What if I told you that you could write a full-length novel and 52 weeks of blog posts in just one year—and it doesn’t require locking yourself in a cabin somewhere in the woods, shackled to a typewriter?
Well, it’s not only possible; it’s shockingly easy. And you can do it without writing on the weekends or holidays. Let's find out how!
It might seem impossible to write a book and a regular blog and still have a life. Doesn’t that take a tremendous amount of time and work?
I used to think that I needed to set a crazy 1000-words-per-day, no-days-off goal to accomplish what I needed to be a successful writer.
I used to think that I needed to set a crazy 1000-words-per-day, no-days-off goal to accomplish what I needed to be a successful writer.
I thought that if I didn’t crank out unattainable amounts of words every single day, I would never reach the success that best-selling authors do every year.
Boy, was I wrong!
Just for fun, I got out the calculator the other day and did a little math (no, that’s not a hobby of mine). What would happen if I gave myself a painless target and committed to doing it every working day of the year? In other words, how much could I accomplish as a writer with minimal effort?
So I punched in that word count goal and multiplied it by the number of weekdays in a year.
When I hit the “=” key, I was shocked.
Before we look at the results, let’s find out what your own goals are. What’s a target so easy that it gets rid of every excuse?
Once you have it, write it down.
The key to daily writing is to set a target so easy that you can hit it every single day.
The key to daily writing is to set a target so easy that you can hit it every single day.
Now, with that easy-to-hit target in mind, look at the graphic below and see what you can accomplish in just one year—with weekends and holidays off.
The first column shows how many words per day you have to write to accomplish the results in the following columns. (The number of blog posts depends on whether you write short or long posts, as you can see by the alternate results, but both word counts are considered standards in the blogging world.)
The Results
As you can see, even with fairly small targets, you can produce a crazy amount of content!
This means you are capable of much more than you realized. It doesn’t matter if you’re leading a packed high school life, juggling a part-time job with college studies, or working full-time and trying to do the adult life … you can be an accomplished author without burning yourself out.
Think about it—setting a three-hundred-word goal isn’t expecting that much from yourself. That’s a single page of a novel. Get up a half-hour earlier in the morning or stay up a little later, write one page of content, and stop. That’s enough to not only write a novel in a year but also build a blog with enough posts to engage a sizable audience for your book.
So you don’t have to set huge goals for yourself, only to get discouraged and burnt out when you can’t achieve them. Even the smallest amount of writing pays off when you do it every day.
Even the smallest amount of writing pays off when you do it every day.
You don’t have to commit to crazy goals and difficult trends that force you to write a thousand words a day or sit at a typewriter on Sundays and Christmas. You can live a healthy, balanced, productive life and still follow your dream of being an author!
Next steps
Are you not sure how to get in the habit of writing every day? Be sure to check out my tips to making a writing habit! What are your writing goals for this next year?
