1-Year Writing Challenge: 11 Lessons You Should Learn Too

I may not be the best writer you’ve ever seen but you’ll want to learn those too.

2 days left to go and a new decade will start. 2019 was a challenge in many ways but it was a beautiful year nonetheless. I gave myself what seemed an unreasonable challenge of posting one post every single day on my blog (4 or 5 per week on Medium) on January 1st, despite having never really written much in the past. I just had 2 months of practice and that wasn’t even daily.

I thought I’d give up at one point and life gave me clear signs that I was way over my head. Yet, I kept my eyes on the task — not the goal — itself and enjoyed the journey. Here we are now, a year later, with many lessons learned, most of which should be useful to you too.

Lessons about writing

• Writing is free therapy. If I were to remember only one thing, it’s that writing is the best way to process thoughts and feelings. It helps discover and understand yourself, and thus process difficult experiences better too.
• Writing is about others. This might seem contradictory to the above lesson, but the process of writing something for others allows one to look for the lessons learned, even when concerning hard situations. The more you try to write for others, the more you, too, can evolve. It also makes for more reads!
• Standards don’t exist. Whatever you write is, in its own sense, good. While there are things to learn from others, nobody showcases a “standard” package you could copy. Take what you like from many others and create your own style.
• Reading is non-negotiable. If you want to write, you have to read. Not only will that help you develop your own style, but also, how could you expect to understand what readers want if you’re not one?
• Schedule your writing. For the vast majority of us, writing is not our job which means it is only a small part of our day. If you don’t schedule it, you’ll skip it. If you do so for 2 or 3 days, good luck getting the groove back.
• Don’t be too strict on yourself. Yes, you should try not to skip days, but either way, you will. Accept this and move on. Getting stuck on details will only prevent you from writing more and better. It’s okay to keep mistakes in your articles too. We’re all humans after all and mistakes happen.
• Patience is key. If you want to succeed in writing, take your time and just learn as much as you can. As says Shaunta Grimes in her article about planning for 2020,

I know that you’re not going to be able to help but think about the money. We’re all only human, after all. But try to give yourself this first year as a learning year anyway. Whatever money you do make, consider it a bonus. Gravy.

And that brings me to the other lessons. The life lessons learned through writing and reading so much for the past year.

Lessons about Life

• Positivity is key. Whatever you want to accomplish, whatever you go through, whatever happens, look for the positive in every single thing. Even loss. Only that way can you keep on improving.
• Happiness is hidden. You cannot “get” happy. Trying to become happy works even against you as you’ll only get frustrated by the lack of results. Pursue it but accept the fact that it is a byproduct.
• Find your true “Why”. Nothing can be pursued forever if there is no reason being that wish. Understand this and spend time looking for it. You’ll never spend too much time on this.
• Ask Questions. Life is full of unknowns but it doesn’t mean you can’t get answers for most of it. Be a kid again and wonder about the world constantly.

There could be many more but the list would never end if I didn’t bring myself to a stop now.

Deciding to write daily for a full year may have been the best decision I’ve ever taken in my life. It has changed my perspective on things and made me a better person by focusing on trying to help others first.

The way I tackled my writing may not have been the best nor the most productive but this first year served as an eye-opening experience: writing needs to stay in my life and I deeply believe it should be at least a part of yours as well.

What’s in store for 2020? For sure, writing! I’ve learned a lot this year and know I will learn even more the next.

I do regret slowly letting myself go and stopping to really try to make myself seen as a writer. But there’s a positive aspect to that too: I want to do it even more now so that’ll make me strive and focus on it next year. That’s a story for another day though.

And yes, I think we’re in for another 1-year writing challenge!