ALYSSA LOST IN SPACE

And here I am again with another Notion post, but I think you’ll find this one particularly useful, especially if you’re trying to be more consistent with your writing

As I try to create a more sustainable writing routine, tracking my writing has become more important than ever. I’ve tried to track it in my writing notebook many times, but I always forgot that the page existed, and so it sat empty. I’d built something in Notion but it was basic, and I knew I could create something more robust.

So I designed a database template that you can easily duplicate and integrate into your pre-existing system (or you can use it on its own if you prefer).

The link above will take you to a Gumroad page, but the template is pay-what-you-want, so you can get it for free!

What’s included in the Writing Tracker?

Because it’s only a database, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of a full-blown template, but it does include the following:

• a daily writing session template for recording all of your writing sprints/sessions and making a to-do list.
• formulas for calculating your remaining words or time spent so you can make sure you don’t fall behind
• the ability to set different daily targets so you can set a different goal depending on the day

How do you use it?

Every time you sit down to write, create a new page and select the writing session template. That will pre-load everything. Set the title as the date, and start writing. You can track the length of time and the words you get in the table provided, and at the end of the day you can tally them up. If you have specific things you want to achieve, there is also a to-do list for you to keep track.

When you first open a new template, you’ll see under the title that there is a place for you to record your target word count and target time. You can change that if you prefer to have a different daily target and the formulas will calculate accordingly.

If you want to keep the targets the same every time you sit down to write, navigate to the right of the screen, and click on the arrow- that will show you all of the templates associated with this database. If you click on the dots to the right of the daily writing session template, it will allow you to edit that template and you can change the default time and word count targets. Now, every time you load the template it will use those targets.

If you tally your writing time by minutes, you will also be able to see your average words per hour.

I’ve also created different views in the drop-down menu near the top left of the database. Those will allow you to change your tracker if you’d prefer to focus on only time or word count. I’ve also created one that can be used per month, you’ll just have to duplicate it and change the dates. This could be especially helpful for NaNoWriMo!

Let me know if you decide to use it and how well it’s working for you! I didn’t want it to be unnecessarily bulky because I think that can make it intimidating to use, but if you have any suggestions on ways to improve or expand the tracker, let me know in the comments!

And if you enjoy the resources I create, then I hope you will consider supporting me with ko-fi. Your support is always appreciated, but never necessary. If you want to learn of other ways you can support what I do, check out my support page.

Happy Writing, friends!

Let’s Chat!

Do you track your writing? What do you use to keep track? What Notion template should I create next? Let me know in the comments!