A little while ago, I mentioned keeping logs of your writing sessions as a way to help you stay motivated on your projects and to avoid burnout. And then I said I’d elaborate on that, so here I am!
I myself am relatively new to keeping records of my writing sessions, but already they’ve helped me to hold myself more accountable when it comes to sitting down to write. Here’s a look at the general spreadsheet I’ve created to keep track of what I’m doing when I write, with some information drawn out to avoid spoilers.
Let’s go over why I included each one and how each column helps me track what I’ve been doing and how I can improve.
As one would guess, the purpose here is to see how consistently I’ve been working on what I’ve been working on. Seeing just the date could be helpful, but then I would have trouble seeing which projects might need a little bit more love. Seeing just the projects helps me see which ones I’m making progress on, but not how consistently I’m doing it. So I record both!
Simple Goal and Simple Progress.
For me personally, I do best when I have a quota and a content goal to fulfill. The simple goal is what I want to do in terms of words on the page. This manifests for me usually as words or finishing sections, though sometimes it’s also in terms of time. To me, the simple goal is putting words on a page, no matter what direction they go in.
Project Goal and Project Progress.
This is where I give my simple goal a direction to follow, and then I compare that to the direction I actually took and what I was able to do. This is good for me because I can look at my log and see what I’ve been doing to determine my next content goal as opposed to reading over the past couple pages and possibly missing the context.
In essence: The combination of simple and project goals says, “I want to do this in this many words/by the end of this chapter or section/in this much time.”
Honestly, it’s cool to look back and see how much time you’ve spent on your writing, especially because it’s so important to so many of us. It’s a form of validation for me, seeing that actual time of mine has gone into doing something I love. Functionally, you can also check out your typing speed in WPM, or you can note any sessions where the words might have come more easily or it might’ve been tougher to write.
This one is important but often overlooked. How did you feel about your writing as you were writing it? This may help you in editing, especially if you’re able to note any areas that you didn’t feel great about that need more love in future drafts.
These are the things that it was most effective for me personally to document, but these aren’t the only possibilities! Here are some other ideas:
type of development (writing, read-through, outlining, character development)
changes made in the draft to be accounted for in future drafts
time of day when you started writing
anything that affects you as a writer that you think is worth noting!
Though I’ve not been doing it for very long, documenting my writing sessions has done a lot for my motivation as a writer, and I really recommend it for anyone who’s considering giving it a try. Until next time, happy writing! <3
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