In order to keep my sanity, I’m going to have to change my way of thinking about writing goals. This is why.
This new story that I was so enthusiastic about was going well, my word counts were above my goal every day that I wrote on the book. But I was skipping days because I WAS LAZY AND COMPUTER GAMES WERE CALLING MY NAME. It’s time to buckle down. I sat down one evening to write my 700 words…and they wouldn’t come. I wrote maybe three paragraphs, and I had to keep changing words around (which I almost never have to do), and I got frustrated that I couldn’t get my 700 words. But I did sit in front of the computer long enough to have done that if I hadn’t had such a hard time writing that night. So I’m going to switch my goals. I’m going to make myself sit down at the computer 45 minutes a day. If I write 500 words, 700 words, or 1000 words, I’m going to write SOMETHING. And if I get frustrated and can’t even manage more than 200 words, I still have to sit there in front of the computer until the time is up. It’s a matter of discipline to make yourself sit and write for a certain period of time. It’s not so much discipline, but inspiration (or lack thereof) when you’re shooting for a certain word count. Does that make sense?
lauralynnelliott.com 
I totally understand! I learned this about myself too. I either can’t write and will write 701 because that’s the number. For me, it is not really about the number anyway. It’s definitely about sitting there each day getting in wordcount, research, scene shuffling, or just thinking. I also found that I work better with less time. If I have 3 hours, I will undoubtedly screw around for the 1st two LOL. I do everything in small chunks now unless I’m taken over by the crazy and work all night.
i used to do fine with word count goals, Lauren. But it’s just not working this time. I need to discipline myself to sit and write. I think I’ll even set a timer. I chose 45 minutes because I CAN write 700 words during that time, but I’m going to focus on the time and not the words. And, like you said, sometimes there has to be some other things going on besides just straight writing. Like the last time when I had to keep changing words around. LOL
Reading your post gave me a thought about what might be part of my problem. When I sit down to write, I generally expect to write about 1k, but, it’s not a hard goal. Sometimes I write a few hundred words that are so crappy I can’t go on and walk away in disgust. But a lot of the time, if I get started, I write over 1k and I don’t stop at 1k, I stop when it’s done. It’s not so much stopping when I run out of inspiration–I often run out of inspiration before I’m finished and have to push the end. It’s that I work until the scene or the part of the scene I’m working through is done. I don’t like to leave off in the middle of something. (I know a lot of writers purposely leave off in the middle of something because it makes it easier for them to pick back up, but that’s never worked for me.)
Anyway, that idea that I always work until the work is done might be another component of the problem I have with just not showing up. I’m not on a schedule. Schedules give me hives. But it means there’s generally no -I will write from now until I have to go to work- or -from now until my lunch break is over-. For the last few years, I have generally had the luxury of at least a few days a week when I can write for hours, if I find the part that I’m working on takes hours and a few thousand words to get through.
The problem I see is that I have a habit of not showing up for work if I have anything else going on. We’ve talked about this thing I have before, how I’m all perfectionist about it and I have to have this uninterrupted time set aside or I’m not likely to sit down at all that day. This is a serious problem for me, and it makes sense that, yeah, it’s part my whole perfectionist issues, but also part this habit I have of thinking that I need a long stretch of time to work in case the part I start needs a long time to get finished. Better to not start than to leave off in the middle? Probably no. Not really sure how to fix my head on that.
We’ve all got to find out what works for us. The problem is, sometimes that changes. I’m not really afraid of change, so when I discovered I needed to change from word count to time, I was ok with that. Now I have to see how that works. But I can make myself work for a certain amount of time easier than I can make myself write a certain amount of words.
As far as ending in the middle of something? I usually don’t do that. I need to get through what’s happening. But I have done it when I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do next with the scene. I’m very flexible about that kind of thing. But I would RATHER finish a scene.
I think if you could come out of the perfectionist mode, you could relax so much more and wouldn’t stress so much. I know, it’s so much easier said than done. If it’s in our basic personalities to be perfectionists, it’s a big fight to change that mentality. I used to be so Type A it was unreal. My life is so much happier since I’ve relaxed and let things just be what they will. That doesn’t mean I don’t strive for perfection, especially in my full time job. But if I know I did my best, then that’s enough. I don’t worry about it anymore.
You’re awesome, by the way. 🙂
It’s interesting you posted this today. I was thinking about this just yesterday when I didn’t do anything because I was plagued by a headache. Even my 250 words a day goal overwhelmed me. I’m not sure a time goal would have worked any better yesterday but it certainly got me thinking. I’ll be interested to see how the change works for you. Good luck.
Hi Raelyn. I’m gong to try it this way. I’ll keep everyone posted. One of the reasons I set myself a 700 word per day goal is I could write a short novel during a round. I’ve been writing novellas and got used to being finished in each round. LOL. But I’m just going to write for a certain amount of time (longer if I’m on a roll) and see where that takes me.
I completely understand where you are coming from. It is an awesome idea too. Certainly one I think I may take up. Time is something that often slips away from me, and I become so focused on the word count I either write nonesense or stress about hitting that target. If I just give myself a time limit then it totally changes the emphasis from quantity to quality.
That’s how I’m thinking, Alex. I get too obsessed with how many words I’m writing and it stresses me out. I’m excited about this change and hope it works.
[…] One the writing front, time just wasn’t on my side. The kids were awake around 5 am (on average) each morning and even at 03.45 on Friday. This means I have edited on a handful of pages of my manuscript and have fallen behind. The deadline is only one of my own making but I still get very hard on myself at times. I am thinking of taking the advice offered by a friend of mine – LauraLynn Elliott – and to set myself a goal based around time rather than a specific word count. […]
I hadn’t thought of focusing on how much time I spend at the computer. I am hit and miss with word count goals. I’m now keeping track of how well I’m doing in this area. It’s quickly occurring to me that I don’t hit my total word count goal a good 60% of the time. And as you said, there are some days when writing feels like you’re pulling out your teeth. I just got through forcing myself to finish a novel that wasn’t ready, and I ended up ditching 40,000 words. So if I had slowed down, I probably could have only been 20,000 words behind instead of 40,000 right now. So maybe focusing on word count might mean wasting more time down the road.
I know some people say you must write every single day if you’re serious about writing, but I’m starting to think there might be a day or two we should be taking off to rest up. Ironically, I get more drained from editing something and need more time to bounce back than I do when I’m actually writing the book. A way of looking at things in terms of time might be a better way of looking at things. It’s one I never thought of before. Thank you for this post. 😀
I had never had problems with word count before. But this time I really did. The time thing is working better for me. It also helps me to not feel guilty about JUST editing instead of writing. If I sit myself down and do something productive for a certain amount of time, I feel like I’ve accomplished something, whether it is writing, editing, or making notes.
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