As writers, we keep records of the characters we create, the plots we assemble, the drafts we revise, and so much more. But something that’s talked about less often is tracking the time we use to bring our stories into being. That’s a shame, because it can be so helpful!
This week, I’ll be discussing some analog methods for tracking your writing sessions using pen and paper in various forms. Be on the lookout for the second and final part of this series next week, when we’ll discuss tracking your writing sessions the digital way!
Why You Should Track Your Writing Sessions
Before I started tracking my writing sessions—and, to be honest, I’m still not as diligent or consistent or detailed about it as I’d like to be—I had a difficult time seeing the point of it. I could always reread what I’d last written to get a sense of what I was going to do next, and anything else I could write down just seemed superfluous. A waste of time.
But I was wrong. Having these notes is incredibly useful, especially if you are not always writing at the same spot and at the same time every day. I have several times spent multiple minutes staring at the last half-finished paragraph in my notebook with absolutely no idea how I’d intended to end the sentence I was on. I’ve also had to reread entire chapters to remind myself what was happening, which is not an effective use of my limited time on this earth. There’s a better way!
How to Track Writing Sessions
It goes without saying that tracking different kinds of data will yield different insights when you analyze that data later. Below is a list of suggested subheadings for your writing session logs.
- The date and time you began writing
- Duration of your writing session
- Words written, pages edited, or some other quantifiable way of measuring productivity
- How you felt while writing
- Where and how you got the work done
- What just happened in your story
- What’s going to happen next
- Which story beat you’re in, or where in your outline you are
- What your inner editor whispered needing to change later
- Ideas that came to you for later in the story
- Anything you want your future self to remember
When you’re first beginning to track your writing sessions, track as many of these as you think could be useful to you in the future. You can always decrease the amount of data you’re collecting; you don’t want to realize you should’ve been tracking something all along.
Where to Track Writing Sessions
Use Any Notebook
We’ve all seen those beautiful novel bullet journals—I used to keep one myself (and still do, just a different variation on the concept). They’re very fun to set up on a nice afternoon in your favorite coffee shop, and they’re addictively customizable. Every session log can be as long or short, as many pages or as few, as you want.
My partner is partial to this method. They have what they call a production journal. (Actually, several production journals.) (They’re partial to Moleskines that fit in their back pocket, if you were curious.) Being something of an auteur, their logging needs are a little different than someone who’s writing novels, short stories, or poetry, but production journals are nevertheless indispensable for them, especially since movies have so many moving parts and they can’t necessarily work on their project every day. If you can relate to that, you might do well with a pocket notebook, too.
Use Your Current Planner or Bullet Journal
What could be more convenient than starting to track your writing sessions in the planner or notebook that you already take with you everywhere?
The downside to this is you do always have it with you, meaning it could become hard to take a break or step away from your project if need be. Your planner also might not have a comfy space to have the kind of notes you want to take, especially if you want or need to get detailed.
Use a Planner or Workbook Made for the Job
The Writer’s Atelier 90-Day Novel Planner
If you write novels or other book-length works, great news—our 90-Day Novel Planner might be just the thing you’re looking for. It has dedicated spaces for all kinds of notes, and I’ve used it myself for a still-untitled novel I’m calling Project Blue Quartz.
Once the book is published, I plan to release a video on the Writer’s Atelier YouTube channel detailing how I used the planner. Until then, you can try out the November Novel Planner for free.
The Write Gym Workbook
Do you have aspirations of becoming a full-time writer? Or are you a full-time writer already, looking for a change in what you use to organize your days? If so, The Write Gym Workbook could become your new favorite companion. We have a whole blog post on our latest offering, or if you’d like a peek inside, watch me set up March of 2023 below!
