So for December, I am at just under twelve thousand words of a twenty five thousand word goal. Slightly less than halfway there, with more than two-thirds of the time gone.
Anemic as my progression towards my goal has been, I still think that it has been an essential motivating factor this month. I mentioned work business in my last post, and it didn’t abate at any point. I’m now away on my christmas break, and I intend to catch up quickly.
And, because I have a goal, I know where I need to catch up to feel satisfied.
I’ve tried setting various goals before – I posted on here about 500 words a day. The thing about a daily challenge is that, well, life doesn’t like letting days go as you plan. In any given day, you have better than even odds of something going on, which may or may not prevent you writing. Writing every day isn’t always possible. Having a daily goal just ended up being a succession of failures, and then when I did manage to write I only worked to the daily goal.
Longer term goals give you flexibility to fall behind, and pressure to catch back up. You may not always be up to date with where you should be, but you know where you should be, and push yourself to meet that expectation.
Other people being aware of your goal, and encouraging you towards meeting it always helps. It’s not quite the same impetus as for NaNoWriMo, but it helps scratch the same itch.
Namaste,
Glynn
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