All books are written in slow motion. And since it happens in v e r y slow motion, it’s like it never happens at all, and that’s discouraging. So my XL chart is my friend and motivator.
After the writing session, I chart the date, the time (even if it’s just 15 minutes), the number of words, and maybe a note about what’s happening in the story or what I discovered today. Then, any time it all feels pointless, I look back a week, or two or three, and I can see how far I have come. Inch by inch, word by word. I really am getting somewhere. Though it does not seem like it today.
Do you chart your progress? What tricks do you use to keep adding those words?
While we would like to speed up writing, sometimes it’s interesting to slow things down. Like watching a water balloon burst, or seeing a bullet shoot an egg or a glass of milk or a watermelon.
hourglass from photos.com #117481718
Wow. No…I don’t chart my progress at all! Should I? LOL. I’m impressed with your system, though. 🙂
April – as long as the words are flowing it does not matter what you do! JUST WRITE.
But, if you ever get to a point where the words are not as “ready” then keep track of what you DO get done, and that might help.
I don’t chart at all either. Or set goals. I just tell myself to write. Maybe I’d write faster if I did what you do!
No, Michelle. I think you write plenty fast! You’re published! Forget about the chart for you!
For me, I need these props. Maybe once I get a book “out there” I’ll trust my writing.
I’ve tried charting but it never seems to last long. It’s great that you have a way to see your progress. It must be very encouraging to watch the words and pages grow, Suzanne.
Sheila – I’m not really “disciplined” about charting. It’s more that I HAVE to do it. I think I’d go crazy if I couldn’t see some progress.
I keep a simple excel spread sheet that tracks the number of words I write. I don’t keep notes but my tendency is to say I haven’t done enough – but then my spread sheet shows me the truth, so I can get real.
works for me, but I have to keep it simple. I have a couple of spreadsheets that I downloaded that look great but I get so busy in keeping the worksheets that I forget to write.
I’m glad to hear this works for you, Louise. And yes, keep it as simple as you need. Sometimes, the whole “record keeping” thing turns into a “displacement activity” and we forget the whole reason we are doing the charting – which is to MOTIVATE us to write more!
That is such a good idea! I also tend to write in short bursts when I can get time, so this might be a good way to review my progress. During NaNoWriMo last November, I wrote my number of words each day on a calendar to try and see if there was a pattern (there wasn’t – it was haphazard, haha!).
never mind if it was haphazard – you could see movement! some days I only get 50 words but it’s still movement.
good for you doing NaNoWriMo. I’m going to try that next Nov.