A few weeks ago, I discovered my new favorite writing, Toggl. Toggl provides a way to track my time. With Toggl, I can enter in my various writing activities (novel, blog posts, writing group, and volunteer work (more on that in a future post)), and I can see at a glance how much time I actually spend as a writer each day. Toggl surprised me. If you had asked me before about my writing schedule, I would have told you that it was an hour a day. That's the time I spend on my novel. I generally hadn't thought of my other writing gigs as writing time. Toggl has cured me of that. I can now look at my entries and see very clearly my commitment to my creative life.
Since I've started using Toggl, I talk about it when I hang out with friends. (Yes, I am a nerd.) Some also love to track their time. But others were resistant to the idea. They said that it was a frightening option to consider, that it was actually something they would never want to do. But Toggl makes me happy. The Hermione in me loves to keep a record of my work. It makes me accountable. I really don't like it if I look at a day, and my writing self is underrepresented. With Toggl, I'm a more productive writer.