I use a log too, but mine is simpler with just shaded circles and vertically arranged by month so that I can see the entire year on one page, a 12 x 31 grid, thus knowing how many days of the year I actually wrote. Almost every month I miss about a whole week, but when I start to lag, the gaps encourages me to return so the spaces in the year don’t get bigger.
Thanks! I don’t have it by me at the moment as I’m traveling, but it was inspired by this fancy electric tracker which I saw on Lex Fridman and then decided to make a paper version:
My goal is to work on the third draft of my memoir. Although I am a bit stuck after revising the entire piece the past year. Going through the piece during the second drafting process was super enlightening. But now how to proceed is something I am thinking about.
I love the breakdown of outcome vs. process goals--something to emulate!
I have one process goal for 2024, which is to write for half an hour a day, on average, over the year. This has been a great lever for my outcome goals over the past couple of years; I’ve found that if I can get myself into the seat, the work is getting done.
(Perhaps most surprising of all is how unevenly distributed it has been. I met this goal in 2023, and in tallying things up this week, I found there were more than a hundred days where I didn’t log anything at all--stepped-up activity on the rest made up the difference.)
All of this sounds exactly right to me, Will! So many days you hit that 30-minutes and kept going—and they evened out the days where it couldn't happen, for whatever reason. Good work!
I'm excited to start something new but I have a lot of works in progress I need to wrap up: a script I'm co-writing with a friend, "final" revisions on my first book, plus a short story and a novella to revise and send out into the world. I noticed last year that writing fiction always takes a back seat to screenwriting (my main job) so this year is about finding time to honor my new fiction practice while still sustaining my career.
Yes! If I finish ONLY the things I've already started, I'll be ecstatic. You've got so much going on, and it's been fun to watch you folding in a new art. I know how hard that it is! Glad we're out there writing together.
Well, the outcome goal is always "at least 100 books a year," something I've done almost every year since 2006. The process goal, then, is "read at least two books a week." The rest is about what I want to read this year: always being sure to diversify my reading, to study what I'm interested in this year, to be sure I'm mixing new and old books, and to keep up my blurbing/reviewing to some level. So that's the short answer!
Do you have a set time of day that you read vs. write? I find I spend too much time trying to figure out whether I want to read or write and then once I decide, I often get so caught up in the reading or writing that I don't leave myself time that day to do the other.
Thanks for this! I have a nonfiction book project in mind, but have been struggling with how to tackle it in small increments. A spreadsheet might be more effective than a hand-written journal for the overall planning.
It’s difficult sometimes to keep projects as “play” in my mind rather than “work” so that I come to it eagerly instead of blowing it off after I come home from my day job. It can be so easy to give in to the routine of that work, the safety of it.
I totally understand what you mean about the play vs. work aspects, and how hard it is to come home to a job after the job. I think you're framing it well for yourself, for what it's worth!
Love this. My goal is to finish draft 2 of my novel ( I'm about 100,000 words and 60ish% of the way through as it stands. I aim for 350 words a day, everyday, and often do more.
But my question is, what happens when you get stuck? Should I just skip those chapters and revisit them in draft 3? I have several chunks of my novel that are just these gaping holes. I know what happens before and after but, try as I might, I just can't get myself to 'land' in those sticky chapters, no matter how many times I go at it.
I don't have a sure answer, but sometimes I think it's fine to just skip them—sometimes I back in cause and effect, once I know what happens later—and sometimes it's a sign that I don't want to write that scene, I will never want to write that scene, and I should figure out what else can go there.
You mentioned that you know what happens before and after those scenes. If I understand that correctly, it sounds like you could safely skip those scenes and write them out later since you aren't depending on the completion of the scene to know what to write next (which is, I think, what you're doing?). BUT it is still possible that, when you write those scenes, something new and amazing comes out of them that has an impact on a scene(s) that comes afterwards.
That doesn't mean you can't skip them and come back to them later; in fact, I think that if someone is so stuck on a scene that they're not making any progress in their story at all, it's safer for them to skip the scene and come back to it, as the very act of working on the rest of the story still counts as progress AND might help get the momentum that is needed to complete those scenes.
My Outcome Goal is to get my book through what I'm calling Draft 2.5/3. This thing has gone in several directions since I "finished" Draft 1, but after spending probably too long outlining and brainstorming, I think it's showing itself to me through the rewriting.
My Process Goal is to write for an hour a day, but I think I will track the word count as I go. (Nabbed the template.)
Thanks for this, Matt. You're always good for a shot in the arm.
My non-fiction will come out soon. And I'm working on two novels simultaneously. My daily writing goal is a 1000 words. For me, it's easier to write daily than sometimes. Some days I don't get to a 1000 words. That's okay, as long as I've done my best. Happy New Year! 🎉🤗🩷
It's a lot easier for me to write daily too—I'm actually a pretty awful occasional writer, in both getting to it and doing it well. Happy new year to you, and here's to many bests ahead of you!
