I Challenge You to Your Best Year on Medium!

A prompt a day to see you through January

On average, readers spent 14,940 minutes (8.3 hours) a day reading what you wrote, and on Christmas Day, over 600 people visited our little publication!

Bruce Coulter’s What Happened on Saturday Mornings? The Best Cartoons Ever was boosted and got over 382 reads! TzeLin Sam’s I Never Get Angry has over 6000 claps!

It’s a challenge to find which stories had the most action since Medium removed the ‘reads and views’ data from the 30-day report. The only data points given are claps and responses unless you look at the individual stories. So, after sorting on claps, I click on the stories with the most claps to get the reads/views. It would be impossible to do that for every story, so I use claps as the qualifier. Not always the best indicator, but it’s what we’ve got. (Does that make any sense?)

Without further ado, let’s aim for Even More in ‘24! (Thanks, Randy!)

January 1

Kelly Corinne Elliott asks whether you do a word for the year. Even if you don’t normally, what is a word that, if you focused on it, might help you gain even more in ‘24? (Randy, I think your ‘even more in ‘24’ is sticking around.)

January 2

Bruce Coulter wants to know what you think about New Year’s resolutions. Love them? Hate them? Have they ever worked for you?

January 3

Some have already written recaps and goals, so here are some different ways to look at the upcoming year. Even if you don’t make a list of resolutions, January is a befitting time to reflect. Reading how others approach this time of year might bring new awareness.

Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles would like to read about something you wanted to happen in 2023 but didn’t, and what your plans are surrounding it in 2024.

Patty Feyh is curious about your 2024 expectations,

Adrian wonders if there’s something you’re looking forward to in 2024, and

January 4

Randy Pulley is curious about the things you are resolving NOT to do in the New Year.

Michael puts a slightly different spin on it by asking, “What prediction would you make for 2024, and why do you feel it will come to be?”

January 5

Julia A. Keirns (Surprisingly, not Suzanne!) wants to know your favorite thing to do with whipped cream. January 5th is National Whipped Cream Day.

January 6

Paula Shablo suggests reminiscing about a snow day when you got to miss school.

January 7

La Verite is curious about the last time you felt like a teenager. (I can tell you that it wasn’t when I tried that cartwheel!)

January 8

Custard wants to know, “If your pets could talk, what would they say to you?” (Like, you know, other than “meowwww.”)

January 9

Erie Astin Write about a time when you explored something new.

January 10

Karen Schwartz says, “I know it’s old/broken, so why do I keep it?”

January 11

Ishika Singh wants to learn about your favorite winter dish. (If you’re down under, share your favorite summer dish.)

January 12

Jennifer Marla Pike: Imagine taking a day off to play as if you were a child!

January 13

Lynn L. Alexander wonders if there’s something you wish people would better understand about you.

January 14

Anisha Shah: The taste of coffee on a cold winter morning.

Blue Monday

Julia A. Keirns: Blue Monday falls annually on the third Monday in January and is considered the most depressing day of the year, often attributed to the combination of Monday, poor weather, the post-Christmas lull, stretched finances, and unrealized New Year’s resolutions. Are you blue today?

January 16

Randy: Do you have a familiar “saying” that you use frequently? What is it, and why do you like it?

January 17

Blame Karen! The last time I passed gas, I was…

January 18

Nancy Oglesby “What did you say?”

January 19

Randy wants to know the worst advice you were ever given. Alternatively, what was the worst advice you ever gave?

January 20

Vidya is looking forward to reading about one of your favorite writers on Medium. (Let’s help the community discover writers they might not have read before by sharing a few things by authors outside the Challenged.)

January 21

La Verite is curious about your ideal presidential candidate. (In the interest of peace on earth, or at the very least, on the Challenged, let’s choose from outside the political arena, either a person who exemplifies your ideal or a description of those ideals a person should have to assume the office of president.)

January 22

Nancy is dying to know why you’re lying flat on your stomach in the middle of the Walmart parking lot.

January 23

Vidya: Brag about one (or three) things in 2023.January 24

Ummm … Randy? (Are you okay, dude?) Where do we go when we’re asleep?

January 25

Edgar Cavazos: What did you relearn in 2023?

January 26,

La Verite suggests, “When, what, or who makes you feel shame?” (If that leaves you feeling a bit too vulnerable, write about a time someone tried to shame you.)

January 27

Karen: My friends call me Old Fashioned and maybe they’re right.

January 28

Erie: Write about a time you made a mistake with lasting ramifications.

January 29

Randy: Is there a time you put yourself in an uncomfortable situation that turned out to be a very positive experience?

January 30

Nancy:

January 31

Brian Dickens Barrabee: What New Year’s resolution were you most disappointed to break?

Not enough fun here at the Challenged? Check out the fun new challenge over at Fiction Shorts.