How To Make Real Progress in Your Writing Life

Do you have a plan for your writing in the new year? All writers benefit from taking the time to plan their progress and write down their goals, but when we create a rough plan without specific, actionable goals, we risk staying stuck in the dreaming phase.

Getting Started

Studies show that writing down specific goals and the necessary steps to achieve them is far more effective than simply resolving to do something in our minds. Making a plan and writing it down gives us a visual we can return to again and again, and it helps us make decisions based on our predetermined goals. No more chasing rabbit trails! With a written plan, we can see the small steps we need to take to make progress on our bigger goals. 

Your Next 90 Days

It’s daunting to look ahead at an entire calendar year and attempt to fill in all of the blank space. Life changes, vocational shifts, or changes in our audience and purpose can quickly disrupt twelve months’ worth of planning. When we look too far ahead, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged.

At hope*writers, we recommend writers start with a 90-day plan. Why 90 days? We believe this time frame is short enough to be manageable while also being long enough to help you make real progress toward your big goals. We created the hope*writers Progress Planner to help writers like you keep moving forward, 90 days at a time. Our Progress Planner allows for flexibility in goal setting and helps you adjust your targets and habits as needed without having to create an entirely new plan.

Making Progress

Now that you have a reasonable time frame, it’s time to begin planning! This process can feel overwhelming at first. Without a dedicated place to write everything down, it can quickly become a disorganized mess. 

We designed the Progress Planner with weekly and monthly layouts to help you plan, prioritize, and track your writing progress over 90 days. It is designed to be your writing companion — a place where you can document your writing vision and goals, brainstorm your writing targets, and track your writing habits. 

The Progress Planner works for every writer, regardless of experience or writing stage. It’s flexible enough to grow with you while providing enough structure to keep you on track. 

The planner will help you:

• Identify your ideal reader.
• Plan your next 90 days without feeling overwhelmed.
• Prepare for the month and track your weekly progress.
• Reflect on your progress.
• Collect ideas and inspiration.
• Balance the art of writing and the business of publishing. 

This could be the year you do more than dream of writing. It could be the year you take your writing seriously and set concrete writing goals you actually achieve. The hope*writers Progress Planner is a resource to help you take your someday writing goals and bring them into your reality today, one small step at a time.

Click here to learn more about the Progress Planner and take one step toward making progress in your writing life today.