I see tweets all the time about writing goals. Goals are good. Goals help motivate. But I’ve never been good at them.
Deadlines help but I still struggle to meet them. A friend of mine gave me a deadline for two weeks and I think I emailed her the finished project about a month later.
Word goals? Forget about it.
I’ve had enough of those from years and years of being a student, trying desperately to meet the criteria for an essay, that I’m not putting myself though that sort of torture for a creative writing project.
In my mind, it’s time to stop writing when it’s time to stop writing.
A story ends when it’s over.
Usually, I feel that little inkling inside when the story’s events are coming to a close, and I try to listen to that sensation. I’ve never been good with numbers so I don’t take much notice of whether my work is 60k or 20k.
I only care about pacing and giving my plot room to breathe.
Everything else is semantics in my mind.
I’m glad the word count method works for some people, I just don’t think it’s right for me.
The Crooked Pen 