At the beginning of 2023, I decided to have a lofty goal of writing 1500 words a day. I said that I would fail at this and I did, sort of.

Of course I haven’t been able to keep up with 1500 words a day while having a full time job and working on the final edits of my short story collection.

However my new accountability writing partner and I have decided to kick it up a notch and meet three times a week instead of once. And we came up with this new schedule because I was complaining about not meeting my lofty writing goal.

So I think this is a win, not a failure because having an accountability partner to write with three times a week will ensure I meet my more realistic goal of 500 to 1500 words, three days a week.

Kel Weinhold, who is an excellent writing coach advises, writers touch their work-in-progress at least five minutes each day on the days they aren’t writing. For me, what is difficult about writing is getting into it. By touching your project in some way each day (could be reading something related to it, opening a doc, doing a to-do-list, sending an email, researching something) you’re in it, so it’s not as big of hurdle to get going on the days and times you’ve actually set aside to write.

The Stepford Wives (1972 edition) | Open Library

Yesterday I “touched” my project by reading 1972 novel The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. Next I’m going to rewatch the film.

I’m writing a horror, so want to immerse myself in the genre.

Let me know if you have any horror recommendations.

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Having an accountability writing partner and a clear goal in terms of a word count has been a game changer for me so has being diagnosed with ADHD. At one time I would have thought I was a failure because I needed a writing partner. I can’t help it if my brain goes every which way and I can’t sit still; however, I can put some structures in place so that I can do the work I genuinely want to do.

How have you switched up your goals? What is your game changer?

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Kathryn Mockler's debut short story collection is forthcoming from Book*hug in 2023. She is an Assistant Professor in Writing at the University of Victoria.

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Switching it Up | Words Count