This year, I decided that I was actually going to try and organize myself a little when it comes to my writing. I have already spoken about how I am changing my approach to running this blog, and so today I want to talk a little about my writing plans for the year.
The target is simple; 600,000 words. That’s right.
It sounds like a lot, but it is actually just over 1600 words a day, or 2306 if I stick to a five day writing week. Now, I should probably point out at this juncture that this includes everything: Fiction, Blogging and the Freelance Writing I do also. This gives me a nice diverse range of writing topics to cover, and means if I am having a tough day, there is always a second and even third option for me to fall back on to help get the word count up and running again.
I am also aware however that it is still very early in the year, and 4 days does not make a good enough marker for the year ahead. It is, however, a good start.
I talk about getting organized, because I have always struggled to have real direction in things. It may sound strange, but it is true. I sit down and write until I am done and then just move on to something else. This year I am planning my writing, what I am going to work on, when it should be finished. Some real goals and landmarks to aim for. This will give me a little more control and oversight on things, and hopefully keep me focused through the year.
I even went as far as to create a huge spreadsheet for myself. This beast is enormous and I love it. It tracks my daily totals, my averages per month, words per hour and gives me all sorts of lovely little graphs and things.
Each day I record the time spent writing, and the number of words written. All the rest is then just filled in and calculated automatically by the formulas I used.
I think having the visual stimulus will also be an effective way of keeping me on track. I know that for NaNo they use it, and this was what got my mind working on such an idea.
It was purely for fun that I turned it into a horror themed tracker. Each graph and each month have a different horror image as the background theme.
So the plan for this year is 600,000 words, with my fiction spread between novels and shorter pieces which I hope to use as a way to keep my name out there while I am working on my longer pieces.
I already have my first novel release of the year with my editor and can’t wait to get it back and find it a home. I have had some great Beta feedback already so I am in high spirits with regards this release.
What are your writing goals for the year ahead? How do you keep a track of everything?
Thanks for reading.
Official Site of Alex Laybourne - Author 
Good luck, my friend. Setting goals can be a great tool and way to force yourself to be acive. Just be careful not to burn yourself out. I’ve done that at least once in every endeavor I’e done. lol
Oh yes, I had a big burn out last year, but I also had no plan. I hope that by having this spreadsheet I will see exactly where I am, and afford myself some time off here and there. There will be days when I don’t write, and I will need to accept them. Fall short some days to succeed at the end. 🙂
There you go. You’re way more prepared than I ever am. Kick some a$$! 🙂
Blimey, that is some focus! I haven’t quite reached the spreadsheet phase yet, but I certainly plan to get another novel published. I have been shopping a manuscript but with no takers as yet, but I won’t give up. I will keep trying until someone accepts it! Aside from that I want to improve my blogs, and I have 2 novels in progress, the main one being Book 4 in the Redcliffe series… That will do me for now I reckon 😉
lol – I just use StoryBox to keep track of things like that for me, but I admit it doesn’t have nice charts. 🙂 That’s some goal Alex and I wish you all the best with it. Just remember it’s the writing that’s important. 🙂