How to Develop a Writing Plan — and Stick to Your Schedule

You know you want to write a book, but if you don’t know when that will happen, it’s easy for other things to take priority.

If you want to get your writing done, you’ll need a plan!

This video will help you get that plan started.

SUMMARY

• Decide on a completion date for your first draft

  If you’ve written a book before, you can make an educated guess on how long this will take you. Or maybe you just have a completion date in mind. Either way, make your best guess and commit to it!

• Estimate your final word count

  Have you already started writing your book? Great! Take a guess at how long you think your manuscript will be. You might just have a vague idea, or you could look at genre norms and make a guess from there. No matter how you get there, figure out your estimated final word count, subtract what you already have written, then move to the next step!

• Determine your word count goals

  Work backwards to figure out how many words you need to write each month, each week, then each day to write the words you have left in your manuscript by your projected completion date. I definitely recommend only scheduling 4-5 writing days each week just in case life happens! Because it probably will. But if it doesn’t, you can always work ahead!

• Schedule your writing time

  Once you have your daily, weekly, and monthly word count goals set, schedule writing time in your calendar for the days you’ll write! Make it work for you. Maybe you’re the type that needs to designate a specific block of time (say, from 10am to noon), or maybe you just need it on your must-do list for the day. Whatever works best for you is, well, best!

• Commit to your writing plan

  Now that you’ve created the plan, commit to writing when you say you will! Basically, keep promises to yourself. This isn’t always easy, but doing what you said you would will go a long way in proving to yourself that your writing is a priority.

  And if you’re having trouble staying committed or focused, teaming up with someone to help you stay accountable is a good bet! (Might I suggest the Edit with an Editor Membership?)

• Celebrate!

  As soon as you type “the end” (or however you like to wrap up your first draft), celebrate! Find something that’s meaningful and rewarding to you to congratulate yourself for sticking with it and getting your book DONE!

USEFUL TOOLS FOR PLANNING (MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO)

Free Word Count Tracker: https://members.melissafrey.com/courses/word-count-tracker

Edit with an Editor Membership: https://members.melissafrey.com/bundles/membership-bundle

Author Clarity Workshop: https://www.melissafrey.com/workshop

ADDITIONAL TOOL FOR PLANNING (NOT MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO)

Writing/Editing Tracker (Google Sheets): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/3/d/1lOQWGZD66YYZLfbmZBkyD7I_Y8A8-N0HWFmo5lpbH9g/copy