writing target control

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

When I bought Scrivener I am pretty sure there was a feature that I am trying to implement.

I want to force myself to write, say, 1000 words a day on a project. Is there any way to configure this?

I have searched the help and the forum but can’t find anything.

Thanks.

2

In the main menu go to “View - Statistics - Project Targets”. You’ll find a panel which allows you to set a target number of words both for the entire project and for the current writing session. You can then check your progress as you go.

Not sure if this means Scrivener is “forcing” you to write 1,000 words a day, exactly - maybe for version 2.0. (Is it possible to programme a large hairy hand which reaches out of the screen and restrains the user until target words have been written?) :wink:

3

thanks for the quick reply.

I knew it was there but could not figure out how to get to it.

I wish that large hairy hand existed! I sometimes feel I need it. Maybe just a strong chain that unlocks when I do the projected number of words!!! Born procrastinator here!!! :laughing:

4

A pleasure. The hot key by the way is shift-command-T. You can read it about it in the “windows and panels” section of the help file.

Here’s to the hairy hand!

William

5

If you want to force yourself to write, you could try Write or Die.

6

I too have thought about this. I like scrivener in part because I can “divide and conquer.” By focusing on each part, I can catch myself writing too wordily. My dream version of the current word count statistics would be different in two small ways.

  1. A statistics view would show all of my document files in a list. Not just the draft but each file in the draft would be a line item. On each line a red or green dot would indicate the status of the target.

  2. The red/green target signal could be set so that a red light would appear when one wrote too much, or too little. That would accommodate people who are going for fewer words as well as more words.

7

In Scrivener 2.0, you can customise the targets progress bar (which appears in the outliner remember) so that it goes from red to green or vice versa. Moreover, for documents where a target has been set, the word count will appear in the colour set for “not achieved” or “achieved”, so that you can see at a glance in the outliner which documents have achieved their targets.
Best,
Keith

8

I went to the Scrivener site hoping to upgrade/update to version 2 but can’t find any way to do it without purchasing the whole program again.

I read somewhere that existing customers can update for $25 but I can’t see that anywhere.

I can’t remember what I paid for the program but I sure don’t want to have to buy it again to get the newest version!

9

2.0 isn’t out yet, so you can’t update yet.

10

OMG, just shot myself in the foot. Duh.

Thanks for the wake-up!