Do you have a word count goal, daily or weekly? Is the word count enough to reach the finished product timeline? Is your goal easy to accomplish? Is it a habit yet?
I used to say that I don’t like to write a certain number of words every day. I like large chunks of time to write. I used to work on my WIPs about five to six hours twice a week. Somehow, I’ve been distracted and haven’t accomplished any WIP (work in progress) writing lately. I have revised Hada’s Fog each time I blogged a scene, which is twice a week, but fresh chapter writing in Norman in the Painting has not happened in months as my critique partner reminds me. I had hoped to finish the first draft of Norman by August this year. Now I’m aiming for June 2016.
For me it is about habit. I proved that I could post on my blog daily. October 2014 I made a goal to post every day until January 2015, a realistic goal, which I accomplished easily. Those three months of daily posting became a habit. I continued without an end date, but I was willing to re-evaluate the frequency whenever I wanted.
When I updated this blog, my webmaster said I’d need to stop posting for a few days. I agreed, thinking I could use the time to re-connect with my WIP. I was surprised how much I missed posting. Something felt missing for the first day or two. On day three, I posted without asking the webmaster if I could. I figured if it didn’t make it on the new blog, I’d save it for when I could blog again.
The post appeared so I continued my daily habit, regardless how tired I was at the end of busy days. The habit works for me. I read an article by Nathan Barry who states his goal was to write 1,000 words a day which he did for 291 days in a row. He continues the 1,000 words in order not to “break his chain.” I can identify with maintaining a perfect streak of a writing habit as I experience the chain with my blog posts.
Tomorrow I plan to start a goal for my WIP Norman in the Painting. I will write 1,000 words twice a week. I don’t know if that word count is enough or too much but I will be consistent until the goal becomes a habit. Then I can adjust the word count if needed.
Do you want to join me?
