What benefit are progress journals?
- Thread starter Trish
- Start date
Dogberry's Watch
New Member
I don't have one on here but I did on the old forum until the end of last year. I used it primarily to hold myself accountable as well as a place to write my thoughts about what I'd gotten done. Kind of a little "I still love to write!" for myself. Only reason I don't have one here is because I pay for a personal site I wasn't using and I figure I should start using it.
buttercream
New Member
I'd say keeping a progress journal has been helpful. Mine is a bit different from the way people here do theirs, though. I set a wordcount goal for the year and then individual goals for each month. I only ever use it at the beginning and end of each month to report whether or not I've accomplished anything. Daily totals stay in my planner. Ramblings stay in my head, notes, and texts to friends.
Tracking what I get done made me realize I'm not as lazy as I think I am. I'm not as prolific as I'd like to be, even with the pressure of meeting the goal I've publicly set motivating me to actually sit down and write, but apparently I'm still pretty productive! It's also helped me better balance my projects, as someone who usually has a million and one WIPs at a time.
I wouldn't say it's one of the best things I've done or something that's absolutely necessary, but it's undoubtedly beneficial.
The worst part about it is having to muster the courage to admit when I didn't do the thing I said I'd do. Let's not talk about how often that's happened.
Tracking what I get done made me realize I'm not as lazy as I think I am. I'm not as prolific as I'd like to be, even with the pressure of meeting the goal I've publicly set motivating me to actually sit down and write, but apparently I'm still pretty productive! It's also helped me better balance my projects, as someone who usually has a million and one WIPs at a time.
I wouldn't say it's one of the best things I've done or something that's absolutely necessary, but it's undoubtedly beneficial.
The worst part about it is having to muster the courage to admit when I didn't do the thing I said I'd do. Let's not talk about how often that's happened.
Darkthought
New Member
They give you an excuse to procrastinate about whatever you're avoiding writing instead. Every writer needs something like that.
They are called progress journals - but they can record a writer's progress through different things - whether it is the milestones you reach in writing a novel, or your experiments with short stories, or your writing journey overall.
They are a place where the writer can reflect on where they are as they climb the hill to being a "better writer."
They are a place where the writer can reflect on where they are as they climb the hill to being a "better writer."
As others have mentioned, it's a great way to keep oneself accountable. It's like a reminder - hey, am I doing writing stuff like I aim to, or am I neglecting my stories, submissions, etc. It can serve as a motivator, like, ah crap I haven't done shit for the past 3 weeks, I should write another short and enter a contest or something.
What I've really enjoyed has been tracking the numbers, specifically for novel writing and for time spent querying/submitting. This can be motivating as well. For example, here are the stats for my most recent novel:
136 hours writing
94.5 hours editing
230.5 hours total
Sometimes writing a new novel seems an impossible task, but with numbers you are reminded that it's absolutely doable, even if you're only writing on days off and weekends, as I do. 230 hours? Yeah, I can set aside that much time over 6-8 months, easy. And then you can get into the fun stats like average words per day, words per session, all kinds of stuff.
Keeping a progress journal helps keep me focused and is a constant reminder that I gotta keep going with the writing activities.
What I've really enjoyed has been tracking the numbers, specifically for novel writing and for time spent querying/submitting. This can be motivating as well. For example, here are the stats for my most recent novel:
136 hours writing
94.5 hours editing
230.5 hours total
Sometimes writing a new novel seems an impossible task, but with numbers you are reminded that it's absolutely doable, even if you're only writing on days off and weekends, as I do. 230 hours? Yeah, I can set aside that much time over 6-8 months, easy. And then you can get into the fun stats like average words per day, words per session, all kinds of stuff.
Keeping a progress journal helps keep me focused and is a constant reminder that I gotta keep going with the writing activities.
What Set2Stun said!
It keeps me organized and focused. I've always been a writer, but it wasnt until I started a progress journal in 2019 that i actually finished writing my novel. Before then, I would write, and then another idea would pop up and I'd chase that idea and write it until ANOTHER idea came up.... and in the end, have all these half written stories or ideas.
With my Progress Journal, i listed out all current ideas i'd done significant writing on (like over 20-30k words). Then I picked the top 3-4 that either had the most words written on it or the most branch ideas.
Then those became my main focuses that i rotated around. Eventually, I narrowed it down to 1.
I found it really helpful to have it. Like, it gave me a place to vent, to pat myself on the back, to make goals and check them off, and to get encouragement. on the old forum, i would vent and share the current issue in my WIP and others would see it and comment suggestions or research support.
It keeps me organized and focused. I've always been a writer, but it wasnt until I started a progress journal in 2019 that i actually finished writing my novel. Before then, I would write, and then another idea would pop up and I'd chase that idea and write it until ANOTHER idea came up.... and in the end, have all these half written stories or ideas.
With my Progress Journal, i listed out all current ideas i'd done significant writing on (like over 20-30k words). Then I picked the top 3-4 that either had the most words written on it or the most branch ideas.
Then those became my main focuses that i rotated around. Eventually, I narrowed it down to 1.
I found it really helpful to have it. Like, it gave me a place to vent, to pat myself on the back, to make goals and check them off, and to get encouragement. on the old forum, i would vent and share the current issue in my WIP and others would see it and comment suggestions or research support.
