How do you measure progress with your writing group?

How do you measure your writing progress?

A few weeks ago, the members of an accountability group I'm part of discussed the best ways to measure writing progress on our manuscripts. This started me thinking about metrics and I jotted down their ideas, plus I asked some other authors outside of the group for their experiences, too, As a result, I pulled together a list of ways authors quantify headway on their writing projects or process.

There's no 'right' or 'wrong' with any of these methods. The idea is: In whatever way you measure, the measuring should motivate you to keep going. So, some of the following approaches might work for you and others not so much. For example, I've met people who love to count numbers of words--it gets them excited about keeping up momentum on their projects. But others look at that same metric and feel so overwhelmed at the notion of reaching a pre-determined word volume they don't do any work at all.

All this to say, use what works for you. If you want to boost your progress, or you're feeling stuck in a rut, or you simply want to experiment with your productivity, check out these measurement ideas:

• Due Dates & Schedules. Everyone I spoke with sets time boundaries on their projects. The time goal posts could be broad (such as, 'by the end of the year') or more specific (as in, on such-and-such a date). Many authors said they also establish writing schedules. The schedules ranged from daily to weekly to monthly and the time periods varied. Some people booked as little as 10-15 minutes on a regular basis, while others planned for several hours over a longer period of time.

  
  

• Number of Words. Based on my research, many writers count words. They might have daily, weekly or more rarely monthly goals, but they aim for a word number target and work to achieve that target within the time period they set. The time periods varied--some had daily word count goals, others set word count goals for the week or the month.

  
  

• Time Spent. I found this is a very popular approach among writers, too. Many set a schedule and were not concerned with how much progress on their project they achieved, as long as they fulfilled the time period set aside for writing. Again, the time periods varied--some established minutes or hours of work per day or week or month. Several writers who used this method told me they blocked their writing times in their calendars.

  
  

• Pages Completed. A couple of authors, who have series, know exactly what they have to accomplish to produce their next book. They organize the length of the book, structure the chapters and plan out the pacing. In order to finish the project by the due date they've set, they aim for a certain number of pages per writing session.

  
  

• Beats/Scenes/Chapters Completed. A couple of writers told me they write in chunks (note, the time required and the word count varied by chunk). As they plan their book, they establish plot milestones in the form of beats, scenes or chapters and assign due dates to reach the milestones. With that in mind, they write in chunks, sometimes in story order, but sometimes they skip around or write key beats/scenes first, then fill in between the beats/scenes with the rest of the book.

  
  

• Goal-Steps Completed. One author I connected with said he breaks down his entire book (a big goal) into multiple steps (many smaller goals) and assigns completion dates for each step. He explained he's only concerned with achieving each smaller goal by the due date, and works out his writing schedule accordingly, which changes based on the book.

BTW, almost all the authors I spoke with said that as important as measuring our productivity is, it's equally important to reward ourselves when we reach achieve our aims, small or large.

So, how do you measure your progress? And do you share your progress with your writing group, like I do? I'd love to hear from you!