How To Capture Your Complete Writing History

Performance indicators help measure progress.

Your writing history tells the personal story of how you overcame all the obstacles, and achieved literary success. It will only be a long interesting tale if you don’t quit, and instead, keep writing and spend a little time recording the ups and downs of the journey.

Every successful writer ends up running a business. But not every writer knows how to make it efficient and profitable.

A writer's life should develop with at least a bit of order. That means creating a filing system that can grow with the business, and the discipline to maintain that semblance of organization.

Making money is not the first thing you should worry about. That will grow over time, and systems to look after income already exist. But what do you do with everything else? There are a couple of tools you can use.

In the business world key performance indicators, or KPI’s are used to measure all kinds of metrics. A writing enterprise is no different, starting with the time you spend sitting at a keyboard. The hours taken to complete that first post become the baseline for your writing history.

A strong will to write and positive results lead to a writing habit. It’s the same as going to work every day. A beginner's biggest investment is their time.

Creating a writing logbook in a separate binder or folder on your computer helps keep you focused on the current post or article. If its a novel, the logbook will do the same thing, chapter by chapter.

Recording a daily start and finish time is an easy way to begin mapping your progress. You already know it’s a very difficult challenge, so give yourself the best chance possible.

The logbook can be a motivator. It sits there everyday waiting. You can ignore it, or accept the responsibility to answer the call and keep moving forward with your writing ambitions.

Pilots are required by law to enter the details of every flight in a logbook. It gives them a record of experience on which they can progress from small single-engine flying to more complicated, multi-engine jet-powered equipment.

The same principle applies to writers. If we want to soar with the literary eagles we need the credentials. It starts with a single piece of writing.

Both metrics matter, but there is a substantial difference. When we focus on time, it can affect actual production. Daydreaming goes on the clock. So do random searches on Google. Conversations with whoever calls on your phone. Trips to the kitchen, the bathroom, social media, taking a break sitting on the deck. You get the picture.

And at the end of the day, what the words convey to the reader matters much more than how long it took to produce the piece. It’s simple to track both. I like recording time in the logbook. The daily word count is more about whether you’ve finished what you have to say to the reader, and that the submission length matches the editor's requirements.

The use of both log and journal is a writer's choice. Some may find it easier to only use one. The log can be a record of daily writing progress. Notes can be kept on titles, subtitles, specific problems encountered, and how you solved them. A single opening sentence about the objective of the daily session is helpful in keeping you on track.

You can list the keywords and their value. Write out your post plan, including subheads. Notes on where an image is needed, and what it should look like. This exercise will give you a path to follow as you write. It isn’t where you write the first draft. It’s like a guide and a record of events all in one place.

It’s your writing history stored for future reference. I often leave reminders in the log as I write. It’s way more reliable than my memory.

As you write your mind can wander. If an idea comes floating into your head, write it down. Capture the thought in an “article ideas” section of your writing journal.

Sometimes its an idea for a title, or an opening sentence. Keywords that fit the idea, or relevant quotes. Keeping these kinds of things in a writing journal is a safe bet they won’t get lost.

The writing journal is perfect for defining specific longer-term goals for how you want your writing to proceed. What is a niche? What problems are you going to solve? Who exactly are you writing for?

As you move forward as a writer, the experience is kept alive in your journal. You are “writing” as you capture the events affecting your ambition. It all counts as practice.

A writing journal can serve as a place to get personal with a post and its challenges. We all need to get things off our chest once in a while, and putting them down as a narrative is often therapeutic.

A journal can be vital when documenting your personal writing history. It is a unique event in every writer's life and certainly deserves to be preserved. Those who can write seldom travel completely alone. Family and friends can usually be counted on for support along the way. A writer's journal is the most unique private account of the journey, no matter where it ends.

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