I’m Submitting 30 Articles to 30 Pubs in 30 Days
Am I mad? As a box of writing frogs! Watch me free this plague…
Sometimes, in the interest of wanting to form lasting positive habits, I’ve found that it actually helps to quit certain challenges that are no longer serving us. ⤵️
But this is not one of those times. This is a time to actually be an ambassador for myself and others who may be curious to find out what consistency, self-discipline, and hard work can do for skill sets, self-esteem, metrics, and monetisation of budding writers on Medium.
I’m pledging to join David Majister’s 30-Day Submissions Challenge. ⤵️
For the next 30 days (this — the 22nd of April 2021 — being Day 1), I will be submitting 30 articles to 30 Medium publications.
Why?
Well… why does anyone actively choose to push themselves out of their comfort zones? Because they may be beginning to gather dust.
I am the only person standing in my way of self-improvement. And this knowledge often drives me to start challenges wherein I put a great amount of pressure on myself to put in the maximum time and energy required.
Cue the overworked and overstimulated burnout phase… and then back to the mollycoddling self-talk of my comfort zone. Because “you tried your best”, “don’t worry, this isn’t right for everyone”, and even “you deserve a break from this — it’s too much for you to handle”, sometimes are lifeboats when you feel yourself drowning in challenges.
This challenge looks to be an attainable one for me. One I can really sink my teeth into and build on a habit of consistency with. By pledging to submit an article each day, I am actively committing to showing up for myself and putting my work “out there”, despite feeling like it may not be “worthy” or “complete”.
I am hoping that doing this will show me what I can truly accomplish with determination and self-discipline, help improve my overall work ethic and writing skills, and teach me how to love the process.
Goals:
- Gain 200 new followers — an ambitious 66% increase to the 300 I currently have.
- Earn back my vacation money — the £105 ($145.40) I put toward a short getaway I’ll be taking with my boyfriend next month. This is an enormous undertaking for someone whose current highest monthly Partner Program earnings sit at a whopping $13.15.
- Make a habit of reading others’ Medium articles —and in doing so learn to network, and give back to my community.
Rules:
- You can start at any time. The Challenge lasts for a period of 30 days. On Day 1, you write a pledge post (see below for details). For the rest of the Challenge, you write whatever you want.
- Submit to any publication.
- Submit one new article each day.
- Submissions can be anything: Poetry, in-depth analysis, a self-help article, fiction, whatever. As long as the submission fits the guidelines of the publication.
- Every new submission must be to a different publication.
- Submit 30 articles in total, over a period of 30 days.
- Any publication is fair game.
- You can write the articles ahead of time, during the Challenge, or a mix of both. It’s up to you.
These were adapted from David’s ‘How to Take Part’ article.
Plan
Before throwing myself into this writing rabbit hole, it’s important to plan by taking a few steps.
- Make a Google spreadsheet that resembles some sort of publishing calendar.
- List the 30 publications I have my eye on and familiarise myself with their process to become a writer for them. Publications that openly accept new writers usually have submission guidelines, which may also state that you can simply ask to be added as a writer within a comment. Others may only add you as a writer once you have submitted your work and it meets their calibre.
- Delve through my 93 Medium drafts and try to match these ideas up with the publications I have in mind. Also to establish how long each can be completed and when I can allocate the time to do that. This will probably take up the most amount of time but once done, it will (hopefully) serve as a guide to what needs to be
- 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 originally pitch to. These won’t count as new submissions in the challenge, but their performance will count in my stats.
- Let my friends and family know what I am about to undertake and that it may cause me to be even more of a hermit than I usually am.
And with that in mind, it’s time to say goodbye to the very little social life I have and hello to a mighty step forward in furthering my writing career…
Check back with me as I will be adding my progress below. Feel free to follow me and leave a comment if this is something you’re interested in. Always happy to talk shop.
The Challenge
Day 1 (22/04): 30-Day Challenge — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 2 (23/04): Better Humans — REJECTED 26/04 Start It Up — RESUBMITTED 26/04 — REJECTED 27/04 (Adapted into three separate story drafts)
Day 3 (24/04): Scribe — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 4 (25/04): Mind Cafe — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED (02/05)
Day 5 (26/04): The Venting Machine — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 6 (27/04): 2 Minute Madness — REJECTED 28/04 ILLUMINATION — RESUBMITTED, PUBLISHED, AND WITHDREW 01/05 SELF-PUBLISHED 01/05
Day 7 (28/04): Feedium — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED (30/04)
Day 8 (29/04): The Writing Cooperative — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 14/05
Day 9 (30/04): Inspired Writer — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 10 (01/05): Curious — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 03/05
Day 11 (02/05): Know Thyself, Heal Thyself — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 12 (03/05): An Injustice! — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 07/05
Day 13 (04/05): Thoughts And Ideas — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 14 (05/05): Story Second Chances — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 15 (06/05): The Brave Writer — SUBMITTED — REJECTED 08/05 (They don’t accept Medium-related pieces) Inspired Writer — RESUBMITTED 08/05 — REJECTED 11/05 (Controversial topic ) Feedium — SUBMITTED 11/05 — WITHDREW 12/05 (Keeping this one on the back burner)
Day 16 (07/05): Better Marketing — SUBMITTED — REJECTED 10/05 (Didn’t have clear takeaways/purpose) Start It Up — EDITED AND RESUBMITTED 10/05 — REJECTED 11/05 (Taken some content for a new draft with a different angle)
Day 17 (08/05): The Virago — SUBMITTED — WITHDREW 12/05 (Not accepting new writers) Tell Your Story — SUBMITTED 12/05 — REJECTED 14/05 (Not accepting subject material) Age of Empathy —EDITED & RESUBMITTED 14/05 — PUBLISHED 17/05
Day 18 (09/05): Writers’ Blokke — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 19 (10/05): RESONATES —SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 11/05
Day 20 (11/05): Open Letters To —SUBMITTED 13/05
Day 21 (12/05): The POM — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 13/05
Day 22 (13/05): Inspired Humans — SUBMITTED
Day 23 (14/05): Centina Pentina — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 20/05
Day 24 (15/05): PGSG— SUBMITTED — REJECTED 18/05 Publishous — EDITED & RESUBMITTED 18/05 — REJECTED 18/05 (Editor requested further edits/new story — and gave helpful feedback!) The Masterpiece — EDITED & RESUBMITTED 19/05 — PUBLISHED 20/05
Day 25 (16/05): P.S. I Love You — SUBMITTED — NO RESPONSE The POM — RESUBMITTED 24/05 — PUBLISHED 24/05
Day 26 (17/05): The Ascent — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 22/05
Day 27 (18/05): Age of Awareness — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 19/05
Day 28 (19/05): Scrittura — SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 20/05
Day 29 (20/05): The Brain is a Noodle —SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED
Day 30 (21/05): The Candid Cuppa —SUBMITTED — PUBLISHED 24/05 (Edited story from Day 15 and took it in a new direction)
Are you a writer looking for your tribe? Love to read? Want full access to Medium? I’ve got you covered.