Report Cards!
It's getting close to November again! I am writing a Choose Your Own Adventure-style novel this year, so I am going crazy trying to plan everything out. I've updated my spreadsheets from last year for you lovely people.
First off, my Word War spreadsheet is a lot of fun. It's set up for up to four people, but if you needed to run wars for a more than that, you could just copy the tab to get four more spaces.
- It's great for groups with mixed fast and slow writers AND for groups of people that write at the same pace. It can be used competitively or just to meet individual goals. Heck, I use it alone on days when I need to write like a madwoman to catch up.
- You can replace the Hogwarts House names with the names of your participants, and it will change accordingly in the totals box to the side. Magic!
- At the end of each round, you put in your total word count, and it will tell you how many words you wrote in that round.
- Each person can set their own goal, if they so desire, and the sheet will keep track of how many more words they need to meet their goal, and what percent of that goal they have written.
- It will keep track of the total written by all participants, and the total percentage of the group goals.
- If you put in how long each round is, in minutes, it will calculate the words/hour for each participant, as well as the total time spent writing in hours so that you can plug that into a report card spreadsheet.
Next, this "Report Card" word count tracking spreadsheet is my baby. I started out using the one posted here a few years ago, but then I started modifying it. By now, it is so heavily modified it doesn't even look like the original anymore, and it does a LOT more while still being pretty easy to use. *I* think it's pretty keen, but then I might be biased. I have two flavors available for you. First I have the version WITHOUT scene info here- this one is for the seat-of-the-pants writers who don't plan, or writers who don't plan on exact numbers of scenes or chapters. The second version includes scene information, and it is here. This one is for the planners.
- On the main tab, you can set your word count goal (defaults to 50,000), personal daily goal (defaults to 1,667), and number of scenes in your novel (if you are using version 2). All of this will carry over everywhere else.
- Every day, you put in your total word count and, in version 2, the number of scenes written, hours spent writing, and your morale. There is also a space to put notes about each day, which is a lot of fun to look back on when you dust off the spreadsheet a year later.
- When you put in your daily info, the first tab will calculate words written, words/hour, % of the total novel written on that day, words left to finish, average words per day, a goal for tomorrow (handy when you get behind), % change in pace, a projected finish date based on your pace, total percent complete, and number of hours or writing left. If you are using version 2, it will also calculate total scenes finished and number of scenes left. There is also a tiny pie chart at the top, so that you can always see, at a glance, how much you have written and how much you have left. Mmmmm pie.
- If you are using version 2, and you put in the number of scenes your novel will have, it will calculate how many scenes you need to write each day, and the average number of words your scenes need to have. Also, the second tab will automagically build a table with a line for each scene, so you can keep track of how many words each scene has. This will generate all sorts of fun stats in the second tab.
- As you fill in your word count each day, two graphs will fill in. On tab 3 there is a bar graph that will display each day's total and words written, side by side. On tab 4 there is a line graph that tracks daily & total word counts, your projected word counts if you keep up the pace, your personal goal, and the minimum required to finish.
- If you fill in the morale column on tab 1, the graph on tab 5 will track your morale through the month. This is also fun to look back on a year later.
- Also, it's pretty and blue. Blue is soothing, after all. Blue will hopefully help us keep from having a panic attack when we realize we have to write a billion words a day just to catch up.
Finally, I've also uploaded my Calendar. This one doesn't do anything fancy, it's just a nifty thing to print off and carry around. I'm co-ML for the Dallas/Fort Worth region, and I always print these out to give to my Wrimos at the Kick-Off party, and then I keep little star stickers with me at all times. We all love putting stickers on each day as we hit the given word count quota, so I though I'd share it with y'all who aren't in my region :)
And, just like last year, if there is anything anyone wants added to either spreadsheet, to track your own personal stats, drop me a line and I'll see about fitting it in. I like playing in Excel, and I like challenges, so don't hesitate to ask! Similarly, if anything gets borked in your copy of the Report Card, I can try to help you out.
