I write like I run—slow and steady with much complaining.
I think that’s why when my author friend introduced her method of getting her word count in for the day, it resonated with me so much. She told me to simply write short word count goals on a piece of paper and then cross out with an X those goals as you hit them.
Simple. So I decided to try it. And believe it or not, it worked.
Here is an example of my sheet:
10,735 10,985 11,235
I obviously set 250 word count goals. As I wrote, and hit each goal, I took a pretty gel pen color and made a X over the number. It’s amazing how satisfying it is to do that. Just like Tony Robbins said, “Progress is the ultimate motivation.”
So true.
I soon found myself wanting to write a little more just so I could cross out a number. And then I found myself squeezing in writing time so I could simply hit a goal and cross out a number.
All mind games, really. Much like running. But little by little, I hope to end up completing a 5K (word count) before the end of the month. J
As I explained to my critique group, this little trick isn’t reinventing the wheel, but sometimes just looking at writing differently, can help change your progress.
Try it and let me know if it helps you!
Do you have any writing tricks to help you write more?
Jennifer Shirk is a USA Today bestselling sweet romance author for Montlake and Entangled Publishing who also happens to be a mom, pharmacist, Red Sox fan, P90x grad, and overall nice person. 🙂