Write Now Writing Newsletter

Happy Monday!

Welcome to a new month! It’s unbelievable how quickly we’re moving through 2026. Soon, we’ll all be looking back on our writing accomplishments for the year. In the meantime, how are you doing when it comes to measuring your success? Are you holding yourself accountable?

As a working author who’s been blessed to have a contract every year since 2000, I’ve always had to hold myself accountable for my writing. And the measure I always use is time. For me, time has been the most important thing since I write full time. I must show up in front of my iPad every day.

Now, I’ve allowed my time goal to vary. During some seasons, my time measurement can be as little as four or five hours. When I’m on tour I may say I must write two hours every day. And then, there are those months when I’m in the thick of it…those times, I will set my goals for ten/twelve hours a day.

That time goal has always worked for me. But for some reason, this month, I had the urge to change my accountability. I am hard up against a deadline. (Okay, that’s not true. As of this past Saturday, I am three months late!) So for the month of July, I felt compelled to do something different. It was the first month this year where I was going to be home for two weeks straight, and even when I traveled, it was for short trips only.

So with a deadline behind me (pressure) and a month in front of me (opportunity), I set out a new plan. I limited my outside interactions, meetings, no telephone calls, etc. And for the first time in my career (29 years!) I changed my accountability.

I had to complete this manuscript and I needed words! My novels normally finish around 105,000 words and so that’s what I worked with.

On July 1st, I set my goal. I was going to write 1500 words a day. Fifteen hundred was a stretch, but doable. That would be a full day of work. And if I achieved that goal, I would double what I’d written in the previous six months!

So, how did it work?

What a month I had!

It became more than accountability for me, it became a competition with myself. At all costs, quality was most important. (I’ll explain that in a moment.) But every night before I went to bed, I wrote down where I was on my word count. And committed to trying to beat that number the next day.

I’m excited to share that I ended the month with 48,847 new words, averaging 1575 words every day. Now, I am just chapters away from being able to type — THE END — on the first draft.

I learned a lot about myself during this time. My best writing day was 2903 words. My worst was 613. (Remember I mentioned quality before — that 613 word day, I struggled with getting what I wanted to say down on the page and I wasn’t going to write just anything to meet my goal. I was writing a “technically-heavy” chapter and I was happy to end that day at 613. Quality trumps everything.)

Every morning, I awakened on a mission; I knew what I had to achieve. And then every night, I held myself accountable. There were seven days when I missed my goal — most of those times by only a few hundred words. (I probably could have made the goal, but I don’t write when I’m tired. When I hit that wall, I’m out.) What I knew was that every day I’d given my 1500-word-goal best!

Because of this July experiment, from this point forward, from time to time, I will look at the way I’m measuring my accountability. Because what I’ve learned is that sometimes, it’s not our discipline that needs to change…it’s the way we measure it.

Premium Members, I am looking forward to meeting with you tonight. We’ll do the Show and Tell craft workshop from last month. See you at 7PM EDT.

Until next time, write now right now, because the time is right, now.

I want to give you a challenge…just for one week.

1. What is a writing goal that you’ve been measuring the same way for some time now? Ask yourself — is my goal still helping me make progress?

2. Change it up. Find another metric to hold yourself accountable. Give yourself permission to experiment and use a metric you wouldn’t ordinarily use. (Maybe for seven days instead of writing, you’ll do writing sprints. I may try that one week.)

3. At the end of the week, ask yourself — did this new form of accountability move me closer to my goal? With the answer, you’ll know what to do.

What a beautiful evening in Washington, D.C.! I had the best time celebrating A Pair of Aces with a room full of wonderful readers, friends, Sorors and book lovers. From the lively conversation with Brandelyn Anderson, The JoyBuilder, to the delicious food and incredible local vendors, the entire event was filled with laughter, connection, and joy.

A very special thank-you to Everyday Hair and The JoyBuilder for creating such a warm and memorable experience—and to everyone who joined us. Your love and support mean more than you know!