
The first time I signed up for GYWO, I wasn't actually expecting to hit the 200,000 word goal (the lowest option at the time). I joined to give myself some structure (reporting monthly word counts) and in hopes that I would find motivation in being part of a community of writers. As it turns out, I never really got involved with the community, and -- like many other communities on LJ -- the community has also become less interactive over the years. However, I feel like it served its other intended purpose quite well: the long-term wordcount goals, coupled with the monthly goals I gave myself, kept me writing through the dry spells, which is something I used to have real trouble doing.
The last three years I wrote 200k words (including 2011, when I only signed up for 150,000) and blew past my goal before the end of November, or even sooner. This year, I have struggled, falling well below monthly targets every month from July through October. I did well in November, but it was like pulling teeth. Not so much with writing at all, but to write in any sustained sort of way, enough to get decent wordcounts. Which has me wondering: do I really want to stress about wordcounts? Shouldn't my goal be to create stories and meta posts, then craft them into a finished, postable form?
So I'm wondering if I should move away from number of words written as a goal. Not to stop tracking them -- I think making note of which days I've written, what I've been working on, and approximately how many words I wrote and/or edited each day, has been both motivating and rewarding for me. But maybe I no longer need this giant number looming over my head. Especially not now that I've joined the

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