read, write, ramble

Category: Write Page 2 of 6

The writer’s progress: 2016 edition

In which I reflect on my writing progress during the course of 2016, aided as ever by by my trusty Google Sheets Writing Log.

writing log feature image

A free wordcount tracker for 2017

Before I launch into my next post, which will be all about analysing my writing efforts during 2016, I thought it might be useful to share my Writing Log template that I’ve been using for the last few years.

It’s very simple, does most of the calculations for you (monthly totals, averages, etc, etc) – all you need to do is to enter the number of words you’ve written, or edited, each day. I find it particularly useful for working out what my average wordcount is, and for tracking when I’ve been particularly productive, or anticipating when those seasonal slumps might occur.

The download link is below (a zipped up excel file) but I can always share the Google Sheets original if you travel that way. Jump down if you want to get stuck in, or read on for a breakdown of each column:

  • Session – choose between morning, lunch or evening, depending on when you did your writing (or add something else in the Lookups sheet)
  • Action – select write or edit or, if you missed that day entirely, select n/a (this is used to keep a total of the days you’ve missed). Again, you can add different entries in the Lookup sheet if you want.
  • Word count – you don’t really need me to cover this one, do you…?
  • Title – I like to enter the title of whatever story I’m working on
  • Draft – I also like to keep track of which draft of a story I’m working on. Add different entries in the Lookup sheet, if that’s your thing.
  • Target/Actual – I don’t use these, but I’ve left them in anyway.
  • Total/Written/Edited – these are all calculated columns, so let them do their thing
  • Notes – if I missed a day, I usually like to put in the reason here. Also, if I hit a particular milestone (e.g. finishing a first draft) I also like to put it here.

There’s a worksheet called 2017 Totals where some more of the magic happens. As you progress through the year you’ll be able to see your monthly totals and averages here.

If you happen to use this and have any questions, use the comments below or find me on twitter. In the meantime, here’s the link:

Writing update: March 2016

March wasn’t one of my best writing months, but despite missing a bunch of days, it turned out to be almost as productive as February. Which was weird.

Writing update: February 2016

Well, it’s March already which means it’s time to share with you all the gory details about my writing exploits during February. (It wasn’t actually gory, of course … apart from that one time …)

Writing Update: January 2016

I did a brief update on my January writing efforts a couple of weeks ago, but here’s the formal update with stats and all sorts of exciting stuff.

an update on my shorts

I’m having an unusually productive writing month at the moment, and a typically unproductive lunchbreak, so why not share with you the current status of some of my short story writing projects?

writing tracker

2015 writing update

Here’s a post I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while and … basically, not. Luckily, the start of a new year is always a good time to take stock of how you’ve spent the last 12 months, so here’s a look back at how my writing efforts went in 2015.

What percentage diversity?

In which a white, male, heterosexual author continues to indulgently agonise over how best to represent diversity in his (largely unread) work.

Quick writing exercises

I noticed recently that my writing (at least in my first drafts) is getting a bit limited in terms of expressiveness, vocabulary, and so on. A quick google search for ‘writing exercises’ uncovered plenty of ideas for kickstarting the flow of creative juices and building good habits; but not so many that focused on improving the quality of your prose. So, I decided to come up with some of my own.

Writing update: May 2015

While May wasn’t quite my worst writing month to date (at least since Morning Shift records began) it was still pretty bad. And, yet, in some other ways, it was also one of my most successful months so far.

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