Writing Goals

With the new year upon us, I decided it was time to publish my writing goals for 2012. I decided I need to write much more this year, so my main goal is to get at least 5000 words down on page each week. That will equal 260,000 words for the year when all is said and done. The plan is to work on a few novels (YA speculative fiction still being the main thrust, though I'd like to throw an adult horror story in, as well), write short stories for publication, and publish Friday Flash stories (more on that last one later). I've also made myself a deal when it comes to editing and plotting--each hour I spend doing one or the other counts as 250 words. This way, as long as I'm working on a novel or short story, it'll count towards my goal. I think that this goal will do well to getting me closer to where I want to be as a writer.

In addition, I need to put more focus into marketing and social media. These are weak areas for me. I'm very sporadic on Twitter, only really post goofy stuff for my friends on Facebook, and largely ignore Google+. This needs to change. I will be more of a presence on Twitter, will make more use of my writing account on Facebook, and will actually use Google+ this year. Also, I will be more on top of submitting short stories and query letters, as well as other marketing areas that I'm not very good at. I hate that part of the writing game, but I know it needs to be done. I will also comment on other writers blog posts in an attempt to get my name out there more often (and to show others how much I appreciate the hard work they put into everything, since I know how much time it all takes).

This blog will also benefit from my wanting to be a better all-around writer this year. I need to post more often, and I have some ideas to make this happen. I will continue to publish Speculative Fiction Writing Prompts each Monday (or at least most Mondays). As I said in the first paragraph, I also want to publish Friday Flash stories on, you guessed it, Fridays. I won't do this every week, but my goal in this area is to aim for at least a couple times a month. So if you're a fan of my flash fiction, keep an eye on that coming soon. I also will do my best to post an article on writing every Wednesday. These may be my thoughts on certain writing topics, book reviews on writing books, occasional movie or television show reviews, or any other topic that pertains to writing. I'm not going to promise that there will be one every single Wednesday, but I will post most weeks. I'm also considering posting a review of what I've done, writing-wise, each weekend, be it Saturday or Sunday, and maybe a preview of what I plan to do in the coming week. If I do this, I doubt I'll advertise much about it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or wherever else might be appropriate. That post will be mostly for me to keep myself accountable. Of course, anyone will be free to read it and leave me comments. I always love to see comments on any blog post.

So there you have it: my writing goals for 2012. I'm hoping this will be a breakthrough year for me, as I'm in the middle of an agent search. With the output I hope to produce, there will also be further agent and publication searches down the line. All in all, I hope this is my best writing year yet!

Writing Goals

It's so important for writers to set goals for themselves. Not just big goals that will take months to complete, like "I will finish my novel this year," or whatever your overall goals are, but small goals that help you keep moving. I think it's important to keep the goals relatively simple and small, or they could overwhelm you and keep you from completing them. I give myself goals each week, and I tape them to the wall right at eye level at my writing desk. This way I always know what I should be working on.

For example, I'm working on a novel, a screenplay, and various stories for children at the moment. My goal this week is to write 5000 words in my novel this week. (I use my word count in Word to track this even though that's not the way to actually count up words in a finished manuscript. It's a great tool for a first draft, though!) For my screenplay I gave myself the goal to complete my beat sheet for my screenplay, which I've already completed this week and have crossed out (a nice feeling to see it gone from the list). For my children's writing, I gave myself the task of coming up with 10 good ideas for stories that I can basically start writing at the drop of a hat. Ideas are a dime a dozen, obviously, but workable ideas are a little more difficult. In addition to these, I have other goals such as watch a movie (for research purposes), read a screenplay, read five short stories, and read 30 pages in a novel each day.

Goals like these keep me focused each day. I know what I should be working on, and I do it. In the past, I'd dilly-dally through my writing without focus, and therefore I got little real work done. With my weekly goals, I'm finding I get actual writing work accomplished. It's a good feeling, and also why I think every writer should use goals, be them daily or weekly. That's it for this week. Until next time, keep reading and/or writing!

2009 Writing Goals

I figured since today is New Year's Eve, I'd share my writing goals for 2009. It's not so much goals of getting published, as that is always the goal, but for the work I plan to do.

My main goal for 2009 is to write a novel. I have a few different ideas for which one I want to write, but I haven't made that final decision. I have quite a few fantasy story ideas, but they involve trilogies, and I'd prefer to write my first novel as a stand-alone effort. I have sort of written one before, but it wasn't successful enough to even call it my first novel--I plan to discuss where I went wrong in a future post. Without giving away what my novel is about (I think it's bad luck to talk about a work in progress--I know, it's silly), I will take posts throughout the process and share what I've discovered, learned, and/or used to success and failure. Should be fun!

Another goal I have for 2009 is to write a screenplay. I like the fact that screenplays are, for the most part, straight ahead stories that don't get bogged down in details. That's the way I like to write. I've found a few free programs that'll format the script while I write, and when I get closer to starting the writing process, I'll choose which one I think is best. I'm sure I'll post my choice here in the blog. My novel is my first choice this year, though, so this one will take a back seat for now--I'll probably spend time reading up on creating screenplays and outlining one before I tackle the actual writing.

I also plan to create an new blog on humor writing, a la Dave Barry. I think it sounds like a fun way to get out my goofy side while I write my more serious (or at least darker) stories. I plan to publish a new article every weekend, and I'll post my link on this blog when I go live, probably this coming weekend.

Short stories will still be a part of my writing year. I'll continue to market the stories I already have out there, and I also want to try to write one a month. I don't know how close I'll keep to that. It depends on how my novel goes. If it sucks out all my creativity I'll probably not get many new stories out, but since I have over a dozen either already looking for publishing homes or ready to be revised, I'm not too worried about new ones at this stage. I guess I'll see how it goes.

My final goal is this blog. I enjoy keeping the world updated on what I'm doing, as well as passing on tips of what I've learned in this game of writing, so I'll keep it up. My goal is to post a new one each Wednesday and Saturday, so keep an eye out. I'm hoping I'll see some success in 2009 with my word processor. Happy New Year!