by Jenna | Dec 30, 2020 | Writing Articles
I’ve got a special exercise for you today. As we begin working through the Make This Your Year to Write process in my Called to Write community, we start by completing the current writing year.
To give you a taste of what we’ll be working on (and give you a jump-start!) here’s the first step of the Make This Your Year to Write process:
Complete Your Writing Year
We start first with reflection to establish the foundation of where you are right now.
This is important because most of us have a tendency to focus purely on the goals and resolutions we’re setting for the new year and what’s next, but skip over the realities of what’s happened for us over the last year and what our current writing life looks like. (And yes, this HAS been a highly unusual year, but there are still insights to be gained from what worked and what didn’t.)
Without learning from what is, we create a recipe for pie-in-the-sky goals we are less-than-likely to succeed with. And we want you to succeed, right?😉
So first, to begin this process, we’ll look at where you are right now, and where you’ve been, before we move on to what’s next.
I call this completing the year.
We’ll do this by answering a series of three simple questions:
1. What has your writing given you over the last year? And in your writing career so far?
First, we’ll start by having you look at what your writing has given you. What gifts has it brought to your life, and what opportunities?
While you consider this, think back over the preceding year, and also your writing career as a whole.
For example, when you think about the trajectory your writing career has taken, are you enjoying it? Are you happy with the track you’re on or feeling dissatisfied? What has being a writer brought to your life that you would not have otherwise had the opportunity to experience?
2. What are you most proud of?
While you’re contemplating your relationship with your writing, also ask yourself, what are you most proud of?
Here again, look at both this current year and your writing career so far.
And please don’t be hard on yourself. If you have a hard time coming up with something you feel proud of, see where you can stretch your awareness. There is always something to be proud of, even if it’s something like, “I always kept my goal to be writing at the forefront of my mind.” Or, “I am crystal clear that writing must be a high priority for me in the next year.”
3. What did you accomplish with your writing over the last year? Make an inventory of your writing accomplishments.
One of the biggest mistakes we tend to make as writers is to keep our eyes only on how much further there is to go, without remembering to take stock of what we have accomplished and completed.
We want you to examine what you accomplished, regardless of how big or small.
How many words, pages, books, scripts, blog posts, days of morning pages, queries, etc., did you write? What did you put out into the world with your writing? Are there intangible things you accomplished with your writing?
Take the time to look back over the last year and make notes about what you’ve accomplished.
If you don’t have any tangible progress, make some notes for yourself about what you DID do this year you feel proud of.
Writing Prompts
Here are your writing prompts for Step One, assembled in one place for your writerly convenience. Remember, you can write out your answers privately in a notebook or journal, or on this page in the comments section below — whatever feels and works best for you.
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What has your writing given you over the last year? And in your writing career so far?
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What are you most proud of? (This year and career, both.)
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What did you accomplish with your writing over the last year? Make an inventory of your writing accomplishments.
First photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels
by Jenna | Jan 27, 2016 | Writing Articles
We're closing in on the end of the first month of the year. I can't quite believe it!
Most of us started off the year with solid intentions to write. How's that going for you?
If you're writing less than you'd like to be, this is the perfect time to make a course correction.
In fact, in some ways, it's the BEST time to make a course correction, because we're early enough in the year that small adjustments will go far.
So dig out your end of 2016 writing goals and take stock. (And if you haven't created your 2016 writing goals yet, here's a great tool to help you -- and no, it's definitely NOT too late!)
Do the Math
If you haven't done this yet, reverse engineer your goals so you can see where you're wanting to be by the end of the month (and at any point along your projected timeline).
Example 1: Finish an 80,000 word novel by December 31.
For example, if you're aiming to complete an 80,000 word novel by the end of the year, you can figure out your approximate daily word counts. The math for this tells us that you'll want to be writing about 320 words per day, 5 days per week, all year, excluding holidays (there are 251 working days in 2016).
This means that by January 31, you'll want to have completed approximately 6,080 words (19 working days in January). This assumes that you're either writing by the seat of your pants (a "pantser") or that you've already plotted the novel. It also assumes that you work on weekdays and take holidays and weekends off.
Example 2: Plot AND finish an 80,000 word novel by December 31.
Another example: If your goal is to complete an 80,000 word novel by the end of the year, but you haven't plotted it yet, you can set a timeline for the plotting and the writing. You might allow two weeks or two months to plot; it's up to you, your writing process, and your available time.
But once you know your timeline, you can break down the plotting into increments, such as chapters or plot points that you want to hit by a certain date. Then you can assess your progress.
Let's say you're aiming for two months for plotting, and we're nearing the end of January right now. So you should be halfway through the plotting at this point, or ideally around the midpoint of your novel. Then, starting in March, you'll have 212 working days left to write those 80,000 words, or about 377 words per day.
Tools and Adjustments
I love spreadsheets for this kind of calculating and planning. (In fact, I'm working on making a special one for you right now -- stay tuned for that!)
Of course you can adjust these calculations for your project and schedule, such as if you prefer to write on weekends, for instance.
Or as in my case, if you're writing screenplays, you might want to set a daily target page count rather than a word count.
Also, be aware that these calculations don't include revision or editing time, which may not always lend themselves to a linear progression since deeper cuts and reworking tends to work better from a to do list method.
Assess Your Progress
Once you've reverse-engineered your goals, check in: Are you on track to meet your goals by the end of the year? Do you need to bump up your daily word counts or adjust your time table?
One of the smartest things I see writers do is get crystal clear on the math of their projects so they know exactly what to aim for and can pace themselves well. It's all too easy to live in fantasy land, unclear on what you're trying to accomplish, floundering in hope and optimism rather than grounded, practical reality.
So check in on where you're supposed to be, and make an assessment of what — if any — adjustments you need to make, and you'll be good to go.
