September IWSG Systems

Hey everybody! Hope you’re all doing fantastic! Today is the first Wednesday of a new month so it’s time again for another IWSG. :D

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of success books and I’ve noticed they talk a lot about systems and habits and how they can make or break you in the long run. I’ve also heard from other very successful writers that they make time to write every day so I decided to create my own system and hopefully in the process, create a habit. I’ve always been a sporadic writer and so for the month of August, I wrote out a chart on my dry erase board with a slot for each day from Sunday to Saturday and told myself that every day I was going to write down a word count of 200 words or more and then record it all on my calendar. The first week I wrote 1,838 words, averaging at about 262 words a day. Not too bad. Then the next week I totaled 1,876 words, averaging at about 268 words a day. Admittedly I did miss a day that week to work on edits, but overall, still not too bad. Then the third week I started gaining a little ground. I wrote 1,992 words and averaged about 285 words. I missed another day for editing, but there was still a pretty good jump in my word counts. Week four saw a big jump. I wrote a total of 2,758 words and averaged 394 words a day! Woohoo! Now for those marathon writers out there that pull in about 3,000 words a day, this might look like nothing, but for me, it was huge! After all was said and totaled up, for the entire month of August I wrote 8,809 words and I’m pulling in more every day. I also find that when I sit down to write, the story comes easier, I’m not fighting myself as much to get the word counts in and I’m mostly stopping for the day because I have to go to bed and get up at a decent time the next day. (Don’t underestimate the importance of a good night’s sleep! It can make all the difference!) Now I’m bumping my goals up a little higher. I’m trying to do no less than 400 words a day and climbing all the time. I no longer feel so behind on my course novel and am feeling pretty good about where I’m at. I also finally submitted to my local writer’s guild’s contest  that I’ve promised myself I’d do for the past two years(hence the two days missed for editing J).

So how about you? Do you have any systems you put in place to help your writing out? Let me know in the comments below! ;D

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a wonderful place where writers can share their worries and failures as well as their successes and advice. Led by our fearless leader Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG meets the first Wednesday of every month and you can join on his site here. There's also a brand new website now so be sure to check it out here.