Summary

The author reflects on the final week of their 30-day writing challenge on Medium, sharing lessons learned about writing consistently, generating ideas, and improving efficiency.

Abstract

With only one week remaining in her 30-day writing challenge, the author expresses surprise at how quickly time has passed and satisfaction at maintaining her commitment to daily writing. She acknowledges the ease of meeting the word count but admits to occasional struggles with generating ideas. The author has discovered that daily writing is preferable to bulk writing for forming a habit, though she emphasizes the importance of flexibility and self-awareness in writing practices. She also notes that with experience, the writing process becomes faster and more confident, allowing her to focus on the craft rather than the logistics of story creation. The author encourages others to track their writing progress and shares resources for fellow writers, expressing gratitude for the support of the Medium community.

Opinions

Writing every day is beneficial for establishing a strong habit, though it's important to be flexible about when writing occurs.
Bulk writing can be useful during busy periods but may not be as effective for habit formation.
Consistent writing leads to increased speed and confidence, as well as a better understanding of the platform's format and audience.
Keeping a list of potential writing topics can help overcome writer's block and ensure a steady flow of ideas.
Reading and researching writing techniques is crucial for self-improvement and avoiding the development of bad writing habits.
Tracking writing progress, including time spent and word count, can provide valuable insights and motivation.
Engaging with the writing community and utilizing available resources, such as publications and templates, can enhance the writing experience and provide support.

1 Week Left: 30-Day Writing Challenge

I can’t believe I’m already here!

And with this post, I officially close out day 23 of my 30-day writing challenge. I have one week left and I’ve managed to keep up all of my challenge writing for Medium!

This challenge has been interesting and has stretched me in some ways. I’ll have a wrap-up post once everything is all said and done. Here are the first three lessons I’ve learned along the way.

Lesson #1: This was easier than I originally thought

I always could write many words. When I was a burgeoning writer in primary school, my teachers used to mark me down for writing too much. My parents made fun of me for complaining when limited in my writing assignments.

Over the years I’ve gone nearly the opposite direction, with better and more concise writing. It’s been an evolution required for my career and current times. Therefore, coming up with a minimum of 150 words per story was not expected to be an issue, and it wasn’t.

The second part of writing is coming up with ideas. This is where I tripped a few times. What do you do when you have a block on what to write?

Intermediate tip: every day list some interesting ideas that you eventually want to write about. Start your time-based writing challenge once you have a week of these built up. Then your well won’t run dry!

Lesson #2: Bulk writing is nice, but writing every day is nicer

When you read self-improvement tips on writing, you’ll find conflicting advice on this point. Write every day? Don’t write every day? Stephen King says to set aside working hours every day to write, and he does this, even on birthdays and holidays. Most prolific writers have a set schedule like this. Some Medium writers feel that forcing yourself to write every day can be detrimental, especially if you’re just writing to write. It can build bad habits if you don’t know what you’re doing.

What’s the correct advice? Of course, it depends. For me, I love both bulk writing and writing every day. But writing every day helped me form a strong writing habit, which was one of the best things I’ve gotten out of this exercise. I’ve always wanted to create a daily writing habit and I’ve failed too many times before.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a set timeframe when I do my writing. Right now I’m fitting it into the rest of my life. I feel this is a bad idea. We have to take baby steps.

Intermediate tips:

Bulk write when you’re busy and can’t make time daily.
Write every day when possible and do it whenever you can fit it in. Do it on your smartphone, in a notebook, whatever…just keep writing.
Keep reading and researching how to write better so you become more self-aware about your writing shortcomings and learn to improve along the way. If you’re new and you can’t do this step then you may want to refrain from writing every day if you’re doing a long-term challenge (beyond 30 days), because you really may create bad writing habits.

Lesson #3: You will create faster with more experience

This is common sense. But I’m here to say that the science has been proven yet once again, and this time by me. I’m getting used to the form factor of Medium stories. Although my topics and story formats were a bit all over the place, I got into a rhythm and cadence of sorts within the world of Medium. Due to this, instead of sweating over the form factor and topics (due to tip in lesson #1), I could focus on the actual art of writing.

My writing time was shed at least 10 minutes per story. I also feel more confident about what I’m writing and more importantly, how I’m writing.

Intermediate tip: I wish I had done this. Keep track of each day of your challenge. At a minimum, mark down each story’s title, word count, length of time to complete the drafting and editing, any publications you submit it to, and the date the story is published. I found some cool publications along the way and two that will help with time-based challenges and resources. Check these out!

30-day Challenge (read about other writers’ challenges, tips, and other resources!)

Google Sheets Geeks (pre-made Google sheets tracking templates for you!)

One more week! Good luck to anyone out there starting or completing your writing challenge!

🌷 Do you want to support the writing community? Read millions of stories on Medium. Sign up here! Your membership fee directly supports me and every other writer you read. Thank you! 🌷