Set a sustainable words-per-day goal.
A sustainable target divides the work across the days you will actually write, not the days on the calendar. Taking one rest day a week removes about 14% of your capacity, so the daily quota rises accordingly — planning against calendar days is the single most common reason word-count goals fail in week two. The pace gap is the reality check: if the required quota sits far above what you currently produce in a session, the plan needs more days rather than more willpower.
Sustainable words per day
Writing days = calendar days x (1 - rest days / 7); quota = total words / writing days
For most people writing alongside other work, 500 to 1,000 words of first draft per session is sustainable; 2,000 is a full day's work. If the quota here exceeds your current pace by more than about 30%, extend the timeline.
Yes. Consecutive-day streaks collapse, and a plan with no slack turns one missed day into a permanent deficit. One rest day a week is the minimum most drafters can hold for a month.
No — this is first-draft output only. Revision typically takes 30% to 50% of drafting time again, so leave separate calendar space for it rather than folding it into the daily quota.