So recently, these past few weeks, I’ve been really struggling to get any words down. Prior to this slump I was feeling super inspired & all I wanted to do was write… & then it stopped. I would try to write each day & barely manage 50 words. Some days I don’t even feel that my book is even worth continuing it seems so boring compared to the fantastic books I’ve read recently.
But I know logically I still have a deadline to meet so I’ve found a couple of ways to track my goals & break them down so that they are easily attainable. I use multiple ways of tracking to help ‘keep me on the wagon’ but obviously only use those that are beneficial to you.
NaNoWriMo
Originally NaNoWriMo was just for November & the camps in April & June. But they’ve since had an upgrade. Not only can you create projects to update year round (with individual goals, as many as you want for each project), they also give you a daily goal.
This daily goal updates itself depending on if you’ve reached the previous daily goals or if you’ve written even more. Depending on your goal word count, you only have to write a ‘little’ a day to reach your goal by your deadline.
For example with my current project, I had been struggling at the beginning of the month so my daily goals went up. Today I only had to write 798 words in order to stay on track. Each time I updated the word count it would also provide a percentage, to show how much of the goal I’d completed.
Writing Buddies
My bestie & fellow writer are both finding motivation a bit trying at the moment & so we’re relying on each other to ‘put the pressure on’. I don’t know about you but back at university I always found myself most productive when the deadline was close. It put me in a state of controlled panic that helped me crack on & stay focused.
Obviously self imposed deadlines… not quite the same pressure. I’m my own worst enemy.
I’ve told my bestie to help me feel pressure to finish each day. We tell each other each morning what our daily goal is going to be & then come evening we check in to make sure it’s been done. We’re each others cheer leaders, we keep encouraging the other to finish. It also helps that we are each others biggest fans.
Group Support
There are a lot of writer groups out there on social media & in the big wide world. These groups are great for providing inspiration, camaraderie, support & feedback. One of the groups I’m in also has a monthly spreadsheet where whoever wants too may in put their novels title & the month’s word count.
Alongside your fellow writers you can update your progress throughout the month, & obviously if you are struggling the group is there to support you.
So I hope that these gave you some ideas on how to track your writing. You can also always print off a chart to manually track your progress on paper. Happy writing!
S. M. MITCHELL 