Last July I wrote a post about how to reach your writing goals with Beeminder and Draft. What if you’re having a hard time reaching your word count goal though? Some days you may just be too busy to write, and other days, you may not be sure what to write about. This is particularly hard if you’re a freelance writer and currently not getting much writing work. Here are a few ideas for reaching your word count goals every day.
Start a blog.
If you don’t already have one, start a blog about a subject you enjoy talking about on a free website like WordPress.com. If you’re not sure what to blog about, think about subjects you like, things you’re currently in the process of doing (I blog a lot about my experiences in my new house on my blog The Erica Upgrade Project), or life changes you may be going through – writing can be a great way to deal with difficult times and even find support from others who may have gone through what you’re going through.
Start a journal.
If you’re still not sure what to blog about, start by keeping a personal journal. You can create one right on Draft be creating a folder called “Personal Journal” or whatever you want to call it. Start writing about the things you do every day – even the most mundane things like your job – reading your past entries can be a great way to discover you need to make some change in your life. And when something big does happen in your life, it can be a great place to spill your heart out about it without having to worry about the world (or at least a small part of it) seeing what you’ve written.
Read a little every day.
Read a little bit every day. One of my places to find articles to read is on Medium – a lot of people who write on that platform have great advice and great experiences to write about that give me ideas for other things to read or try, which gives me more topics I can write about in Draft and post on my websites and Medium.
Write about programs or movies you watch.
One program that I’ve become a huge fan of, and that has inspired some of my writings, is the Walking Dead. I’ve watched it for a few seasons now but had to catch up on past seasons first so I would understand what was going on. I couldn’t believe what was going on in that show. I know it’s all fake and that the chance of something like that happening is remote, but it made me realize if something ever did happen where people were left to fend for themselves, we’d have to be ready. I wasn’t using Draft at that time, but if I had been, I wouldn’t have had any problem reaching my word count goals.
Don’t forget to take breaks
Don’t forget to occasionally take breaks from writing. Taking is a great way to come up with new ideas. If you’re going out of town for an extended period of time and know you won’t be able to reach your writing goal every day, you can always set up a break in Beeminder. Just be sure to set it up well ahead of time so you’re not accidentally charged for not reaching your writing goal during that time. You may want to keep a written journal during this time to record any experiences you have – this is a great way to come up with new ideas for topics to write about when you get back.
Remember, you can set a buffer when you first start using Beeminder
When you first start using Beeminder, you can set a buffer of so many days that you have before you have to make progress on your word count goal – if you hit your daily goal before then, you’ll still have some extra buffer to use if you should fall behind in the future. This is great to use when you know you’re going to be out of town for a few days and may not be able to hit your word count goals.
I hope these tips and ideas have helped you figure out how you’re going to hit your Beeminder word count goal. If you’re already using Beeminder and Draft and have other tips to share, I’d love to hear them – be sure to comment below.
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