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Why I Will Never Participate in a 30-Day Writing Challenge
Edit: This piece was written before Medium announced its Medium Writer’s Challenge. The writing challenge spoken about in this article is the 30-day writing challenge. However, I won’t be participating in Medium’s either, but a story for another time perhaps.
When I open my Medium front page, I’ll usually find an article or two that is being recommended about the experiences, takeaways, or results of participating in writing challenges.
As of recently, I’ve seen a lot of articles about the 30-day challenge on Medium. Heck, there is even a whole publication dedicated to it.
Of course, at first, I was intrigued by the whole idea of it. Who doesn’t love a challenge, after all?
Additionally, I’ve seen that some of my favorite writers on the platform were participating in it, so I thought maybe I should as well.
But as I read more testimonies and observations, which were all positive, I realized that it’s not for me. Here’s why.
Controversial, maybe, but I don’t believe that writing more makes you a better writer
One of the big goals of the 30-day challenge is to publish 30 articles in 30 publications in 30 days. And that is quite the challenge if I do say so myself.
However, there is a quote that my elementary school librarian told me at the age of 9 that has stuck with me throughout my life.
Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.
To be honest, I don’t love the wording of it, but I’m not about to misquote him. The basic meaning of the advice still stands — even in regard to writing.
For me, the practice of writing more does not mean your writing will improve. It definitely can, but what’s the point of writing more if you are repeating the same mistakes?
Personally, I think it’s all the behind-the-scenes work that makes you a better writer. Using new words, a different type of tone of voice, improving upon your grammar, using different sources…
