justin lesieur dot com slash blog slash daily writing goals

June 30, 2026

I get asked often how I approach writing, and the truth is that it's changed over time. I used to chase 1,000 words a day. It worked for a while, but eventually I realized word count isn't always the best measure of progress. Some parts of a book come quickly. Others take research, planning, or just plain wrestling with the story. Hitting a number didn't always reflect the work I was actually doing.

So I shifted my goal. Now I write for at least two hours a day. Every day. No weekend or holiday breaks. No "I'll catch up tomorrow." Two hours of writing, rewriting, editing, researching; whatever the story needs. I have a full-time job and a wife I enjoy spending time with, meaning I don't have endless hours to pour into a book, so I count all of it. The outlining. The drafting. The cleanup and problem-solving. The days where I'm rewriting a single paragraph over and over until it finally stops fighting me.

And just like before, I don't always hit the goal perfectly. Some days life wins. Some days I sit down and nothing comes out. I'm human, but I still show up and try.

Then there are the days where the writing won't stop. The days every writer longs for. A few weeks ago, I sat down planning to write for a few hours, maybe three, but ended up disappearing into my office for the entire morning and afternoon. When I finally came up for air, I had almost 7,000 words written in one sprint. I haven't read any of it yet, so it might be all trash, but that's not the point. The point is that it felt good. It felt easy, like the story was pulling me along instead of the other way around.

That's writing for me now. Some days it's slow. Some days it's chaos. And other days it's magic. But two hours at a time, I keep moving forward.

If you're writing something of your own, the best advice I can give: find a system that respects your life, your time, and your brain. The good days will carry you farther than you think.

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