Step 2: be accountable

If I do it for myself, I ask myself what’s the point and I don’t keep my schedule.

Does it sound true to you?

If this is your problem, then being accountable is the logical choice you can make.

How can you be accountable?

Create a website or a blog: commit yourself to write an X amount of posts or stories per month. You can combine it with a subscription letter, a monthly one, for example, where you send your subscribers what you wrote in that month.

Find a person to whom you write or even send what you wrote in the month. This person can be a supportive friend or relative, or maybe a teacher in a writing course.

Create an excel list with the dates when you write and the number of words. This is helpful in any case, as it can show you see how productive you are. If you add the time, it also gives you an hint on which time of the day might work best for you.

Additional tips

This last option is the most difficult one if you have issues with discipline, but you could promise yourself a nice gift if you reach a certain amount of words. I would not recommend opting for a punishment if you do not reach your word goal. It is not helpful to beat ourselves up for being imperfect.

If you are a visual person, you can take a transparent vase and put colour marbles in it every time you hit your weekly goal, for example. Not only you will have a decorative piece in your house, but you will have a visible and colourful proof of your efforts. There is no better driving power than being proud and happy with oneself.

My experience

I chose a mixed model: I told myself that I would not buy a laptop until I was writing with consistency and I decided to build a website and publish at least two micro stories/blog posts per month. Also, I have a newsletter which I send every month to my subscribers (what? You are still not a subscriber? What are you waiting for?! You get addition insights about my book and an unpublished short story).

All the above keeps me in track and sustain my writing practice; in particular the newsletter has been helpful because it motivates me to write and post something to make sure to have a decent newsletter for my subscribers!

And next week I will share the third step.

If you missed the first step, find it here.