MATH… the Productive Writer’s Secret Weapon?!

If you’re anything like the writers I work with on a daily basis, there’s a good chance you avoid math, equations, and numbers like the plague.

I get it!

My oldest daughter is now in grade 3, which means I’m struggling to help her with her math homework almost every night.

I am no fan of the numbers, believe me.

But the fact is when it comes to writing a book numbers are your friend.

Take National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for example. One of the great things about NaNoWriMo is it provides participants with a rigid and inflexible timeline of 30 days to write 50,000 words.

That’s it. No excuses. No deadline extensions for extenuating circumstances. 30 days is the number you’re working with every November and aint going to change.

The other number you’re going to want to keep in mind, of course, is that pesky goal of 50,000 total words written.

Now here’s where things get… well… a little mathy.

But stay with me my friend!

Divide that targeted word count goal with the number of days in November and suddenly you have a reasonable and track-able approach to writing productivity.

Check it out:

50,000 (words) / 30 (days) = 1667 words per day for the month of November.

With that daily word count goal in place, it’s easy monitor whether you’re on track towards achieving your goal, or in need of adjustments to your approach.

If it’s two weeks into November and you have 10,000 words written, you know you’re falling behind because the math says you should be at 23,338 words by day 14. The math doesn’t lie, so something needs to change to get you back on track.

Missed a day of writing due to sickness or other priorities? The solution is easy: write 3344 words the next day.

There is no mystery here. No magic. Just numbers.

Monitor your daily word count. Prepare for missed days or adjust word counts following unexpected days off. Take note if you are falling behind, and makes the changes necessary to achieve your goal.

Do the math. Stay on track. Simple as that.

You can hate numbers the rest of the time, but when it comes to your writing I encourage you to cuddle up to your calculator and stay productive.

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