First off, my Word War spreadsheet is a lot of fun. It's set up for up to four people, but if you needed to run wars for a more than that, you could just copy the tab to get four more spaces.
- It's great for groups with mixed fast and slow writers AND for groups of people that write at the same pace. It can be used competitively or just to meet individual goals. Heck, I use it alone on days when I need to write like a madwoman to catch up.
- You can replace the Hogwarts House names with the names of your participants, and it will change accordingly in the totals box to the side. Magic!
- At the end of each round, you put in your total word count, and it will tell you how many words you wrote in that round.
- Each person can set their own goal, if they so desire, and the sheet will keep track of how many more words they need to meet their goal, and what percent of that goal they have written.
- It will keep track of the total written by all participants, and the total percentage of the group goals.
- If you put in how long each round is, in minutes, it will calculate the words/hour for each participant, as well as the total time spent writing in hours so that you can plug that into a report card spreadsheet.
Next, this "Report Card" word count tracking spreadsheet is my baby. I started out using the one posted here a few years ago, but then I started modifying it. By now, it is so heavily modified it doesn't even look like the original anymore, and it does a LOT more while still being pretty easy to use. *I* think it's pretty keen, but then I might be biased. I have two flavors available for you. First I have the version WITHOUT scene info here- this one is for the seat-of-the-pants writers who don't plan, or writers who don't plan on exact numbers of scenes or chapters. The second version includes scene information, and it is here. This one is for the planners.
- On the main tab, you can set your word count goal (defaults to 50,000), personal daily goal (defaults to 1,667), and number of scenes in your novel (if you are using version 2). All of this will carry over everywhere else.
- Every day, you put in your total word count and, in version 2, the number of scenes written, hours spent writing, and your morale. There is also a space to put notes about each day, which is a lot of fun to look back on when you dust off the spreadsheet a year later.
- When you put in your daily info, the first tab will calculate words written, words/hour, % of the total novel written on that day, words left to finish, average words per day, a goal for tomorrow (handy when you get behind), % change in pace, a projected finish date based on your pace, total percent complete, and number of hours or writing left. If you are using version 2, it will also calculate total scenes finished and number of scenes left. There is also a tiny pie chart at the top, so that you can always see, at a glance, how much you have written and how much you have left. Mmmmm pie.
- If you are using version 2, and you put in the number of scenes your novel will have, it will calculate how many scenes you need to write each day, and the average number of words your scenes need to have. Also, the second tab will automagically build a table with a line for each scene, so you can keep track of how many words each scene has. This will generate all sorts of fun stats in the second tab.
- As you fill in your word count each day, two graphs will fill in. On tab 3 there is a bar graph that will display each day's total and words written, side by side. On tab 4 there is a line graph that tracks daily & total word counts, your projected word counts if you keep up the pace, your personal goal, and the minimum required to finish.
- If you fill in the morale column on tab 1, the graph on tab 5 will track your morale through the month. This is also fun to look back on a year later.
- Also, it's pretty and blue. Blue is soothing, after all. Blue will hopefully help us keep from having a panic attack when we realize we have to write a billion words a day just to catch up.
Finally, I've also uploaded my Calendar. This one doesn't do anything fancy, it's just a nifty thing to print off and carry around. I'm co-ML for the Dallas/Fort Worth region, and I always print these out to give to my Wrimos at the Kick-Off party, and then I keep little star stickers with me at all times. We all love putting stickers on each day as we hit the given word count quota, so I though I'd share it with y'all who aren't in my region :)
And, just like last year, if there is anything anyone wants added to either spreadsheet, to track your own personal stats, drop me a line and I'll see about fitting it in. I like playing in Excel, and I like challenges, so don't hesitate to ask! Similarly, if anything gets borked in your copy of the Report Card, I can try to help you out.