Are You Ready for A Challenge in 2019?
I have always thought of the week after Christmas as “reflection week.” A time when we reflect on the year which is coming to a close and start planning for the new year. This year, I had an idea during my reflection time and I want to share it with you.
As we start to think about next year coming up so quickly, I wanted to propose a challenge to you:
A 30 Day Writing Challenge.
Now, I understand you may think this an absurd idea. Writing and publishing everyday for a month? This means my writing will get sloppy and terrible. Which is true, some of the posts will probably suck.
However, there is something magical about a 30 day writing challenge. During these challenges, we stretch ourselves to our limits, and in a lot of ways, we help set new habits during these times which will lend themselves to the rest of the year.
I remember the first writing challenge I was a part of, it was rough.
By the end of it, I wasn’t sure if I gained anything, except for 250 followers on Medium, 30 stories which I have edited and re-written for my blog and elsewhere, and of course three of them turned into huge arcs for my writing future.
So maybe I did gain something. And while the first go around was a surprise, I know starting the year off with one will only be beneficial.
A Painful Process But An Important One
A 30 Day Writing Challenge is hard. It is difficult to publish something everyday. Especially if you don’t feel motivated to write anything a few days in a row. And some days won’t be your best work, but others could be the beginning of life changing direction for you and your writing.
Some of the most difficult things I have ever done were stretching, uncomfortable, and terrifying. And yet, we all like to write and want to be read. And a 30 day writing challenge will help us see both of these things come true.
I am sharing this with you now because I want you to get a head start on it. Get a few 300–500 word drafts completed now before the new year. Get them ready to edit and to publish. This will help make it a little easier to start. Pull a few stories you have now that didn’t do super well and rewrite them too.
Give yourself a chance, by committing and starting now.
And then, see what happens. Share your results. And begin to see something awesome happen. I have completed two writing challenges like this and on the last one this is what I discovered:
And what was even more amazing to me in the last one, was how I created a series here on Medium and people followed it, and read the stories as I published them. And when I was all done, I had 30 posts up which I could draw on for the future. You can see the series here:
And so, do you want to start 2019 off with a challenge? A challenge which could change the course of your writing for 2019. One which will help grow your audience and your abilities. If so, do these two things:
- Start a Series here on Medium where you will keep all of your posts.
- Share the series in the responses below and say: “I’m in!”
And then, let’s get ready to see something awesome happen.
If you are interested, there is a Facebook Group you should check out where you can share your daily writing and get feedback along the way too, it’s called:
This is great community to be a part of for questions, encouragement, and a place to share your writing!