Hey Stacy, I write nonfiction and wanted to say hi and ask a Q. I'm curious about your writing process with regards to writing versus research. Do you begin with research? Or with writing something first? I have a theory that I'm in the middle of exploring in an essay draft, a theory that essays are more enjoyable to write (and to read!) when writers start with a brain-dump, before they do any research. I reckon there are multiple benefits to brain-dumping first, that end up steering the rest of the writing process in advantageous ways. It's just something I'm thinking a lot about atm and I saw your comment and wanted to ask. I'd be interested to hear about your process
Hey Harrison. This is my first foray into narrative writing so I'm learning as I go.
In general, I believe your first premise is true. My first prize-winning essay and my most "popular" post were both basically shot from the hip.
When I began writing my book, I knew the subject, filled in some basic research and started writing. I took a wonderful book proposal masterclass with Beth Kimpton and proceeded on to querying. I had a very positive response, but most wanted to see the whole book first. So, I wrote a few more chapters, sent it to a friend for some developmental edits and realized that I didn't know enough. Now, I'm about four versions deep in revisions and have lost every reference in the mix so I went back to primary sources.
I'm about 3/4 of the way through my primary sources and my plan is lay them all out and figure out where the chapters fall together. I've learned so much more about the story this time around.
For an essay, this might be different. For a book, trying to separate chaff from grain AND find a narrative that is not "he did this then he did that then he died" is my primary goal now.
Thanks for this newsletters and all that you share about the writing process. I have been mulling over what you wrote about the second process goal. I write a lot of scene fragments as my drafting process and would like to create more change in my scenes. Do you have any suggestions or prompts for how to do that? Thank you!
I use a log too, but mine is simpler with just shaded circles and vertically arranged by month so that I can see the entire year on one page, a 12 x 31 grid, thus knowing how many days of the year I actually wrote. Almost every month I miss about a whole week, but when I start to lag, the gaps encourages me to return so the spaces in the year don’t get bigger.
I love this log, Charlotte! I'd love to see a picture of that sometime.
Thanks! I don’t have it by me at the moment as I’m traveling, but it was inspired by this fancy electric tracker which I saw on Lex Fridman and then decided to make a paper version:
https://yetch.store/en-cad/products/every-day-goal-calendar
It's so smart! Thank you!
My goal is to work on the third draft of my memoir. Although I am a bit stuck after revising the entire piece the past year. Going through the piece during the second drafting process was super enlightening. But now how to proceed is something I am thinking about.
I love the breakdown of outcome vs. process goals--something to emulate!
I have one process goal for 2024, which is to write for half an hour a day, on average, over the year. This has been a great lever for my outcome goals over the past couple of years; I’ve found that if I can get myself into the seat, the work is getting done.
(Perhaps most surprising of all is how unevenly distributed it has been. I met this goal in 2023, and in tallying things up this week, I found there were more than a hundred days where I didn’t log anything at all--stepped-up activity on the rest made up the difference.)
All of this sounds exactly right to me, Will! So many days you hit that 30-minutes and kept going—and they evened out the days where it couldn't happen, for whatever reason. Good work!
Thank you Matt! And thanks for this terrific post!
I'm excited to start something new but I have a lot of works in progress I need to wrap up: a script I'm co-writing with a friend, "final" revisions on my first book, plus a short story and a novella to revise and send out into the world. I noticed last year that writing fiction always takes a back seat to screenwriting (my main job) so this year is about finding time to honor my new fiction practice while still sustaining my career.
Yes! If I finish ONLY the things I've already started, I'll be ecstatic. You've got so much going on, and it's been fun to watch you folding in a new art. I know how hard that it is! Glad we're out there writing together.
Thanks for the encouragement, Matt! Excited for the year to come.
The 500 words, 2 typed pages makes a 130,000 word goal seem much more manageable and tangible. Definitely stealing/borrowing your tracker too.
So glad both things are useful to you!
Also, I’d like to know more about your outcomes/process goals for reading.
Seconding this!
Well, the outcome goal is always "at least 100 books a year," something I've done almost every year since 2006. The process goal, then, is "read at least two books a week." The rest is about what I want to read this year: always being sure to diversify my reading, to study what I'm interested in this year, to be sure I'm mixing new and old books, and to keep up my blurbing/reviewing to some level. So that's the short answer!
Do you have a set time of day that you read vs. write? I find I spend too much time trying to figure out whether I want to read or write and then once I decide, I often get so caught up in the reading or writing that I don't leave myself time that day to do the other.
Thanks for this! I have a nonfiction book project in mind, but have been struggling with how to tackle it in small increments. A spreadsheet might be more effective than a hand-written journal for the overall planning.
It’s difficult sometimes to keep projects as “play” in my mind rather than “work” so that I come to it eagerly instead of blowing it off after I come home from my day job. It can be so easy to give in to the routine of that work, the safety of it.
