As I mentioned in my last post, I’m excited to explore ways that writers can be more productive. This post will cover some basics of goal-setting. The first step is to decide what writing “productivity” means to you.
Setting Creative Goals
What are your creative goals? The traditional way of thinking of goals is by using the SMART acronym: goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. For example, “draft a short story this week” is more specific than the vague “write more.” Likewise, “set up a book pre-order campaign in the next month” is more achievable (and under our control) than “hit a best-seller list.”
Once you decide on creative goals, think about how you can break them into specific steps and measure the results over time. Will you use word count? Time spent? Projects finished? That’s up to you, and it might change over the course of a project. First drafts might be measured in words, for instance, but might be tracked differently during revision (when word count might decrease or change minimally after hours of hard work).
I do find that the nature of writing sometimes makes the SMART approach tricky. For revisions, I track the hours spent each week and use that as my monthly goal. But if I set out to complete a novel revision, and one big change affects more of the story than I expected, the work expands. So as much as my planning brain wants a neat set of logical steps, I set a schedule for March, with a “reevaluate this plan in April” approach. (I’ll talk about technology and tools in a later post, but I use the free app Trello to create four weekly lists for the month.)
You can set the bar low, too. Maybe fifteen minutes a day of reading poetry or rereading something you’ve already written is enough right now. You can decide to add to your goals next month. We all need to take good self-care.
Once you decide on creative goals, think about how you can break them into specific steps and measure the results over time. Will you use word count? Time spent? Projects finished? That’s up to you, and it might change over the course of a project. First drafts might be measured in words, for instance, but might be tracked differently during revision (when word count might decrease or change minimally after hours of hard work).
I do find that the nature of writing sometimes makes the SMART approach tricky. For revisions, I track the hours spent each week and use that as my monthly goal. But if I set out to complete a novel revision, and one big change affects more of the story than I expected, the work expands. So as much as my planning brain wants a neat set of logical steps, I set a schedule for March, with a “reevaluate this plan in April” approach. (I’ll talk about technology and tools in a later post, but I use the free app Trello to create four weekly lists for the month.)
You can set the bar low, too. Maybe fifteen minutes a day of reading poetry or rereading something you’ve already written is enough right now. You can decide to add to your goals next month. We all need to take good self-care.
Managing Your Writing Time
As you consider your goals, you might track how you currently spend your time. For bonus points, before you begin tracking, consider guessing: how many hours a week do you spend on creative projects? Then for seven days, monitor your time. You can handwrite your time notes, create a spreadsheet, or use a free app like Clockify.
Laura Vanderkam, author of several time management and productivity books, says, “Many of us think we know where our time goes, and we may even have a pretty good handle on this with work, but the rest of the 168 hours that make up the week can be quite surprising. . . If you want to spend your time better, you need to know how you’re spending it now.” (You can read more from my full interview with her.)
If you want a shortcut, for one week, just track the time you spend on creative projects. Does it match how much time you thought you were spending? It can be interesting to compare our actual data with what it feels like we are accomplishing.
Laura Vanderkam, author of several time management and productivity books, says, “Many of us think we know where our time goes, and we may even have a pretty good handle on this with work, but the rest of the 168 hours that make up the week can be quite surprising. . . If you want to spend your time better, you need to know how you’re spending it now.” (You can read more from my full interview with her.)
If you want a shortcut, for one week, just track the time you spend on creative projects. Does it match how much time you thought you were spending? It can be interesting to compare our actual data with what it feels like we are accomplishing.
Your Ideal Week
The nonfiction book Free to Focus is corporate-oriented, but one of the concepts that Michael Hyatt suggests that can work for creatives is making an “ideal” calendar. Look at a blank schedule for a week, then fill in set obligations. Map out the remaining time in the way that works best for your writing goals. Maybe you prefer working in long stints, where you can take advantage of flow, so you set aside some chunks of time. Or maybe you prefer shorter power sessions, and you plan those. Either way, setting up a plan for the week is often better than waiting for inspiration to strike.
Creating Accountability and Community
Some people do well with quietly setting internal goals and meeting them. Some people do better with meeting external deadlines. Some people rebel against expectations in general. 😊 For more on determining your response to inner and outer expectations, you can take a quick quiz from Gretchen Rubin (author of The Four Tendencies) for the price of your email address. (I’m a “questioner”. Feel free to share your tendency in the comments.)
I’ll talk more about accountability and communities in my next post, but if you want to get a jump on Camp NaNoWriMo, it begins April 1st. Unlike NaNoWriMo in November, with the goal of finishing a 50,000-word novel draft, April is meant to be more flexible. Communications Manager Katharine Gripp says, "Participating in a NaNoWriMo event is always fun and exciting, because there's a huge community writing together and cheering each other on. Being able to set your own writing goal during Camp can take some of the pressure off while still tapping into that big wave of energy. I've used Camp as motivation to work on finishing a novel, writing poems, working on short stories, even writing my grad school thesis! It's a good opportunity to use the NaNoWriMo tools and community to explore different kinds of creative writing."
I’ll talk more about accountability and communities in my next post, but if you want to get a jump on Camp NaNoWriMo, it begins April 1st. Unlike NaNoWriMo in November, with the goal of finishing a 50,000-word novel draft, April is meant to be more flexible. Communications Manager Katharine Gripp says, "Participating in a NaNoWriMo event is always fun and exciting, because there's a huge community writing together and cheering each other on. Being able to set your own writing goal during Camp can take some of the pressure off while still tapping into that big wave of energy. I've used Camp as motivation to work on finishing a novel, writing poems, working on short stories, even writing my grad school thesis! It's a good opportunity to use the NaNoWriMo tools and community to explore different kinds of creative writing."
Recapping (In case TL;DR)
Happy Writing!
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