In December of 2022, I wrote 95,393 words. That included the content from blogs, books, YouTube video scripts, and client work. In 2024, I plan on breaking it again. My only hope is that the month isn’t as chaotic as the rest of this year has been.
Between general life interruptions and getting into my own way a lot of the time, I’ve had a pretty rough year. I’ve had worse, but from a production standpoint, it’s been a hard one to get ahold of.
At least it’s a different kind of chaos each time. I’m never bored at my house.
Why Worry About Breaking Writing Records?
Breaking writing records is a way that I gamify the process. I love trying to see if I can outperform myself on a daily basis. It has a lot to do with learning how to improve myself as a creator while focusing on better time management.
It doesn’t matter how many words someone else can write or how much money they make from books, blogs, or YouTube videos. I’m only in competition with myself.
That’s the crux of why a lot of people fail as writers, authors, bloggers, and even YouTubers. They get hung up on the fact that someone else is doing better in their field and begin feeling inadequate.
Those feelings shouldn’t even enter the equation, really.
The only time you are truly inadequate is if you completely give up without putting in maximum effort. Can you sit back and truly believe that you’ve “tried everything?” Whenever someone tells me that, I can immediately come up with at least five things they haven’t tried.
You never know what slight change you make to your routine that winds up paying off in spades.
Anyway, the word count goal is not just about trying to crank out as many words as possible. As I said, it mostly involves time management and improving research capabilities. In other words, I’m improving a lot of aspects of creating content beyond how fast I can type.
How I Plan to Crush My Writing Record
In order to break my record from 2022, I’ll need to write at least 3,078 words per day. For some, that might sound like a lot. For me, that’s only one or two blog posts per day. Or, a 2-hour writing sprint working on my next book and a blog post.
In reality, it should be quite easy for me to break my personal record as long as I can manage my time better. That means preventing myself from getting distracted, which often includes friends and family.
So, how am I going to go about breaking my writing record this December?
Maintain WriterSanctuary’s Publishing Schedule
Over the past few months, WriterSanctuary has returned to a 3-per-week schedule. There’s a new post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9:45 am (MTN). I’d like to keep it going to start the new year.
Normally, I am a week ahead of the schedule, which gives me plenty of time to finish writing a post. Some topics are a bit deeper than others and might need a bit more time than what I allotted in my schedule.
By maintaining a publishing schedule, I should be able to keep some subscribers as well as the Google algorithm happy. In fact, I’ve seen an increase in traffic and visibility across the entire site since it’s been on a regular schedule.
Getting Back to Daily Writing Sprints
The daily writing sprints are what helped me finish writing Shadows of Atlantic City. Right now, I’m using them to finish off the edits before publishing the book. And they are worth the time invested.
I had to start scheduling book-writing time in my “workday” because I wasn’t getting enough quality time with my manuscripts. Now, I work on them from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, which works brilliantly for me.
It’s been difficult to keep them going consistently because of the many things that go on throughout the week. But hopefully, some of the dust has settled and I can get back into writing and editing my books.
Getting YouTube Videos a Week Ahead
One of my goals to start 2025 is to have the YouTube channel a week ahead of schedule. I’m planning on publishing new videos every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in addition to the daily writing sprints and Monday live streams and interviews.
According to the numbers, I should be able to apply for the YouTube Partner Program for AdSense revenue by the 9th of December. So, I just need a few more hours of watch time to make it happen.
I’ve had the channel going since 2018. Writing education channels just don’t grow like so many others do on the platform. Still, an extra $50 per month can go a long way to help me build everything up next year.
Working On the Other Blogs
I would love to get my other two “primary” blogs to the level of WriterSanctuary. Both have had issues for varying reasons, but they still have the potential to be something great.
According to the time blocks I have available, I should be able to write a few extra blog posts per week for both the fitness and gaming blogs. Then, I have enough time for one post on the YouTube experimental site.
Getting the other blogs on a routine schedule is kind of a secondary objective. Currently, I’m dumping more time into the YouTube channel and publishing my next book. But theoretically, I should have enough time to make something happen on those websites.
Content Research Time
I plan on scheduling at least an hour per week coming up with various topics for the blogs and YouTube channels. That’s because I don’t want to sit at a blank screen trying to think of something to write about for the day.
Besides, doing research into a topic only makes for a better blog post or video. It’s not just about knowing what keywords will work, but also about knowing what the audience wants to know and providing it.
Sure, a few one-offs here and there don’t hurt. Take this post, for example. How many people out there really care about whether I can break a writing record or not?
It’s the in-depth pieces such as reviews and tutorials that drive the most traffic from Google. That’s where content research comes into play.
Scheduling Substack Updates
I haven’t published a lot of content in my Substack newsletter. It’s mainly focused on fans of my work and less educational. It’s in my nature to help others along in their journey, so focusing on myself for the fans is kind of an alien topic.
Yet, as a few people have pointed out, I’ve gained a bit of notoriety. Some are even starting to call me a “celebrity,” which I have a hard time believing on most days.
Regardless, I need to start sharing more with my fans and perhaps stoking some of the fire so that when a new book drops, some of them will buy it.
Aiming for Weekly Efficiency Numbers
As I said, breaking a monthly writing record centers around time management. And because I use a spreadsheet to monitor time, I know exactly how much of it I waste throughout the day.
The primary goal for 2025 is all about how much of my day is actually spent working on various projects. This includes everything I do, such as client work, writing books, managing blogs, managing YouTube channels, the podcasts, etc.
That means if something derails my efforts on any particular day, I need to make up for it in the evenings or the weekends. And I need to stop talking myself out of playing catch-up.
Hitting the Ground Running in 2025
One of the reasons why I am putting so much effort into breaking my writing record in December is so that I can start the next year being productive.
I don’t view what I do as work mostly because I love everything I do. And when you love your job, you’ll never work another day of your life. Sure, I’d like some downtime and perhaps take a vacation at some point. But I am happiest when at my keyboard.
So, let’s see if I can make something happen in December and set a new high for content for myself. It’s going to be a tough one as there are a few things still in the lurch coming up. But I have confidence I can make it happen.
- How to Write, Edit, and Publish a Decent Book for Free - December 2, 2024
- Breaking My Record of 95,393 Words in a Single Month - November 29, 2024
- How Long Does It Realy Take to Write a Good Book? - November 27, 2024