avatarTarun Gupta

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I’m Submitting 30 Articles to 30 Pubs in 30 Days

To strengthen my losing belief in the art of the written word.

Photo by fotografierende on Unsplash

Sometimes it is not easy to realize how much something means to you until you try something else. This happened to me in the last eight months.

In my heart, I am a writer.

My 70,000+ words manuscript and 58,000+ words on Medium is proof of that. But somehow, the idea of building an audience on social media took shelter in my head and deviated me from writing.

To be honest, I have not written as much as I should have or could have in the last eight months since November 2020 than I wrote in the eight months before that. So it is starting to hurt now not to write.

In the interest of writing again and not deviating again from it, I am pledging to join David Majister’s 30-Day submissions challenge to fall in love with writing again.

Here is the link to the original challenge:

For the next 30 days, starting 29th June 2021 (day 1), I will be submitting 30 articles to 30 publications in Life Lessons, Poetry, Mental Health, Life Experiences, Productivity Advice, Life Advice, Life as a postgrad student, and many more.

I’ll be sharing my results at the end of the 30 days. It could be a huge success, or it could be a failure. Or it might not reach either extreme.

This article will surmise why I am doing this, the goals that I want to achieve, the rules I am setting for me, and my plan to make this a success to the best of my capabilities.

I know it won’t make me a success like Ayodeji Awosika, Kris Gage, Shannon Ashley, or Tim Denning — I expect to emerge as a better writer.

The Big Question: Why?

As I mentioned earlier, my reason for taking part in this challenge is to find my lost love for writing. But why this way? There could have been other possible ways to do this.

I have lived in the shadows of social media and my comfort zone when it comes to my writing for a while now. However, I believe it is the right time for my words to step out of the dark and shine some light onto the world.

I also believe that this challenge will bring me out of my comfort zone by writing articles suitable for 30 publications. Hence, this is a perfect chance for me to have self-improvement as a writer. Furthermore, this challenge will allow me to regain the consistency I had when writing my book.

Ultimately, it will show me the power of my pen (in this case, the keyboard) and let me know what I can really accomplish by putting my work out there every day for the world to see.

I sure hope to love the process.🤞

The Goals: What am I looking to achieve?

  • Reach to the sweet milestone of 1K followers. I currently sit at 766 followers. An ambitious but steady 30% increase (1% daily).
  • Earn my grocery expenses for the month — anything above $100.00 is super. Yet, my average earning for the last six months is a measly $40.45.
  • Network with like-minded people and getting back the habit of reading others’ work on Medium.

The Rules: What are the constraints for me?

  • Start any at any time. Don’t wait for the month to start. I am starting on 29th June 2021.
  • The first post is the pledge post (for me, this current post); the rest of the posts can be anything.
  • Submit to any publication.
  • Submit one new article every day.
  • Submissions can be anything: Poetry, in-depth analysis, a self-help article, fiction, whatever, as long as the submission fits the publication's guidelines.
  • Every new submission must be to a different publication.
  • Submit 30 articles in total over 30 days.
  • Any publication is fair game.
  • You can write the articles ahead of time, during the Challenge, or a mix of both. After that, it’s up to you.

These were adapted from David’s ‘How to Take Part’ article.

My Plan for Mission (Not)Impossible

From the lessons learned in the recent past, I will not throw myself into this challenge blindfolded. Instead, I would plan a few things out to not burn out during the challenge.

  1. Find publications that align with the type of stories I offer. Make a spreadsheet noting down their submission guidelines and whether they need a draft to apply as a writer or not. Then apply as a writer to the ones not asking for a draft. Once a few drafts are ready, then apply to the ones asking for a draft.
  2. Create a list/spreadsheet of my ideas to write on and match the concepts to the potential publications for submission.
  3. Bifurcate the spreadsheet of ideas into different categories of stories, and the approximate time they’ll need to be written.
  4. Be mentally strong and prepare for rejection. Because let’s face it, rejection is inevitable as a writer. So per David’s original rules, I will resubmit any articles that don’t get accepted to the publications I initially pitch to. These won’t count as new submissions in the challenge, but their performance will count in my stats.
  5. Let someone in my circle know to hold me accountable.

The Plan is influenced by Rambling Rose’s pledge post here:

With all this, it is time to buckle up and show the world the power my words possess.

To a bright future ahead as a writer.

Check back with me as I will keep on adding the published articles here as they get accepted. Feel free to follow me and leave a comment if anything you read was interesting to you. Always happy to connect with more people.

The Challenge

Day 1 (29/06/2021) Publication: 30-Day Challenge Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 2 (30/06/2021) Publication: The Brain is a Noodle Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 3 (01/07/2021) Publication: Scrittura Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: Know Thyself, Heal Thyself Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 4 (02/07/2021) Publication: ILLUMINATION Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 5 (03/07/2021) Publication: 2 Minute Madness Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 6 (04/07/2021) Publication: Better Advice Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: Blue Insights Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 7 (05/07/2021) Publication: Mind Cafe Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: Ascent Publication Status: SUBMITTED — NO RESPONSE

Publication: Change your Mind Change Your Life Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 8 (06/07/2021) Publication: The Venting Machine Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 9 (07/07/2021) Publication: The POM Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 10 (08/07/2021) Publication: Weeds & Wildflowers Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 11 (09/07/2021) Publication: An Injustice Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 12 (10/07/2021) Publication: Better Advice Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: Mind Cafe Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: The Startup Status: SUBMITTED — NO RESPONSE

Publication: CRY Magazine Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 13 (11/07/2021) Publication: Mind Cafe Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: Thoughts and ideas Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 14 (12/07/2021) Publication: Curious Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Day 14 (12/07/2021) Publication: The Road to Wellness Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 15 (13/07/2021) Publication: Writers’ Blokke Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 16 (14/07/2021) Publication: The Masterpiece Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 17 (15/07/2021) Publication: Scribe — NO RESPONSE Status: SUBMITTED

Day 18 (16/07/2021) Publication: Scribe — NO RESPONSE Status: SUBMITTED

Day 19 (17/07/2021) Publication: Mind Cafe Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 20 (18/07/2021) Publication: Unwritten Journal Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 21 (19/07/2021) Publication: Better Humans Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: Better Advice Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: The Candid Cuppa Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 22 (20/07/2021) Publication: iPoetry Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 23 (21/07/2021) Publication: Books Are Our Superpower Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 24 (22/07/2021) Publication: The Happy Human Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 25 (23/07/2021) Publication: The Post Grad Survival Guide Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: The Road to Wellness Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 26 (24/07/2021) Publication: The Lark Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 27 (25/07/2021) Publication: Better Marketing Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Publication: The Writing Cooperative Status: SUBMITTED — REJECTED

Day 28 (26/07/2021) Publication: New North Status: SUBMITTED — NO RESPONSE

Day 29 (27/07/2021) Publication: SYNERGY Status: SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED

Day 30 (28/07/2021) Publication: An Idea Status: SUBMITTED — NO RESPONSE

For all the articles that were not published during the challenge, I published them on my own publication. Here they are:

Thank you for reading.

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30 Day Challenge
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