The new year is just around the corner, and across the globe, writers are drawing up resolutions to get their novels finished, short stories published, and coffee drinking under control. Goals can be powerful tools, but they need to be both challenging and attainable. This begs the question: for a writer, what are reasonable goals?
Baseline
I know every writer is in a different place in life, so the benchmarks I’m going to present will vary drastically from person to person. But for now, I’m going to assume you’re not a full-time author. I’m also going to assume you either work, attend school, or manage a household since I think that’s true of most of us.
Word Count Goals
Measuring your progress via a numerical value can be very appealing for those of us achiever-type personalities. The alternative is measuring your productivity by time committed. I’ll get to that soon, but for now, let’s talk about reasonable word count goals.
Beginners
If you’re relatively new to writing (maybe you decided to start this year), you shouldn’t expect yourself to output the same level of production as the more seasoned writers. That will come with time, but for now, you should write at least 250 words a day. This comes out to be about one page if you’re working on a novel. For most genres, this will get you through the first draft of your book in a year! That sounds like a long time, but many people spend much longer than that on their first attempt. In terms of articles written, you can easily do one per week at this rate — a formidable goal for new-comers.
Intermediate Writers
If you’ve been in the game for a little longer, 250 words is a good start, but it won’t challenge you enough. A first draft in one year might be fitting for a newbie, but for the second draft or even second novel, you want to shave that down a lot. If you have a bit of experience as a writer, 600 words is a good minimum to shoot for. I would recommend more, depending on your ability and speed, but again, that’s for you to decide. In terms of a novel, this will allow you to complete a draft in ~5 months.
Seasoned Writers
Many professional authors pump out a book year, sometimes more. Columnists and/or writers here on Medium manage 3–7 articles a week. These prolific writers accomplish their goals through a consistent routine, not through sporadic inspiration. If you’re serious about writing, you should write at least 1,300 words each day. It’s a challenge, I know, but a doable one. As far as novels go, this is a draft in about 2.5 months. That’s exactly what we want, according to Mr. King.
The first draft of a book — even a long one — should take no more than three months, the length of a season
~ Stephen King
For nonfiction, this could easily amount to 3 lengthy articles or a half a dozen shorter ones.
Time-Driven Goals
These goals are ideal for writers in the midst of plotting, researching, constructing characters, or just about anything related to writing that isn’t actually putting fingers to keys. It can also be fitting for beginners who aren’t as fast and might get discouraged by low word counts.
Beginners
The trick when you start out is to find an amount of time that allows you to get into a flow without burning out. When I first started, around 20–30 minutes a day felt right, and I would recommend the same for others. If this seems too short and cuts off your creativity before it gets going, by all means, go as far beyond this as you like. Just be careful to choose a pace that’s maintainable day-to-day.
Intermediate Writers
By now, your writing muscle can withstand more work without burnout. Ideally, you should be able to find a place in your day to dedicate 45 minutes to one hour to writing. It’s around this time that you start to hit your stride as a writer, and your words will flow without pause.
Seasoned Writers
Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can’t expect to become a good writer.
~ Stephen King
Boy does that advice hurt. While I doubt this is 100% accurate, it still shows us this craft requires dedication.
But the truth is we don’t all have that kind of time. I wish I could just spend my days reading and writing. But I can’t. I have a job, I have classes, I have relationships, and I have a life.
Let’s remember what we’re evaluating. What are attainable goals for writers? 4–6 hours is not attainable for most working citizens (sorry Mr. King). So what should we shoot for instead? If you aim to make writing your career, you should consider spending a minimum of 1.5 hours a day writing with additional reading on top of that. I would say shoot for 2 hours whenever possible. Writing is a competitive field, and only the hardest workers and most talented are able to leave their day jobs and pursue it as a career. Give yourself every advantage by practicing as much as possible.
Writing a competitive field, and only the hardest workers and most talented are able to leave their day jobs and pursue it as a career.
10 tips for accomplishing these goals
I might write a full article on this later, but while you’re here, I want to give you some ideas on how to make these goals a reality.
- Write before you start your day.
- Do weekly goals of the same proportions as above.
- Schedule times on your calendar to write. Don’t break this obligation.
- Tell your friends and family about the goals so they can keep you accountable.
- Spend less time on Netflix. I know it’s hard.
- Read often to find inspiration.
- Remind yourself why this is important to you, why you have this dream.
- Write during lunch breaks and commutes. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish.
- Switch things up and write in a notebook on occasion.
- Sleep less. Not ideal, but sometimes necessary.
This year might not be the year you become a published novelist, and it might not even be your best writing year yet. But with reasonable goals, this year can be the year you improve the most as a writer. Go out there and make it happen.
