No, not the heading of a graph. This concerns goal-setting in writing.
I can't really say I'm consistent with which kind of goal I'll set (when I do set them). In general, I'll use a time goal because I like to update The Long and Winding Road at least every five days. In actual writing sessions, though, rarely is my goal based on time. On occasions where I just feel uninspired, I may break out my iTunes track of songs of alternating length—one about two minutes, the next longer—and write as much as I can during the shorter songs while resting on the longer ones. I've done something similar with commercial breaks, but I can only manage that when I'm actually interested in the show, which isn't often.
The other goal I'll set is distance, or word count. This is, of course, the way I go about NaNoWriMo, and it's also how I'll use Write or Die (although it is designed to go with either type of goal-setting). In general, I measure my progress by how many words I've churned out, since measuring the time doesn't make that much sense when I'm not being productive for every second of it. I'm necessarily productive for every word I get out (unless everything's ridiculously uninspired or it's too late at night for me to get out anything coherent). It's also easier to know exactly where I'm going on a broader scale, since I like to keep my chapter lengths more or less consistent.
How about you? Time or word count? Or page count? Or something else entirely?
P.S. The Action Girls has for some reason gotten over 100 views this month when the others around it have about 11. I have no idea what's going on with that, but thanks?
Those sound like pretty structured ways of writing! Me, I usually just write until I lose inspiration or, like you said, it's too late in the day to get out anything coherent. These are usually in periods of, I'd ay, 2-3 hours at a time. So whereas your stories seem to be written in frequent, steady stretches, mine are in infrequent but long bursts. (Most of the time I'll laze around, too nervous or uninspired to start writing, for several months, and then write the actual chapter in a couple days. If I actually had any sense of motivation, I could probably have finished my story within a year DX).
ReplyDeleteOn the by-writing-session level, that's really what I do, too, unless I feel bad about not writing [much] in a while, in which case I may force myself by the other means mentioned here.
DeleteHaha, I do the same thing, but more ADHD-like. I'll get really depressed about it, and then some idea happens and I have to start writing or I'll start quivering like I'm on a caffeine high.
I'm sure you've made plenty of progress on other fronts in that time, yes?
Right, for sure ... well, I've graduated from high school since I started writing Unstained, so that has to be something, eh?
DeleteIndeed!
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