number of hours i spent writing this year

156 hours.  i keep timesheets on how much time i spend writing, so i know the exact number.  i used to do freelance design so i’m used to keeping track of hours.
i don’t count the time spent doing “research”, but i do count brainstorming and rewriting.

here’s the month by month breakdown:

• jan – 4:38 (started the year off slow.  no good)
• feb – 3:39
• mar – 8:27
• apr – 23:43
• may – 36:01
• june – 2:24
• july – 1:52 (started preproduction on my short)
• aug – 3:08 (preproduction)
• sep – 5:24 (post production)
• oct – 13:46
• nov – 40:01 (wrote a rough draft for national novel writing month)
• dec – 12:24 (working on new ideas)

in 2005 i spent 358 hours writing, so 2006 was a big drop off, more than half.  most of that was because of the time spend working on my short film.  some of it was because of laziness.  ha ha.

in 2007 i want to make at least one short film, and write the feature  that i want to shoot in 2008, so i need manage my time much better.

i highly recommend keeping track of the hours you spend writing.  besides the amount of time spent during each session, i also write down what i accomplish in that session. that way i can see how long it takes to do a complete draft, how long it takes to do a revision, etc.  it’s also a good motivator because when you see low output, you know you have to step it up and keep writing.