I totally understand what you mean about the play vs. work aspects, and how hard it is to come home to a job after the job. I think you're framing it well for yourself, for what it's worth!
Love this. My goal is to finish draft 2 of my novel ( I'm about 100,000 words and 60ish% of the way through as it stands. I aim for 350 words a day, everyday, and often do more.
But my question is, what happens when you get stuck? Should I just skip those chapters and revisit them in draft 3? I have several chunks of my novel that are just these gaping holes. I know what happens before and after but, try as I might, I just can't get myself to 'land' in those sticky chapters, no matter how many times I go at it.
I don't have a sure answer, but sometimes I think it's fine to just skip them—sometimes I back in cause and effect, once I know what happens later—and sometimes it's a sign that I don't want to write that scene, I will never want to write that scene, and I should figure out what else can go there.
Thank you! This is helpful!
I don't know if this helps—I HOPE this helps!—but I put together some strategies that have helped me when I feel stuck while writing or editing: https://doingthewritething.substack.com/p/writing-tips-to-help-you-get-and (the section on Writer's block or indecision/doubt).
You mentioned that you know what happens before and after those scenes. If I understand that correctly, it sounds like you could safely skip those scenes and write them out later since you aren't depending on the completion of the scene to know what to write next (which is, I think, what you're doing?). BUT it is still possible that, when you write those scenes, something new and amazing comes out of them that has an impact on a scene(s) that comes afterwards.
That doesn't mean you can't skip them and come back to them later; in fact, I think that if someone is so stuck on a scene that they're not making any progress in their story at all, it's safer for them to skip the scene and come back to it, as the very act of working on the rest of the story still counts as progress AND might help get the momentum that is needed to complete those scenes.
You're not alone! I hope this helps. Good luck!
Hi Matt!
Thank you for sharing your tracking template! I appreciate you making your resources available to other writers - I saved a copy of it!
You're welcome, Kaitlynn!
I think I might go for the 500 words/5 days a week myself!
Hell yeah. It's a good steady pace!
My Outcome Goal is to get my book through what I'm calling Draft 2.5/3. This thing has gone in several directions since I "finished" Draft 1, but after spending probably too long outlining and brainstorming, I think it's showing itself to me through the rewriting.
My Process Goal is to write for an hour a day, but I think I will track the word count as I go. (Nabbed the template.)
Thanks for this, Matt. You're always good for a shot in the arm.
I love this, Kyle: "finish a draft" is a very good outcome goal—I wish I'd said that, as opposed to "finish the book," which is so much more nebulous!
My non-fiction will come out soon. And I'm working on two novels simultaneously. My daily writing goal is a 1000 words. For me, it's easier to write daily than sometimes. Some days I don't get to a 1000 words. That's okay, as long as I've done my best. Happy New Year! 🎉🤗🩷
It's a lot easier for me to write daily too—I'm actually a pretty awful occasional writer, in both getting to it and doing it well. Happy new year to you, and here's to many bests ahead of you!
Love this! Thanks, Matt.
Thank you, friend! Happy new year!
Thank you for this! Happy new year.
Happy new year, Annie!
I’m deep in non- fiction research. Is it ok to count words on notecards as writing?
Immersion into primary sources has helped me see unexpected connections. 🤞this will pay off when I start to write.
Hey Stacy, I write nonfiction and wanted to say hi and ask a Q. I'm curious about your writing process with regards to writing versus research. Do you begin with research? Or with writing something first? I have a theory that I'm in the middle of exploring in an essay draft, a theory that essays are more enjoyable to write (and to read!) when writers start with a brain-dump, before they do any research. I reckon there are multiple benefits to brain-dumping first, that end up steering the rest of the writing process in advantageous ways. It's just something I'm thinking a lot about atm and I saw your comment and wanted to ask. I'd be interested to hear about your process
Hey Harrison. This is my first foray into narrative writing so I'm learning as I go.
In general, I believe your first premise is true. My first prize-winning essay and my most "popular" post were both basically shot from the hip.
When I began writing my book, I knew the subject, filled in some basic research and started writing. I took a wonderful book proposal masterclass with Beth Kimpton and proceeded on to querying. I had a very positive response, but most wanted to see the whole book first. So, I wrote a few more chapters, sent it to a friend for some developmental edits and realized that I didn't know enough. Now, I'm about four versions deep in revisions and have lost every reference in the mix so I went back to primary sources.
I'm about 3/4 of the way through my primary sources and my plan is lay them all out and figure out where the chapters fall together. I've learned so much more about the story this time around.
For an essay, this might be different. For a book, trying to separate chaff from grain AND find a narrative that is not "he did this then he did that then he died" is my primary goal now.
I hope that helps and good luck with your piece!
Thanks for this newsletters and all that you share about the writing process. I have been mulling over what you wrote about the second process goal. I write a lot of scene fragments as my drafting process and would like to create more change in my scenes. Do you have any suggestions or prompts for how to do that? Thank you!