The goal
Finish a 60,000-word first draft of my book by this time next year
Make it yours: change the highlighted parts, the numbers and the wording. In Ascanti the dates are set from the quarter you start in.
How you'll know you got there
A complete first draft of 60,000 words, start to finish.
Why this works
Books get written by people who write regularly, not by people who wait for inspiration. A daily word target turns a full draft into arithmetic: a few hundred words a day adds up to a novel-length draft in under a year. This plan protects writing time, keeps drafting separate from editing, and keeps you moving forward instead of polishing chapter one.
Milestones
One checkpoint for each of the first three quarters. The goal itself lands in the fourth.
- Quarter 1Outline and first quarter: an outline and 15,000 words drafted
- Quarter 2Halfway: 30,000 words, without going back to edit
- Quarter 3Three-quarters: 45,000 words and the ending outlined
Key results
Numbers you can check at any point to see whether you're on track.
- Words drafted: 60,000 words
- Writing sessions: 200 sessions
Starter habits
Write 300 words
300 words / day · daily habitPlan next week's scenes or chapters
1 time / week · weekly habit
Your first week
- Write a one-paragraph summary of the book
- Pick a daily writing time and place
- Sketch a rough outline of the main parts
- Set up one document or folder for the draft
- Write my first 300 words
Use it in Ascanti
Pick this template in Goals, adjust the numbers and dates, untick anything you don't want, and Ascanti creates the goal with its milestones, key results, habits and week-one tasks in one step. Progress on the tasks and key results rolls up to the goal.
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