I’m Embarking on an Adventurous 30-Under-30 Publishing Challenge

A nod to David Majister’s 30 articles to 30 pubs in 30 days challenge

I don’t mind standing in the rain with a fork and the intention to quench my thirst, even if everything shows it's nigh on impossible. So long as that’s what I feel, that’s what I’ll do.

Yes, I’m that wedded to my ways, never mind that most of them often lead me nowhere. Oh, and I don’t care that people find my sacred ways weird.

But this month, I’ll make a brief departure from my weird ways and, like an old dog, try to learn a few tricks.

By a few tricks, I mean copying something my friend David Majister did: No, not copy, but attempt a challenge similar to the 30 articles to 30 pubs in 30 days challenge he recently completed. Okay, who am I kidding with the semantics? Bro, I’m in on your challenge.

I’ve christened it the 30-under-30 challenge, a slight nod to the Forbes 30 under 30 awards. A silly idea but hey, it’s all fun and games with me.

Over the rest of April — we’ve less than 30 days now — I’ll publish 30 articles to commemorate my first-anniversary writing on Medium. Where did the time go?

What do I seek to achieve?

To have fun

David set actual goals like 250 new followers, more views and potentially a bigger impact on readers, and increased earnings. And he sure smashed those goals.

But not me.

One of the coolest things I’ve learned on Medium is ‘gamifying’ tasks to make them fun. That way, you take the pressure and the potential stress out of it.

That’s the bread and butter of my friend Victoria Ichizli-Bartels, PhD’s writing on Medium. Actually, it’s meat and drinks to her.

Tearing a trembling leaf out of her book, I’m only going into this challenge for the fun of doing something without really keeping score.

Think of it like running a marathon to boost your stamina and not because you want to be the next Roger Bannister. Or, you know, like playing a pre-season game with nothing much at stake.

I’ll consider any benefits that come along as by-products.

Writing and editing 30 articles in as many days or fewer figures to be a very demanding task, especially given I have other commitments apart from writing.

So, as much as possible, I’ll decouple the added expectation of results from this beautiful challenge.

Instead, I’ll wait for whatever pleasant surprise my fun challenge will throw my way. No pressure, just fun.

I‘ll try to stretch my bulging writing muscles to breaking point

I can write about three articles in a day if I cut out every distraction. Even better, if I followed Tom Kuegler’s suggestion to write 600-ish words per piece, who’s to say I couldn’t probably do six in a couple of hours?

But instead of guessing how many words, I can write if everything fell in place, I’m going to push myself to the limit. I’ll write between 8 am and 1 pm most weekdays, then edit between 6 pm and 8 pm.

I’ll try to fit every other chore between midday and 6 pm. Or maybe I’ll shake up my schedules to accommodate this new challenge. I guess time will tell.

The line up of publications I’ll submit to

Unlike David who had a simple goal of submitting to 30 different pubs, I haven’t yet decided how many publications I’ll publish these 30 pieces with. That goes to show how serious he was with his challenge.

I’m a writer for 20 plus pubs, including my own fast-growing publication, Leftfield Talk. I revived it when I landed On the Couch. I admired Karen Nimmo’s style, and I figured I would try something similar. But I digress.

Yes, I’m still in the queue to join a few publications, and if/when I’m added, I’ll gladly submit some of my work to them. I may even self-publish a few to add some variety.

Again, I’m opting for a fun approach and not tying myself to any serious metrics.

A few caveats

I have a fully edited draft ready for re-submission. I also have about five first drafts gathering dust in a folder on my desktop.

I plan to include them in this challenge since they’ll make up for days I might miss because of my photography commitments. So it’s fair game there.

Also, technically, this article doesn’t count.

When I read the news and saw a gif of Kawhi Leonard smiling, I knew times have changed.

And once in a while, even the most one-dimensional people like me realize the need to change courses, if only for a few moments.

That’s why I have minted the 30-under-30 challenge out of David’s 30-30-30 challenge.

It probably doesn’t meet every criterion as, for example, I’ve deviated slightly from his style of meeting a few fixed goals.

For me, it’s simply no big goals, no metrics. To mark my first year here, I want to see how far my writing muscles have developed. I also hope to enjoy what the pleasant surprises would be.

So there you go. That’s my 30-under-30 challenge. I’ll see you on the other side with a detailed report. Until then,…..

Oh, please wish me luck.

Click here for my free writing guide on how to write engaging articles readers will enjoy.