Is a One-Million-Word Goal Practical for the Year?
It really comes down to how determined you are to be a writer.
I know that one million words in a year sounds like a lot to some people. But for someone like me, it’s a fraction of what I used to do back in the days of writing exclusively for content mills.
I’m not trying to boast, but I used to be far more productive when it came to creating content.
From 2014 to 2016, I consistently landed around the two-million-word mark. Nowadays, I am more of an editor for my clients while writing a few pieces of content here and there.
The idea of getting back up to one million words started back in 2019. And since then, I’ve consistently added more to my yearly productivity.
Why Put Emphasis on One Million Words in a Year?
If you look at it from the perspective of a Monday through Friday job, one million words is just over 3800 per day. That sounds like a far more reasonable number, right?
The reason why I am putting more effort into writing as of late is to inspire productivity again. Though, most of this is now centered around my personal projects.
Every word I write towards blogs, YouTube video scripts, or books is counted, whether they are for my projects or for clients. Since I mostly write for myself today, I want to get more out of my writing.
Aiming for that 3800-word daily goal helps ensure that I am putting adequate effort into the things I would love to see take off. Especially since my blogs didn’t get a lot of love in the earlier years.
Unfortunately, a lot of what I’m involved with today doesn’t require a lot of writing. Especially when I melt two to three hours per day editing a YouTube video.
Still, I would love to get back into the same level of productivity I had when I began my writing career. Only this time, the majority of the workload is for me.
This is a Secondary Goal
Although I am aiming to write one million words this year, it’s more of a secondary goal. My primary goal is to simply write more this year than I did last.
I am in a constant state of self-improvement. Even if I wrote one more word this year, it’s still a victory.
Why do I focus more on simply surpassing previous attempts? To keep myself from getting frustrated by not meeting grandiose goals.
When you aim for something that is quite a bit beyond what you’re capable of, it’s easy to get frustrated when you don’t meet those expectations. The end result for many people is to simply give up.
But when you work primarily to surpass previous attempts, it makes the goals easier to achieve while still working towards improving yourself. As the pride in your accomplishment kicks in, you begin striving for more.
I might not hit the one-million-word mark this year. However, I’ll still view it as a win if I simply write more this year than I did last.
And that will keep driving me to do more in the following year.
How Do I Keep Track of One Million Words per Year?
When it comes to collecting data, crunching numbers, and setting up elaborate formulas for productivity estimations, I’m quite competent. In other words, I love using spreadsheets way too much.
Back in the day, when I had my computer repair business, I had spreadsheets for all kinds of data regarding what I could sell on eBay as well as to walk-in customers.
Currently, I have a spreadsheet that I use to track every minute of every day as well as every word I type. And yes, even this post is going into that spreadsheet.
I enter what time I start, what time I stop, the number of words I wrote, and any income I receive from posts, videos, or book sales. Needless to say, I have an excellent platform that gives me averages regarding how long it takes for any given project.
It comes in handy when you’re a freelance writer.
At any rate, you don’t need to go the route of having an elaborate spreadsheet. I do simply because I love seeing the numbers, creating pie charts, seeing average improvement over time, and anything else that strikes my fancy.
I should have been a scientist, or at the very least, an accountant.
How Do I Stay Motivated to Write?
One of the hardest things about trying to crank out one million words in a year is staying motivated to do so. I’ve seen a lot of writers quickly burn out before even reaching the 100,000-word mark.
For me, I recognized a long time ago that I am a writer. I’ve always been a writer, in some form. But lately, it’s really the only thing I want to do throughout the day.
But even I will start to feel the sting from a lack of motivation once in a while.
Keeping Mindful of Progress
I have a lot of fun keeping track of the data in my little spreadsheet. But, you don’t need to go to such lengths to get motivated by seeing progress.
Simply keeping track of the number of words you write every day could be inspiring enough to keep you moving forward.
If you’re blogging, keep an eye on traffic numbers through analytical tools and see what you can do to attract more visitors. If you’re writing a book, online tools like NaNoWriMo.org will keep track of progress data for you.
There are a lot of ways you can monitor your progress. Watching those numbers increase can be very motivating and inspire you to do more.
Knowing Where I Want to Be in a Year
I have an idea of where I want to be 12 months from now. That, alone, inspires me to aim high when it comes to productivity.
Especially after publishing my first book, A Freelancer’s Tale. After hitting such a life-long milestone, it’s fueled my ambition to reach for greater things.
Instead of just existing, I’ve decided I wanted much more out of my writing career than to just create content for clients.
Helping Fans, Followers, and Subscribers
It’s in my nature to help everyone I can. It’s why I built several of my websites in the first place. I’m not one who focuses on making tons of money, driving around in expensive sports cars, or buying big houses.
For me, the reward is someone appreciating the help I offer, whether it’s on the blog or through the YouTube channel.
I’ve helped kickstart a lot of writing careers. And every day I skip on a blog post or YouTube video, I feel like I’m letting those people down.
Exercising
Lastly, exercising in the morning plays a major role in keeping me motivated every day. That’s because exercising improves brainpower, which affects mood and cognitive functionality.
I usually aim for a 20 to 30-minute workout in the mornings, unless I head to the gym. At which point, I spend about 40 minutes using weight machines.
The bottom line is that getting in a decent workout can do wonders for your energy levels first thing in the morning.
What Kind of Goals Do You Set as a Writer?
Writing one million words isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. All it takes is a bit of effort to go beyond the 3800-word mark Monday through Friday.
As I said earlier, though, it’s not the primary focus.
Aim to surpass what you did yesterday, even if it’s only by one word. Once you get the ball rolling for self-improvement, you’ll want to accomplish more.
It gets addicting.
About the Creator
Michael Brockbank
I am the owner and operator of several blogs including WriterSanctuary.com. As a freelance writer since 2012, I have covered a range of topics and completed over 8,000 projects for clients. Follow me @WriterSanctuary on Twitter.
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