5 Tips to Help You With Your 30-Day Writing Challenge
You can do it!
So you want to do a 30-day writing challenge, eh? Great! I’m so excited for you!
My own 30-day writing challenge was transformational. After going through this experience myself, I’d highly recommend it to anyone.
I’d wish you luck but I think I can do a bit better than just luck. Here are 5 tips to help you through your 30-day writing challenge!
Get comfortable being uncomfortable
If you’re feeling a tad uneasy right now because of this commitment, good.
It’s not supposed to be comfortable. If you’re comfortable, that means you aren’t challenging yourself enough.
Challenge is good for us! It helps us grow and be better versions of ourselves. It’s all part of this journey we call “personal growth”. Consider this a growth spurt for your writing self.
30 days is a magical number. It’s long enough to be uncomfortable but not so long that isn’t impossible. You can see the finish line from the starting line!
Expect an emotional rollercoaster
When I first discovered this 30-day writing challenge, I was excited and exhilarated. I was ready to jump right into the deep end without a life jacket!
Shortly after I made my pledge public, I had an, “Oh shit, what have I done?” moment. I had this strong urge to doggie paddle my way back to the kiddie pool.
Alas, doggie paddling is a notoriously inefficient swim stroke. So I decided to channel my energy into writing instead.
You may have heard of a “runner’s high”. I experienced a “writer’s high” — and it was fantastic enough to overcome my imposter syndrome, at least temporarily.
In the final stretch of this challenge, I came off my writer’s high and I was starting to feel worn down from all this writing. That’s when I had to dig deep and muster up the willpower to not just finish the challenge, but to finish it strong.
It doesn’t have to be about the stats
Stats like followers, reads, views, and money are just easy quantifiable metrics to gauge your writing progress. Use them if you want; discard them if you don’t care for them.
But let’s not disregard the qualitative gains, like exploring your identity as a writer, finding your voice as a writer, or growing in confidence as a writer.
Maybe you start your challenge feeling like a 3 out of 10 writer. You can set your goal at finishing feeling like a 9.5 out of 10 writer! No, don’t ask me what 3/10 on the “writer scale” is; ask yourself.
It’s your writing journey. Personalize it!
Double dip your writing challenges and prompts
This particular writing challenge gives you the freedom to write about whatever topic you want, whatever genre you want, and whatever style you want.
It’s so much freedom that it can be a bit crippling! If you’re looking for some handrails to get you started, feel free to work with monthly writing prompts or even other challenges hosted by other writers!
This isn’t a communal bowl of salsa. Feel free to double dip away.
If you don’t hit 30, you didn’t fail
This is a really difficult writing challenge.
Most of the challenges I’ve seen are either for 30 days requiring something weekly or require daily posts but for a shorter period of time. And if 30 articles in 30 days isn’t hard enough, there’s also the 30 publications part of this challenge.
So if you don’t hit the 30 articles or the 30 publications or the 30 days, I just want to tell you that you didn’t fail. You’re still a better writer for having started this challenge
Don’t believe me? Ask yourself these two questions:
- Did you write more than you would have without this challenge?
- Do you feel like if you’re a better writer than when you started?
There you have it — 5 tips to help you through your 30-day challenge!
That’s one tip for each week plus a bonus tip to welcome you to the finish line.
Wherever you are on your writing journey, remember that you are not alone. There’s a writing community here for you, cheering you on.
Good luck!
