The Magic Spreadsheet

As I mentioned recently, my new job has a much longer commute, which gives me more time in the car and more time to listen to podcasts. Mostly I focus on comic book and film podcasts (special mention goes to my buddy Derrick Ferguson, co-host of Better in the Dark and of course, Tommy Hancock and his podcasts, Pro Se Presents: The Podcast and Pulped!), with a few political stuff thrown in for good measure (especially The Bugle).

I also listen to a few writing ones, and one of them I found that I like is Mur Lafferty’s show, I Should Be Writing. On it, she talked about the Magic Spreadsheet, created by Tony Pisculli. Here’s a link to the podcast she did with Tony about the Magic Spreadsheet and here you can find the Google+ community for the Magic Spreadsheet (as well as information on accessing it on Google Drive).

The Magic Spreadsheet works by encouraging you to keep a daily habit. Unlike most other writing outlets, the Magic Spreadsheet sets the bar pretty low to start off—250 words a day. Some may look at that and scoff. “250 words? That’s like a workout which consists of stretching!”

And it’s a good argument. Most people shoot for around 1000-2000 words a day, which is a good goal. When you’re working on a book that has to be tens of thousands of words long (or sometimes hundreds of thousands), 250 words a day doesn’t seem like it’ll get you any where.

But the goal isn’t necessarily quantity, it’s consistency. Yes, 250 words is easy to do, which is why this is an easy habit to get into. You can go over if you want (I frequently do), but what’s important is if you don’t write, you break the chain you’ve built up and you start off back at the beginning. Which may not matter to most people, but it gives you a sense of accomplishment and it’s something to keep you motivated.

Plus, let’s face it—we all have off days when we don’t feel like writing. But if all you have to do is put out 250 words, that’s not as daunting as 2000. Even if you’re not in the mood, it becomes something that you just have to get done. Like doing the dishes.  “Okay, I’m not in the mood, but this will only take about fifteen minutes and then I can get back to GTA5.”

And you might surprise yourself. Lately, I’ve had to work on Saturday mornings, but I had this past weekend off. Friday night, I was enjoying that I didn’t have to be anywhere the next day. I made a pizza, drank some beer, caught up on TV and read some comics. And then I looked at the clock and realized it was already getting close to 11 and I hadn’t written anything all day. I wasn’t feeling like it, but I told myself, “hey, 250 words and then I’m done.” So I sat at my computer and by the time I was done, I’d written about 1200 words.

That’s why something like this is good. Even if you feel like you’re not in the mood to write, that “it’s just 250 words” kick might be just what you need to get some momentum going.

So give it a try, you might find it to be very effective.