5 Genius Ways to Pace Yourself as a Writer

It’s critical that you pace yourself as a writer. Doing so helps you meet deadlines, look professional and crank out a maximum number of projects that can produce income in a healthy way without burning out. But how exactly are you supposed to do it?

1. Word count

This is probably the most common pacing method. You take a target number of words, such as 100,000, and then simply divide that by the number of days you have available to write. That gives you the minimum number of words to write per work day. You can write more than the minimum if you like, but not less.

Pros: 

• provides very consistent results if you meet the minimum word count
• target does not change, which provides mental and logistical predictability

Cons:

• does not accommodate variations in other responsibilities, mood, or wellbeing
• can shift the focus from quality to quantity

2. Goalpost

A goalpost is the end of a section in whatever you are writing. For example, you might tell yourself you will write until you have three paragraphs or one chapter.

Pros: 

• easy to customize based on overall personal preference, writing habits, or day-by-day needs
• keeps you looking forward without locking you into uniformity or monotony
• offers clear points for self-reward or review
• compatible with the idea of breaking goals down into smaller, more achievable steps that are mentally easier to process

Cons: 

• results might not be consistent from day to day
• making a habit of using goals that are too small (not challenging yourself enough) might result in missing a larger deadline or prevent the realization of what you actually could produce

3. Time

When you pace yourself with this strategy, you set a given amount of time to write, such as 30 minutes. You stop writing when that time is up, regardless of where you are in terms of content or word count.

Pros:

• target does not change, which provides mental and logistical predictability
• easy to schedule

Cons:

• does not accommodate variations in other responsibilities, mood, or wellbeing
• can shift the focus from quality to quantity
• time spent is not necessarily productive time if you are unclear with your ideas or have distractions
• can be forced to stop even in a state of flow
• limits word count to whatever you can produce in the allowed time, so you might have to extend your deadline out even if the project is clearly mentally defined

4. Team standard

Using the team standard to pace yourself looks at what other writers are expected to do for projects similar to yours. For instance, if an editor at Publication A generally has writers producing one article per week, then you hold yourself to writing one article per week, as well.

Pros: 

• can inspire you to write more than you otherwise might without others
• expectations are clear
• results are very predictable

Cons:

• the team standard might limit what you can produce
• does not accommodate your individual circumstances, which can be stressful
• can put too much focus on what others are doing and make the writing about competition rather than quality

5. Emotional and physical wellness

Here, you simply write as much as you can, given how you feel. If you have energy and great ideas, then you could write all day long. If you’re slumping, then you give yourself permission to throw in the towel and come back to the project when you actually feel like writing.

Pros:

• you always do your writing when you feel mentally and physically ready to work, which can have a positive influence on quality and how much you enjoy the writing
• allows good flexibility and self-awareness

Cons:

• results can be all over the map and make it difficult to determine when you’ll finish
• no real goals are defined from day to day

All of these ways to pace yourself have something positive to offer, and all of them–even the last–is measurable according to the SMART goals concept (e.g., how many of your writing sessions felt physically good). but as you can see from the list, none of them are the “golden ticket”. They all have pain points. You also might find that one method works better under certain circumstances than another. It’s also possible to use more than one at a time. For example, I generally lean on time for my personal writing, but for my professional writing, I have to consider contractual minimums and word counts required by the client.

What matters most when trying to pace yourself is that you have some way of defining success with your writing, whether that means a certain number of words or just enjoying the session. If you are clear about what success means, then you can communicate your needs and expectations to others to smooth out hurdles that could interfere with the writing process. Try to choose one or more pacing methods that offer a sense of balance for you. Once you find that sweet spot, don’t worry about what works for anybody else. Just write.