I have a probably unhealthy obsession with tracking my writing habits. I’ve got 12 years of data about how much I write and for the last eight years or so I’ve been pretty aggressive about writing every day and tracking how many words I write including whether that’s new words, revising, or rewriting.
I’ve also done a few writing streaks. My longest was over 5 years but I was starting to get burned out so ended up taking a bit of a break after that. I started a new streak at the end of last year, though, and on Wednesday I hit day 200.
Word count for those 200 days was a very respectable 184,840 words. A fair chunk of that was revision but I did wrap up the first book in my new series and a prequel novella. Timing for those books is still up in the air but at least one should be out later this year.
Writing streaks aren’t a good fit for everyone but they’ve certainly helped me keep up momentum. I’ve done streaks for exercise as well but not as aggressively. Run streaks are gaining popularity but there’s a physical cost to running every day that I’m not sure is worth paying. At least for me.
But sitting in front of a keyboard every day and making up stories? That, I can do.
I read somewhere that it takes two weeks of doing something every day for it to become a habit that you’re uncomfortable skipping. I certainly find that with my writing so if there’s some goal you’d like to hit, maybe starting a walking/juggling/dancing/cooking/whatever streak is the way to.
Until next time. Stay safe.
