How Tracking My Writing Helps Me Write More

With a small daily target as a motivator

"You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page" - Jodi Picoult

I had a creatively challenging year in 2024. I have a tendency to commit to more projects than I can manage because of my ambitious nature. This caused me to become overwhelmed and shut down. It’s something that’s made worse by living with an illness.

Although I hit some nice sprints last year, particularly with my serial fiction series Mere Immortal, I kept being overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed in all my projects. That’s why I’ve made some changes in 2025. And so far, so good.

I’ve introduced two writing productivity hacks to my life this year that have helped me keep up with my reading, writing, and journaling. Those two hacks are introducing a 250-word minimal daily aim, and a writing tracker to log how many words I’ve written each week.

To make my daily word goal achievable, I set it low. My mind sees it as an easy checkbox to tick off, making me more inclined to actually sit down and write. And often, I end up flying past the 250-word minimum. The hard part is just sitting down to write.

Tracking my words in a weekly table also keeps me accountable. It encourages me to write more often so I see my progress over time. I keep my writing tracker in my Lechtturm 1917 journal, but I will show you an example below in a digital format.

I have recreated the above example from my journal in digital format to show how I track my words. I keep tallying up my words for the week in the 4th column, and at the end of the week, I highlight the last table so I can quickly see my total for the week at a glance.

Keeping tabs on the projects I worked on each day also lets me see which projects I’m dedicating the most time to. I always prioritize written work that I’m being paid for.

The table above represented the first week of January, but I’ve noticed my total words at the end of the week have increased significantly since then. It’s clear to me that the introduction of the daily goal and tracking habits is helping me be a more consistent writer.

Fingers crossed that this allows me to post more often on Substack, too, as my words here will go towards the goal. The only thing that can slow me down is those unforeseen life challenges that arise.

If anyone else out there has tips on improving writing productivity, then please do share. I enjoy hearing about the habits of other writers as it keeps me motivated.

Look out for the return of Mere Immortal, coming soon!