The 12 Week Year for Writers

CHAPTER 8THE WEEKLY EXECUTION ROUTINE

At this point we have discussed most of the tools you need to plan and get your writing done. The final piece of the puzzle is putting the tools together in the Weekly Execution Routine (WER for short). The WER combines the 12 Week Year disciplines of Process Control, Scorekeeping and Time Use into one weekly routine and dramatically increases the odds you will successfully hit your writing goals.

The purpose of the routine is to make sure you're getting your writing done on a week-in and week-out basis. In other words, to make sure you're keeping score, staying accountable, diagnosing problems, and strategizing your way through challenges. Research makes abundantly clear that following a weekly routine is essential for developing consistency in your writing. In this chapter, I'll walk you through the five-step Weekly Execution Routine that will keep you on track and making progress toward your goals.

STEP 1: SCORE LAST WEEK

Each week should end (or begin, depending on what works best for your schedule) with a strategic review and planning session. The first order of business during this session is to review the previous week and update your weekly scorecard. What was your weekly execution score last week? How are your key indicators looking?

Your weekly score, as discussed in Chapter 7, is your primary diagnostic tool for measuring progress and identifying problems. Take a few minutes to reflect on your score: is the data telling you ...