Writing Goals: Daily and Weekly Targets
A writing goal turns "I should write more" into a specific number. That number is what separates writers who finish books from writers who do not.
How to set a daily writing goal
Start with a number you can hit on your worst day. Not your best day. Your worst.
- Beginner: 200-300 words per day
- Intermediate: 500-1,000 words per day
- Experienced: 1,000-2,000 words per day
The goal is consistency, not volume. 300 words every day for a year is 109,500 words. That is a full novel and then some.
Weekly goals vs. daily goals
Daily goals work best for building habits. But life happens. A weekly goal gives you flexibility to miss a day and make it up later.
A good approach: set both. Daily goal of 500 words, weekly goal of 3,500. If you miss Tuesday, you write 700 on Wednesday. The weekly goal stays on track.
Setting your total book goal
Your total goal depends on what you are writing:
- Short novel: 50,000-70,000 words
- Standard novel: 70,000-90,000 words
- Long novel: 90,000-120,000 words
- Screenplay: 15,000-25,000 words (90-120 pages)
For more detail, see how many words in a novel.
How to track your writing progress
Tracking progress is what turns writing from a hobby into a project. When you can see how far you have come, you are far more likely to keep going.
- Words written today — your daily output
- Words written this week — your weekly rhythm
- Total words — progress toward your book goal
- Percentage complete — how close you are to done
Seeing a progress bar move from 20% to 25% is a powerful motivator. It makes the abstract ("I am writing a book") concrete ("I have written 20,000 of 80,000 words"). Track daily to stay disciplined. Review weekly to see if your goals are realistic.
Tracking your goals with BookBeast
In BookBeast, you set your master goal (total words), daily goal, and weekly goal. The app tracks your progress and shows you how you are doing against each target. No spreadsheets, no complicated setup.