It’s almost 2019, everyone. Time to start setting those goals for the year!
Caitlin Doughty of Ask A Mortician fame announced last week that 2019 would be her “year of ambition.” And I was like, right on, I want it to be my year of ambition, too! And then I was like, wait. I’m always ambitious. It’s like…the organization and goal setting and shit that I’m bad at? And then I get to the end of the year and go…holy crap. Holy crap, I don’t remember doing anything this year.
One thing that has always helped me is keeping track of my progress on goals. Duh, Jenny, everyone likes to see a visual representation of their measurable progress. I know, I know. But sometimes, we actually need people to remind us of this. In 2019, let me be your reminder, oh Trout Nation!
Years ago, I made a very simple spreadsheet I called The Big Damn Writing Tracker, and I shared it with you all. It included all sorts of inspiring quotes from successful people…many of whom revealed themselves to be racists, sexual predators, anti-semites, homophobes, and general trash in the intervening years. So, I decided it’s time for an update. The Big Damn Writing Tracker 2 is just like the Big Damn Writing Tracker, but without the quotes and with a whole new sheet for tracking your progress on individual projects.
You can download the Big Damn Writing Tracker 2 here. Don’t have Excel? No problem! Download the file and you can import it into Google Drive. Just create a new spreadsheet through Google Sheets, click on the file menu, select import, and the Big Damn Writing Tracker 2 will fill itself in. However, in the Excel version, the formula cells will be locked, but in the Google Sheets version, they won’t be. So, be careful not to erase or re-enter anything in the formula boxes. If you’re working on Excel, this won’t be an issue; you won’t be able to click on any protected cells.
And hopefully, I didn’t accidentally leave my own information plugged in.
I also created a video that is a little hard to see (sorry), so you’ll probably want to embiggen it. I apologize that the CC are only half-corrected; I had some computer issues crop up while I was about two minutes deep into the CCs. The rest of them are unedited YouTube garbage and I’m super sorry about that.
I hope this helps everyone and I also hope that this blog will remain on schedule while I struggle with this whole computer thing! Cross your fingers!
Thanks! I am challenging myself to edit more of the stories I’ve already written into books I can publish. I’ve assigned myself writing goals in the past, and filling in my numbers at the end of a writing day is so satisfying.
Best of luck in your 2019 goals, Jenny!
Perfect timing, because I was about to set up my own (clunky, needlessly complicated) writing tracker and probably drive myself up a wall. This is MUCH better. I’ve set the incredibly modest goal of 182,625–500 words a day on average–so I can hopefully get back into the swing of things without feeling like a failure every other day.
Good luck with the computer situation!
Thanks for this! I have a goal of trying to finish a long-gestating story in the new year and I’m a sucker for tracking words visually.
Thanks for this!! My big goal next year is to outline and complete the first draft of my novel, so this is going to be a huge help!
This is fantastic, thank you so, so much for sharing (and for that incredibly helpful video!). I can’t wait to make use of this – as you pointed out, it should definitely help with that feeling of getting to the end of the year and wondering where the time went!
I also wanted to say thank you so much for running this wonderful blog. I’ve been really struggling with depression this year, and your Jealous Haters Book Club posts never fail to cheer me up. Hope 2019 is everything you want it to be!
Thanks, this is great! It’ll go very well with my obsessive tracking of just about everything in my Bullet Journal. 😀
[…] OF TRACKING EVERY WORD I WRITE, you need to go read this blog post from Jenny Trout, The Big Damn Writing Tracker 2: Return Of The Big Damn Writing Tracker. Then download it, because…*drools*…I’m a sucker for a spreadsheet, me. […]
Thanks for sharing, Jenny!
Scrivener does a nice job tracking progress within a manuscript, but I like the idea of including all the ancillary stuff too (notes, outlines, character sketches, blog, etc). I currently have no idea how many words I actually produce in a year.
Now if I can just remember to use it.
Thank you so much for this. I have long needed a word counter that could track multiple projects over a year. Having played with it for a few minutes, I expect this is going to be a useful resource for my needs. I greatly appreciate your making it available and I plan to say something about it on the blog for my novel.
[…] I discovered a tool for keeping on track with Communion in the form of author Jenny Trout’s Big Damn Writing Tracker 2. Trout, who is operator of the website Trout Nation programmed and adapted an Excel sheet which can […]