Writers Write!

by Eileen Herbert-Goodall

Achieving quality writing entails crafting one good sentence after another. This deceptively simple process demands a healthy dose of courage as one stares down a blank page, along with a serious commitment to finishing a creative piece. But how do you hold yourself to account when it comes to achieving productivity? There’s no straight-forward answer to this: every writer works differently according to time availability, lifestyle, etc. Suffice it to say, though, that a writing plan can go a long way towards bringing your goals to fruition.

When I use the term “plan” here, I don’t mean mapping out plot development or character arcs (although, these practices can be incredibly useful); rather, I’m referring to identifying and marking out – day by day, week by week, month by month – what it is, exactly, you aim to achieve with your writing.

How, then, does one go about devising such a plan? What specific goals should a plan entail? What factors need to be considered when tailoring a plan to meet your particular needs? Possible answers will be explored more fully in a 3-hour QWC workshop, titled The Writers’ Resolution, to be held on January 16, 2021. For now, I’d like to provide a few tips with regards to tackling your writing and publishing aspirations.

1: Specify Achievable Goals

When setting writing goals, be reasonable and take your daily schedule into account. Completing 5000 words every day would likely be a tall order for most of us, but perhaps 750 words per day is achievable. Alternatively, you might set yourself the task of writing at least a couple of hundred words four to five times a week. It all adds up!

2: Make Sure Your Goals are Measurable

So, you want to become a better writer…fair enough. As writers, it’s reasonable to assume we all aim to continuously improve. The problem with this somewhat abstract goal is that it’s extremely difficult to measure in terms of success. Try coming up with more definite goals, such as finishing one short story per month for six months; or, finishing one chapter of a novel every week until your manuscript is completed. Similarly, you might aim to have two short stories published across a six-month period. Measurable goals are specific goals.

3: Record Your Productivity

A simple way to measure your writing productivity/success is to keep a writing journal/diary. This allows you to check your progress by adding up the total number of words written within a day or week. Check out the free online tracker, Write Track, which calculates how many words you need to complete daily/weekly in order to achieve your writing goals. This easy-to-use tool presents your productivity as a simple bar graph, flagging whether you’re ahead or behind with your daily word output.

4: Be Strategic with Submissions

Identify publishing outlets (magazines, journals, publishers, competitions, etc.) that seem a likely “fit” for your work. For instance, if you write short sci-fi, you might consider contacting outlets like Asimov or The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. If you create contemporary works that question the status quo, then you might target journals like Overland or Meanjin. It’s well-worth doing a little research in order to better understand where your work might sit within the literary landscape.

Regardless of what you write (and when), one reality remains constant: no one else is going to do the work for you. It’s therefore crucial that you turn up for your writing practice, whatever this might look like. The very act of regularly being present in your creative space means you’re open to receiving ideas. Don’t lose heart if you feel uninspired at some point or other; instead, take the opportunity to free-write, recording whatever comes to mind about your storyline, characters, setting, dialogue snippets, etc., and begin getting the words down. Because, above all else, writers write!