Not Every Writer Has the Same Daily Writing Goals

Writers on the Internet like to talk about how many words they wrote today. Some writers even measure their success by their daily output. Other writers have a rule to write X amount of words every day. I am not like these writers.

 

For me, I will consider my writing day successful only if I wrote the things that I wanted to write that day. It’s usually something original, like a blog post or short story, in addition to the normal work I do on my books. And even with my books, I don’t rely on writing X amount of words in them every day, because it depends on the book I am working on. The book might call for revision, editing, research, or writing. Even there, when I’m writing a current WIP (and I have several), it’s usually a chapter or two or a handful of poems.

 

The point is that while all the writers out there are talking about how many words they wrote that day, now especially since a lot of writers are doing NaNoWriMo, I’m taking satisfaction in the writing work that I got done for the day.

 

This only goes to show that not every writer has the same daily writing goals. For some of us, just being able to write at all is enough. For others, being able to write that first draft when they are under a deadline can be a sufficient daily writing goal. Still other writers are happy to go about the rest of the day after writing one chapter in their WIP or getting X amount of words written.

 

Daily writing goals can vary, so don’t feel bad if your daily writing goal is not the same as everyone else’s. That is perfectly fine. Focus on what you need to do for your writing. Go at your own pace and stick to what feels right for you.

 

Of course, you can try adopting other writer’s daily goals. I have done this, and it was interesting to see just what I could get done when I pushed myself to stick to this goal. One goal I tried to achieve was to write 15,000 words in one day. I did manage to do this, for an ebook I was writing, but I certainly could not do it on the regular because it took me all day to get that done. And my life is just too busy to allow for that kind of thing. I’m not just writing books; I’m also working as a freelance writer, reviewing books, putting together a monthly newsletter that I work on all month long, working on self-publishing projects, and working on ghostwriting projects. I also try to squeeze in some book promo here and there! Plus, I’m busy with my kids (thank goodness one of them is finally able to get a driver’s license!). My life is just too busy to spend all day on one goal.

 

And this is another reason why we writers should not all try to have the same daily writing goal that other writers out there have. Everybody is living a different life with different schedules. A lot of us are VERY busy! We can only get so much writing done. And in my opinion, any writing we are able to get done each day is what I call a successful writing day.

 

And now for some paying markets!

 

These paying markets for writers were removed from an article I recently submitted because they use Submittable to accept submissions. The site I submitted the article to does not accept markets which use Submittable.

 

3rd Wednesday

https://thirdwednesdaymagazine.org/   

This literary magazine was created by a group of poets in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They publish work from writers everywhere. They accept poetry, short fiction and artwork. Their guidelines

https://thirdwednesdaymagazine.org/submissions/ state that payment is $3 and a copy of the issue the creator’s work appears in.

 

Zone3

https://zone3press.com/

"We are a literary journal accepting poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. We pay $10 per page for prose and $15 per poem, with an individual maximum of $100." They charge a $3 fee. You can read their guidelines here: https://zone3press.submittable.com/submit  

 

Third Estate Art

https://www.thirdestateart.org/

Their About Us page shares detailed information about who they are and what they support. Their magazine Decapitate (formerly Quaranzine) publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, comics, photography and “anything else that we can reasonably put into this format.” They also accept hybrid submissions. According to their submission guidelines https://www.thirdestateart.org/decap-submissions:“Please send us art and writing with an underlying social justice theme, or any kind of activist work that you’d like an eclectic audience for.” Pays $25.

 

Third Street Review

https://third-street-review.org/

From their submission guidelines https://third-street-review.org/submissions/: “Located on the Pacific Ocean in the artists’ colony of Laguna Beach, California, Third Street Review lives on the edge, both literally and figuratively. California has always been synonymous with exploration and innovation and, in creative expression, with boundary expansion and the dynamic re-invention of artistic forms. Third Street Review is no different. Share your best writing and visual art. We welcome traditional formats as well as pieces that push boundaries, embrace experimentation, and reflect artistic excellence.” Accepts fiction, nonfiction/creative nonfiction, poetry, art and photography. All submissions blind. All submissions must be previously unpublished. Pays $25 via PayPal upon acceptance.