Well, some time ago, someone already asked a kind of timer-session, that is a session target based on time as opposed to written words. Indeed, it is more correct to say new words, rather then written words, because if you write, say, 2000 words, but delete those old chapter made of 1998 words that is no more attractive to you, then the honest session word target device says that you wrote just 2 words…
The problem here is that Scrivener’s target session device doesn’t consider the revision activity, for example. Another point is that it doesn’t consider either a non-fiction user’s point of view. In that perspective also, it’s more important to track if you write a phrase every one or two minutes, that are the result of a lot of thinking and reading work. Why shouldn’t you consider that as session time?
The solution consists in a really simple check loop with timer, that would just keep track of the amount of time until a user keeps saving from time to time. Scrivener does this automatically. I think that it saves after two seconds of inactivity by default. So if a process could let the timer going for a configurable amount of second before it stops, that would be the session time amount.
I think I’m confused. Sorry, what do you mean exactly? Some users have asked for a daily target rather than a session target, which is on the list for future consideration, but I don’t think I quite get exactly what you mean. Then again, it is late on a Saturday evening and beer has been imbibed, so the fault is most likely entirely down to me.
I’m befuddled, too. Are you saying the timer should only be counting when the project has not been saved? Or to put it another way, since the only time a project is unsaved is when the user has been typing, it can be assumed that writing is going on, and then once saved the timer stops and waits for further activity? The main problem I see with this is that not everyone adheres to the two-second default. If Scrivener were set up to wait ten minutes before saving, that would bloat the timer session a good deal.
@ Keith
It’s my fault, Keith. It’s my English… Anyway, I will explain what I mean with an example. Take the standard session target that you can find in the bottom of the modal “palette” windows that shows up by selecting the menu: <View|Statistics|Show project target>.
The label says “Session Target:”. Okay? Now let’s imagine that instead of the number of words or characters you could choose also a third option: time.
Let’s say that in the right-bottom option-menu you select time, then in the middle textbox you could input the time you intend to dedicate to effective writing (or just effective working on your manuscript), for example 3 hours. Than all along the day you can do other stuff on your computer and be working on your manuscript from time to time (it always happen that way to me!). If that window keeps track of the time I really spend on my manuscript, I have an idea on how much I have still work for my daily target.
I hope this is more clear this time.
@AmberV
I am glad that you asked it. So I have a chance to better explain it. That timer should start for the first time when a user saves its file. With my default configuration in Scrivener, that means after two seconds I stop writing. But since may be I keep on writing for, lets say maximum thirty seconds without stopping (this value should be configurable by users) that timer should go for that time, 30 seconds, because I could be writing without a pause or reading in that meantime.
In another case I could set that value to 2 or 5 minutes, for a more revision oriented kind of job, so since I know that timer will stop in two (or five) minutes, I will save from time to time, so that my session timing will be more accurate. If instead I save and go away from my mac for a break, than there will be just that 2 minutes (of 5 minutes) of inaccuracy in calculating my working time.
Again, I hope this is clearer…
Ah, I think I understand now. Really, this should just count time while you are typing, right? So you know exactly how much time you’ve spent typing. There is, however, a major problem with this suggestion:
It would tell me just how much I procrastinate.
That would be terrible. Actually, it is quite a nice idea. I can’t really put it into 2.0 right now (given the amount left to do), but I’ll certainly consider it for the future.
I’ve experimented with a counter like that in a DOS-based text processor I once wrote for my own use, a long time ago. I considered it to be a nice idea then, too, but I found that it was of no big help in order to achieve anything better. I wondered why, because theoretically it should…
The best explanation I found was that it goes against a fundamental rule of how things are getting done: You have to focus your attention on the achievements, not on the efforts. But by counting the time you are writing is focusing on the effort, and although you most probably won’t believe it beforehand, this leads to frustration and disencouragement in the long run.
It’s by far better to focus on results. If you have written 10 words plus at the end of the day, no matter how - whether you pounded them out in one minute, or you wrote 2000 words and deleted 1990 of them -, it’s 10 words more towards the goal. You have achieved something. And this way it works.
However, even if the best thing is to embed this option right in Scrivener, as I hope Keith will eventually do, in the meantime I wrote this little mac os X application. I tried to make it the more Scrivener’s Project Target window like as possible.
Yes, but I still hope you will implement this kind of counter in Scrivener. The main algorithm is really simple, I can provide to you my source, if you want.
That’s why I hope you will try it, so it could convince you to include it.
All the best,
Paolo
P. S: I’m glad you changed the format of Scrivener’s file bundles in version 2. That way it will be easy to edit a single RTF file in the bundle in a iPhone or iPad, whose filesystems see as RTF files in a folder. Since I keep all my Scrivener files in a Dropbox directory, it will be easy for just to edit a file when I need to.
Sorry, what do you mean exactly? Some users have asked for a daily target rather than a session target, which is on the list for future consideration, but I don’t think I quite get exactly what you mean. Then again, it is late on a Saturday evening and beer has been imbibed, so the fault is most likely entirely down to me. 