crackerjackjoe (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} crackerjackjoe) wrote,@ 2005-02-12 22:46:00 |
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Carrot Sticks
There has got to be a better way to budget for a 30 day novel other than making a goal of writing 1666 words a day.
Here's my thoughts on the matter--
I will never write 1666 words a day for 30 days. My free time follows a seven day cycle, with more time for writing on weekends than weekdays, more time for writing on MWF than T-Th. I got custody 4 days a month. Plus there is a holiday, president's day. And I gotta make it to the gym a few times a week. Considering all this, my word budget is 2500, 1500, 2500, 1500, 2500, 5000 and 5000 words per day respectively for the first week.
Reality BasedA goal of 1666 words doesn't take into consideration how fast I can expect to type and how many hours I have available that day. I started with my expected number of hours, a speed of 1000 words per hour
Padding to prevent discouragement Now on the otherhand, if I did use a simple budget of 1666 words per day, and I fell behind, by not writing or underwriting, then the daily goal goes up (missed day one, oops, now you need to write 1724 words a day!) and that is hard on motivation. The day I was 10,000 words behind with one day left in the contest, I wrote zero words, even though I could have written 2000 with suitable motivation. Who wants to see the road getting steeper as we move along? My budget has 5000 extra words, so I can miss a day or two without switching to a punishment word budget.
Scaling If I go over budget, my goals should fall proportionately, but if I go under, the goals shouldn't change until my padding is used up. This rewards overwriting, but doesn't punish underwriting as seriously, so the budget is more carrot and less stick. I'll write the code for that as soon as I finish my novel.
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There has got to be a better way to budget for a 30 day novel other than making a goal of writing 1666 words a day.
Here's my thoughts on the matter--
I will never write 1666 words a day for 30 days. My free time follows a seven day cycle, with more time for writing on weekends than weekdays, more time for writing on MWF than T-Th. I got custody 4 days a month. Plus there is a holiday, president's day. And I gotta make it to the gym a few times a week. Considering all this, my word budget is 2500, 1500, 2500, 1500, 2500, 5000 and 5000 words per day respectively for the first week.
Reality BasedA goal of 1666 words doesn't take into consideration how fast I can expect to type and how many hours I have available that day. I started with my expected number of hours, a speed of 1000 words per hour
Padding to prevent discouragement Now on the otherhand, if I did use a simple budget of 1666 words per day, and I fell behind, by not writing or underwriting, then the daily goal goes up (missed day one, oops, now you need to write 1724 words a day!) and that is hard on motivation. The day I was 10,000 words behind with one day left in the contest, I wrote zero words, even though I could have written 2000 with suitable motivation. Who wants to see the road getting steeper as we move along? My budget has 5000 extra words, so I can miss a day or two without switching to a punishment word budget.
Scaling If I go over budget, my goals should fall proportionately, but if I go under, the goals shouldn't change until my padding is used up. This rewards overwriting, but doesn't punish underwriting as seriously, so the budget is more carrot and less stick. I'll write the code for that as soon as I finish my novel.
| "A slow writer can write 800 words per hour, a speedy one, twice that." Jeff Baty | |||||||||
| Hours | 5 | 2.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 2 | 2.5 | 5 | ||
| Speed | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | 1000 | ||
| Base Goal | 5000 | 2500 | 2000 | 2500 | 2000 | 2500 | 5000 | Word | Day |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Count | Count | |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 6 | |||
| Factor | 100% | 75% | 100% | 75% | 100% | 100% | |||
| Goal | 2500 | 1500 | 2500 | 1500 | 2500 | 5000 | 15500 | ||
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 7 | ||
| Factor | 100% | 200% | 75% | 100% | 75% | 10% | 10% | ||
| Goal | 5000 | 5000 | 1500 | 2500 | 1500 | 250 | 500 | 11250 | |
| 27 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | ||
| Factor | 50% | 100% | 75% | 100% | 75% | 10% | 10% | ||
| Goal | 2500 | 2500 | 1500 | 2500 | 1500 | 250 | 500 | 8750 | |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 7 | ||
| Factor | 50% | 100% | 75% | 100% | 75% | 100% | 100% | ||
| Goal | 2500 | 2500 | 1500 | 2500 | 1500 | 2500 | 5000 | 15500 | |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 3 | ||||||
| Factor | 100% | 100% | 75% | ||||||
| Goal | 5000 | 2500 | 1500 | 4000 | 30 | ||||
| 55000 | |||||||||
| Items modeled | |||||||||
| President's day holiday-- treat like weekend | |||||||||
| Custody-- weekends, 10% of regular output | |||||||||
| Meetups/groups 75% of regular output | |||||||||
| Speed - 62% of theoretical max | |||||||||
