Why You Need a Writing Challenge
Lessons from doing the 10 in 10 Challenge
My first thought when I read about the 10 in 10 challenge was that I would never have the time. It worked out great and here is why.
Choose a Theme
A theme acts as a springboard for ideas. Mine was “I miss…”. A few were really easy, I miss deceased loved ones as most people over 30 do, I miss some of the simpler technologies as many people over 50 do. Beyond that, it was difficult. I am a forward thinker by nature. I relate to youth and youthful technology. I was an early adopter of riding a Razor scooter in the halls of a dot com. These days I favor TikTok over Facebook.
A theme can be an open-ended question (Story Corp has some good ones) or something as simple and poetic as a color. Just make sure it is close to your heart and the writing will flow out like a conversation with an old friend.
Conversational Style
You certainly need to stay with your favorite style, mine is very conversational. Sticking with your key style may seem cheap but in reality, it is going to be a stretching exercise on the strongest base you have. The point of 10 in 10 is to produce and not get blocked. Exploring new writing styles or even poetry would be an extra dimension to take on. Best to isolate the muscle and work it with intent.
Mixing Up the Variations
It was pretty interesting that my chosen theme allowed for such variation in the stories. At first, I thought it would be all about memories but even though the stories were all based on experiences (aren’t they all?) I found the subject or emotion varied. Sometimes missing something is wistful, other times it is a reflection that concludes with old times not being better times.
Honing Technicals and Workflow
I came into the challenge with my use of Grammarly worked out.
- Write the article but only use placeholders for images.
- Copy-paste into Grammarly, it’s free!
- Clean up in Grammarly. I have plenty of typos, about half are the use of “hyphenated-words”.
- Copy-paste back to Medium.
- Find images. For uniqueness, I prefer my own images, Pexels.com, Morguefile.com, or Unsplash.com, in that order.
- Edit and insert images. Even great shots can use cropping (I like 16:9 landscape), color change, some mild vignetting.
- Read it! You wouldn’t serve guests without tasting the stew!
- Add to the 10 in 10 publication. Be sure to select a preview image and use all 5 tags.
- Publish!
Some Extra Tools
After the first two, I needed the same opening and closing. These bookends apprised the reader of where I was in the series and where to get the previous one. The link back is especially useful if you want to drive readership. This became a template that I would copy-paste into each story idea as I logged them.
Logging the ideas as they come up is especially useful. Ideas would pop up while going for a walk, reading the news, or even talking to a friend. These are the moments the brain is relaxed and willing to get creative. Sitting down to hammer the keys is the craft of writing and best left for a moment of quiet and coffee.
I did not have to worry about finding the time, as it was enough to check personal email and social media in the mid-morning or late afternoon, which left the morning free for writing. The efficiencies I found in working to a deadline will continue to speed my content creation.
Martin van Soest is a wonderful editor, he truly cares about your success in the challenge. The publication is still young but with youth comes the energy and attention we writers crave, so get in there soldier and give me some content!