Tracking Your Progress

by D’Ann Mateer

Almost 25 years ago, I attended my first writers conference at Mt. Hermon. It was the second
big step toward my writing dream—the first being finishing my first full-length novel. Of course, I
soaked in all the classes and interactions with editors and agents and fellow writers, but
probably the most lasting thing I took home was something I’m not even sure was actually
stated: I began tracking my writing by day.

I’ll be honest, when this thought first came to me, I didn’t immediately put it into practice. It took me a couple more years to get the courage to see my progress (or lack of it!) in black and white. But in 2005, I finally took the plunge.

At the time, this was simply a way to validate or invalidate the thought that would discourage me most—that I wasn’t getting any writing work done. So I made a simple spreadsheet with the month/day as the rows and with three columns across the top: words written, writing meetings, and pages edited. Every day I wrote or edited or attended a writers group, I logged what I’d
done.

By the end of that year, I could see I had, indeed, made progress. But it wasn’t that year that
really changed things for me. It was the next, and the next, and the next. Because for the first
time, I could verify that I was making progress, that I was building my writing muscles. It was
evident in the growing numbers.

Eventually, I added other columns, like research time, pre-writing time, books read, and pages
revised (because for me, editing and revising are two different things!). My spreadsheet is more
extensive now as I use it not just for keeping track of a year but of the actual projects I’m
working on, including social media, editing clients, newsletter, etc. But the result is the
same—seeing progress.

And yet, seeing my progress hasn’t actually been the best result.

After twenty years of statistics, what I see is not my work, but God’s provision. How He has sustained me even in years I felt like I did no writing at all—which was usually proven wrong by my spreadsheet! These statistics have become altars of memory, the places where I can go and see what God has done through the years. They lead me to praise the God who called me to write and made it happen in so many ways. They cause me to worship the God who has been with me in every step and who has used my writing to change me and to build my faith in Him.

I’d thought at some point I wouldn’t need to keep these statistics. But I was wrong. Every year, as I prepare a new spreadsheet, I get excited to see what God will do. Where my time will slot into each column, and where the numbers will go up or down from the previous year. I love this tangible reminder that God is doing something little by little, day by day, growing me, growing my book (or my blog posts or my social media accounts).

It didn’t happen overnight.

It doesn’t happen overnight.

But it has happened.

I am a writer because, for many years, I have written.

If you need encouragement in your writing and in God’s faithfulness to you in it, think about
keeping some kind of log you can look back on to celebrate the way God has grown you in your
writing.

D’Ann Mateer is the author of four historical novels, two historical romance novellas, and three dual-timeline mysteries for Guideposts. Her new novel, To Heed the Call, will release in 2026. D’Ann lives in Dallas with her husband, Jeff, and dotes on her two (soon to be three!) grandgirls.