I'm Putting My Writing On A PIP. Let's Talk About It.
Like I've done every year for the past however long, my blog went on a partial hiatus for the summer because of my day job going into extended hours and my desire to prioritize my fiction projects in that time. But even though I was doing my best to put my writing first in my free time, there were plenty of spans where it got pushed aside.
But now September is here, and it's time to get serious again.
I'm putting myself on a PIP. AKA, a Performance Improvement Plan.
PIPs are most often associated with the workplace, as they are often made up for employees who aren't quite meeting the expectations of the business. I'm including a video from AdviceWithErin to help explain it better.
Side note, Erin is one of my favorite creators and I highly suggest checking out her content!
PIPs are often viewed as an individual's workplace beginning a paper trail of that person's shortcomings or mistakes ahead of terminating them, though that isn't always the case. PIPs can simply be the company acknowledging the employee's shortcomings out of a genuine desire to help them improve their performance as a team.
This latter take is my aim for my own, self-imposed PIP. For one thing, I can't exactly fire myself from my writing. But I've also seen that even though I love writing and want to think I'm halfway decent at it, I know there are areas where my skill set is lacking. And I also know that even though I took that hiatus from the blog to focus more on my fiction, I wasn't exactly productive in that regard either.
My writing PIP is about accountability and getting myself back on track. Here's what it looks like...
The Timeline
One of the key points of a PIP is defining the timeline, sometimes with periodic check-ins.
For the purposes of my own PIP, I'm looking at about 15 weeks, give or take.
While the PIP is something I've been contemplating since July, I'm not making it official until September 15.
I know that I'm going to need time to decompress after the chaos that is extended hours at the escape room and I think the first two weeks should be sufficient time for me to re-develop a somewhat consistent writing routine before fully committing to PIP mode through the remainder of 2026.
Don't worry, I am accounting for the slumps that naturally come with the holiday season, as well as the likelihood that my word count will be lower when the escape room returns to extended hours for a brief time during winter break.
At the same time, though, I think that having this PIP in place well before NaNoWriMo will have me in a decent groove should I decide to participate in a writing challenge; I'm currently participating in The First Draft Pact and am waaay behind my personal target, but I had a feeling that would be the case since it kicked off in July.
The Goals
My biggest objective with this PIP is getting myself back on track, and I'm setting three different goal types.
First, I'm focusing on the metrics I can quantify. I'm not aiming for a specific word count each day because those kinds of goals don't work too well for me. When writing feels too calculated, I stall, and the breaks between breakthroughs get longer and longer. Instead, I'm focusing on writing a little bit each day or doing something writing-related.
While I'm not able to write every single day, I want to make it a point to make the most out of the writing time I do have. That's one thing I'll be tracking over the next few weeks. And even if I'm not able to work on my WIP that day, I still want to do something writing-related.
That brings me to goal number two: learn something new about writing each day, or at least three new things a week. This might mean picking up a craft book or listening to a podcast or YouTube video about writing.
One of the primary objectives of a PIP is to identify weak spots and improve them, so my approach will be to look for areas in my writing I don't feel totally confident in and then look for resources to shed new light on them. Right now, that list includes writing in two first-person POVs and "white rooms," a term referencing drafts where the setting descriptions are fairly scant, hence your characters existing in a white room. Like with a more legit PIP, it's about building those skills up.
I'm also focusing on how I feel as a writer. The PIP isn't exactly an all-out writing challenge, per se, but I still want to be mindful of things like burnout. Lingering burnout is one of the things that impacts my writing the most and one of the reasons I need the PIP. If I'm starting to feel like I'm overdoing it, I'll give myself a day to rest.
The Metrics
A key component of a PIP is measuring progress.
A lot my intention for the PIP is rooted in wanting to rebuild consistency, so I'm tracking my writing days. I did think about implementing a point-based reward system, but it got convoluted and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with it. Instead, I'm just marking off a grid I've pasted in my notebook.
As long as I get a few paragraphs down, it counts.
I've also set up a journaling section of that notebook to record things like how I'm feeling about my writing that day, but it will also act like a commonplace book where I'll be compiling the writing tips and tricks I come across in my curriculum, for lack of a better term.
At the end of each month, there will be a self-evaluation. Nowhere near as rigid as the ones you might have done in the workplace, especially if there is a PIP in place, but a space for me to check in with the goals and make a plan for the month ahead. This will also be an exercise in self-forgiveness for the times things don't go according to plan.
PIPs are not an inherent punishment. They're often put in place because someone sees your potential and wants to help you get there. That's how I'm looking at this writing PIP. It's acknowledging that my writing isn't where I'd like it to be and laying the foundation for growth.
It's not a magical fix. But it is a good start. Let's see where it leads...
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