Bernadette Benda

I used to have a strict word count goal for my writing sessions. At that time, I was still in school and had only a few hours devoted to writing a day. Having a word count goal pushed me, and I got a lot done because of it. 

But there are different seasons in life and things change yada, yada, yada.

In other words, just having a word count goal doesn’t work for me anymore. 

Once I finished school, I made writing officially a job. Though I’m juggling three other jobs, I now have more time to write than I did before. 

This meant that my word count goal was no longer sufficient. I was fine when I had two hours to write, but with sic hours I found I could pump out waaaay more words than before.

I also am now outlining some of my novels. Word counts don’t really apply to that????

I also have a lot of editing on my hands (three novels and a short story. Don’t worry, it’s just my eyeballs bleeding), and for some reason my brain doesn’t put word count and editing together.

So, with my new six hours of writing time, I was writing with no goal in mind. I just pounded madly on the keys and tried to get as much writing done as I possible could (which was a lot).

But – this has a major flaw, and this is why I think writing goals (or deadlines) are so important. They aren’t really (at least for me) about getting things done. They are about time management.

By giving myself a goal or deadline (write two chapters a day or finish in two months), I know that at the least all I have to do is write two chapters. If I write four chapters one day, I could theoretically take that next day off.

The day off.

That’s the key phrase here.

You see, when I didn’t have a goal, I didn’t know when to take time off. I didn’t know if I had gotten what I needed to get done for the week, or if I could get done what I needed to do and take that day off.

I didn’t know when I could take a break, and that was A PROBLEM. 

So, I set deadlines and goals. That way I could know when I was behind and when I was ahead.

And because of this I no longer feel like an insane, deflated dragon.

Just my thoughts.