May Writing Reflection

The numbers are in! For May, I had several writing goals, and I tried a lot of new things to motivate myself and hold myself accountable.

First of all, here were my guidelines for May:

• Write creatively every day
• Keep track of daily word counts
• Try voice-to-text to increase productivity
• “Pay” myself a penny a word each day (move money from checking to savings)

Here are the highlights of the month:

• I wrote 59,271 words across 7 creative projects (I didn’t count any of the writing I had to do, like work emails or lesson plans or feedback on essays)
• I started and finished 2 new projects: The Borrowed Daughter and Anything but Norma, both of which I “wrote” with my daughter 😃
• I added over 11,000 words to my main WIP, Unburnt

It’s very satisfying to have this data — I feel very productive! These numbers also give me a high bar to reach for in the upcoming months, and makes it easier to set realistic goals.

Lessons learned

• I like posting big numbers each day — I am motivated to produce more when I can see my progress
• Voice-to-text is GREAT (yet also kind of a pain) — it’s really good for getting a lot of words out, but it’s not the most accurate. I have to go back through everything to correct the many “misheard” mistakes (which range from hilarious to infuriating to inscrutable)
• I get 90% of my writing done during the week while I drive! (Again, voice-to-text is huge time saver!)
• Paying myself is fairly motivating — it mostly works as a secondary reinforcement/ reminder to write every day

Goals moving forward

• Write MORE words per day in June (I averaged about 2,500 words a day)
• Write MORE words total for June (60,000+)
• Concentrate MORE of my output on Unburnt since that’s my primary WIP (50% or more would be great!)
• Most importantly: DON’T let writing take over my life! Time with family is crucial; writing is a luxury

I know this isn’t my most entertaining post, but it’s important to me, and maybe it can help you establish a writing routine, too. If you want something more fun to read, check out my semi-secret “Traveling From Home” Page!