While drafting my current mystery novel, I’ve set word count goals to keep me focused and chugging along. That basic goal is to write a bare minimum of 500 words per day, five days per week.

So far, so good.

I’ve noticed something though–I find myself struggling to hit that 500 word mark.

Uh oh. My hope what that at least one or two days each week I’d write significantly more than that.

The problem almost seems to be that I’m too conscious of the word count. I finally knicked the habit of wanting to edit everything I write in the first draft as I go along. Now I need to stop thinking about how far along I am at any given time–I repeatedly check my word count to see how far I am from “quittin’ time.”

The good news is that I’m thinking of the novel as “work,” and not just something I’m doing for shits and giggles. It means I’m getting into the habit of writing whether I really feel like it or not, and I think that’s a good habit for writers to form. It also means I’m taking my goals seriously, and working to make sure I achieve them.

The bad news is that it would seem the first draft will take longer than expected if I keep working at this pace.

Fortunately, I think I have a solution:

I don’t think 500 words per day is enough to wear me out and make me want to quit for the day. Instead, I have a feeling it’s 500 words per sitting that really pushes the limits of my patience. So I’m going to try something in the coming week. I’m going to stick to 500 words per day for three of those “on” days, and I’m going to try to work in two writing sessions on the other two days, for a total of 3500 words this week. Keep an eye on the progress meter in the sidebar here to see if that works out or not.

On that note, I have to admit that the progress bar is surprisingly motivational. I want to see it change, dammit! Right now I’m looking forward to hitting the 5% mark. That will be enough for me to feel like a “chunk” of the work is out of the way. It’s a bit deceptive though. While my “must reach” goal is 70k words, I’d really like to see the first draft fall in the 75-80k word range, leaving me room to cut things a bit more freely (figuring the final manuscript will be closer to 70-75k words).

Let’s consider this week a test.