Writer’s WiP Calc Instructions

Description: Writer’s WiP Calc is a spreadsheet template created in Google Docs that will help you track progress on up to four writing projects for up to one year each. You do not need experience with spreadsheets to use this template. It assumes that you are using writing software that can provide a total word count that you will enter on the spreadsheet. You can also enter a target number of words that you want to write each day. Writer’s WiP Calc takes the word totals that you enter and calculates your daily and average number of words per day. Days on which you meet or exceed your target are marked. Daily and Total word counts are displayed in a graph.

Distribution: The Writer’s WiP Calc template is available by invitation only at this time. Contact the author (Tim.VanSant.Writes [at] gmail [dot] com) for information. See the bottom of this page for copyright information.

Setup: You need to have a Google account to access Gmail and Google Docs. I will send you a link to view the template. To use the template, select File – Make a Copy. Choose a name for your copy. The copy should automatically open in a new tab. All your work must be done in your copy.

Use: There are six sheets in Writer’s WiP Calc. The first sheet is a summary page. Do not make any changes on this sheet. We will come back to this later.

To set up your first WiP, click on the tab for the wip_1 sheet. The tabs are located at the bottom of the screen.

On the wip_1 sheet enter the Title of your project, the Start Date, and your Target number of words per day. The Target number is optional. The Title and Target number can be changed at any time.

Each day that you work on this project you will need to enter your current total number of words in the Word Count column. (The rest of the column will fill with the latest number you enter. This is necessary for some of the calculations.) The number you enter in the Word Count column is compared to the last number you entered and your progress for that day is displayed in the Words per Day column. If you entered a Target number, each day that you meet or exceed that target is marked. You only enter a new total next to the dates when you work on your project. Idle days do not affect the words per day calculations.

You can track up to four projects independently of each other by entering the info on the corresponding sheets (wip_2, wip_3, wip_4). Information from each of the four projects is automatically copied and displayed on the Summary sheet. (Do not make any changes on the Summary sheet. Enter all info on one of the four wip sheets.) Your Words per Day numbers are charted in a graph to the right of each project.

The Graphs sheet has a larger version of the four graphs on the Summary sheet. The scale for the Words per day is on the left. In addition, the black line charts your total Word Count. The scale for the Word Count is on the right.

Copyright: Writer’s WiP Calc is copyright 2012 by Tim VanSant and is being released under a Creative Commons License (see links below for details). In brief, you may copy, distribute, and modify Writer’s WiP Calc under these conditions: attribution to Tim VanSant must remain intact, it cannot be used for commercial purposes, and derivative works may only be distributed under the same or similar license to this one. If you are unsure about a particular use or you have questions not answered in this document, contact the author (Tim.VanSant.Writes [at] gmail [dot] com).

Writer's WiP Calc by Tim VanSant is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.