Since I didn’t write yesterday, my streak would be 0. I call this metrics, “Streak” and it would represent the number of unbroken days that I’ve written at least 500 words, from the present going backwards into the past. There is one more metric I’d like to add to the summary, but I’m finding it complicated to produce in Google Spreadsheet (it may require writing a script). My aim is to try and see that those two values are equal. If I have missed a day here or there, % goal will always be less than % duration–it’s just a matter of how much less. If I am writing every day, % goal and % duration should be equal. What is most important to me on this sheet is the combination of % Goal and % Duration.
Max words: the most words I wrote on any given day.% Duration: the current date as a percentage of the overall month.% Goal: the number of days I’ve written as a percentage of the number of days in the month.Writing Days: the number of days I’ve written that month.Avg Words/Day: the average number of words written to date, including days I don’t write.Total words: the total word count, to date, for the month.This sheet is entirely computed from data on the previous sheet. So what I really need is some metrics that allow me to measure my consistency. Looking at the data above you can see that in 12 days, I missed three days of writing. But this early in the year, my concern is more about writing every day. That said, I am still ahead of pace on the year. You can see that I didn’t get any new fiction writing in yesterday 4. Positive numbers are ahead of pace, negative are behind. Off Pace Days: the number of days I am ahead or behind pace.My Pace: the number of words I am above or below pace.Pace: the total number of words I need to be at on a given date in order to stay on pace.Cumulative: the total number of words written since the beginning of the year.Once I type in the words for a day, four other numbers are calculated: This is for new, first draft material only.
#EVERNOTE FOR MAC WORD COUNT SOFTWARE#
While the formulas the underlie the spreadsheet are rather elaborate (I am a software developer) the spreadsheet itself is simple, requiring only 2 pieces of information each day: what I worked on and how much I wrote. I’ve developed a Google Spreadsheet 3 for providing metrics on my performance against my goal. Also, I only do this for first draft material. Because I’m interesting in that kind of thing. This is so that I can go back and see what it was I was writing on Thursday, January 12, 2012. I have sufficient local and cloud-based backups for my fiction. Usually, when I finish up a Scrivener session, I copy the text that I wrote and paste it into a note in my Evernote notebook. That note contains a copy of the fiction I wrote in that day.
I have a Notebook in Evernote called “Daily Fiction Writing.” There is one note for each day I write. I find it interesting to be able to go back and see what I wrote on any given day. If the notification hasn’t popped up, I haven’t met the goal yet. I write in full-screen mode, by the way, so I don’t have other distractions, and so the Growl notification is particularly convenient because it means I don’t have to keep checking how far along I am. Sometimes I’ll stop there, and sometimes I’ll keep going. So I sit down and write and write and then Growl pops up and says that I’ve passed my 500 word target. I also have it configured to use Growl to notify me when I’ve met the goal. I’ve recently revised my short story project template 2 to automatically have a 500 word/session target. Scrivener is my workhorse, and where I do 95% of my fiction-writing 1. There are generally three tools that combine to help me meet my writing goals each day: 1. I thought it might be of interest how I go about tracking this goal in case anyone else out there is looking to do the same. That means that the goal must be measurable, and this years writing goals certainly meet that criteria: write 500 words of new fiction every day. I’ve found that the best way to meet goals that I set for myself is to track them.
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