I call myself a plantser, meaning I outline in broad strokes like a planner and then make it up as I go along within those lines like a pantser. This has worked well for me. When I get a little lost I just drill down deeper and give myself more keywords to keep me on track.
My goal is to finish the first draft of Sexy Steampunk 2 by December 1st. Fellow writer Karla Doyle shared with me how she kept herself on track when she had a deadline for her last book. She would write every scene onto a post-it note and not leave her desk until that scene was done. So I went along and made this

This happened a week ago. Now I am here

You can see that I have only taken down 2 post-its. However for the second post-it I wrote nearly 6k from three different points of view. This tells me that I have to be more specific and not just transfer my plantser outline that says “have sex” or “Big Black Moment”;).
Still, I like this new process. It is visual and gives you a good idea as to where you are. It is very satisfying to tear down one of those notes, so I will probably continue doing this, just flesh it out a little bit more.
What about you? Do you keep track of progress through word count or do you have a visual component?
BTW, the notes look I’ve crumpled them up, but that is just the style the manufacturer made.
Like this:
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Hi Tina, How satisfying to stand up, tear a note off the wall, and throw it away. All I do it put a big pink check mark and word count in an Excel spreadsheet. Pretty, but not dramatic. Maybe I’ll try yours next time. Hmm, I wonder if there are Post-It labels for my printer?
Lol, I am sure there are post-it labels for your printer. There doesn’t seems to be much out there that isn’t available in some way or another;). I pulled another one down last night and it’s a great feeling.
True to my obsessive nature, I use word counts, I outline each chapter, and I use visual components. For the most recent chapter I sketched the archeological dig where the action heats up. I just couldn’t see the lay of the land in my mind but once I put pencil to paper, there it was!
That’s so cool! I need to do that for my rooms. I keep coming up with random tables or shelves that I am not sure actually would fit;).
Thanks for sharing!