Why I’m Participating in Three Writing Challenges This Month

And what you should do instead

Photo by Kat Stokes on Unsplash

Disclaimer: This is one from the archives. This article was originally published on Medium in 2021. I'm sharing it again on Substack for posterity. None of these challenges are active right now because that’s how time works. But the article still has some good advice about writing that’s relevant for you now. If time travel is ever invented I promise to come back to this exact moment in time and slap you with a wet fish.

Disclaimer on my Disclaimer: That fish comment was a joke. You know that, right?

Hi everyone,

I’m James — an independent journalist, author, and travel writer.

I’m delighted to be participating in Zulie Rane’s November Writing Challenge.

I thought I’d take a minute to say hello and give you some words of encouragement.

So, you know, hello and good luck and stuff.

As it happens, I’m actually taking part in three writing challenges this month at the same time.

The three writing events are:

Zulie Rane’s November Writing Challenge — if you’re here for Zulie then you already know the score.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) — where you write 50,000 words of a novel in November.

Summit 21 — a new event run by Medium Top Writer Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi. It is a three-week cohort-based writer’s workshop and networking event for writers.

This isn’t for the squeamish — and isn’t something I’d recommend to anyone — but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I decided to take time out and try to make my writing and publishing schedule more sustainable.

I decided to spend November working on pieces that I’ve wanted to write for what feels like the longest time.

And I also decided to use writing challenges as a way to help keep me motivated and honest throughout the month.

Here’s what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, and what you should do instead.

The Game Plan

“Faced with a choice, do both.”
 — Dieter Roth

I decided to try and kill two birds with one stone — well, three actually.

I often use November as a month to write something for NaNoWrimo — be that fiction or non-fiction.

But no matter what I write it rarely sees the light of day even if I finish it.

I noticed that Summit 21 and Zulie Rane’s November Writing Challenge also take place in November.

So, on the spur of the moment, I decided to attempt all three at the same time.

All I have to do is write and publish stuff every day for a month, right? How hard could that be?

As Dieter Roth said: “Faced with a choice, do both.”

What a coincidence that three writing challenges would present themselves all at once.

Here’s my brief game plan for each of the challenges.

Zulie’s November writing challenge

When it comes to Zulie’s November Writing Challenge, I’m all in!

No doubt the November Writing Challenge needs no explanation or introduction to you. You already know why you’re here.

Thank you to Zulie for doing this, for making me feel welcome, and for the continued inspiration.

I regularly watch her YouTube videos, and read her stuff, and have learnt a lot from her.

What I love most about this challenge is that you’re encouraged to set your own goals and to write every day.

My goal for Zulie’s challenge is two-fold:

1) To write 250 words per day no matter what.

My writing goal is to write 250 words per day, no matter what, as a daily practice.

I’m working on pieces for Medium that I plan to publish next year so some of this writing will become part of that.

2) To publish something every day to Medium for November.

I intend to publish at least one piece every day on Medium.

Any piece that I publish on Medium in November will have the tag ‘Zulie’s Writing Challenge’ so you can read it if you like.

Now, I must confess that what I publish in November won’t be the same as what I write.

Why? Because I’m a perfectionist and that way lies madness. But, that said, I do see the two goals as complementary to each other.

I hope that’s still in keeping with the spirit of the challenge and that nobody shouts at me.

There’s no way I can complete and publish a piece worth reading every single day.

But I will publish something every day. People are always banging on about how you should publish every day and I want to see what happens.

Most of it is likely to be published pieces that I wrote as a Top Contributor for NewsBreak — I’m not proud of it, I was hungry!

If you’re doing the challenge, and decide to follow me on Medium, please let me know and I will follow you back.

Help me decide what to write in November

As for what I write in November you can help me decide.

I’ve a big favour to ask of you. Please can you complete this form? Tell me which working titles and potential topics grab your interest.

It will inform what I write next and also makes what I write next much more fun for me.

I have to warn you — it’s a long list with over 1,000 entries. Sorry, I’m not sorry.

I know over 1,000 titles is a lot, but if it was a short list then I wouldn’t need your help now, would I?

If you want to see what I write in November, as it happens, then read on. You’ll soon see how this fits in with my nefarious plans for the other two events.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)

I’ll spare you the gory details.

If you’re a writer but don’t know what NaNoWriMo is then you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years.

All you need to know is that the goal is to write 50,000 words, usually of a novel, in November.

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo then join me there and we can be besties.

I’m a bit of an OG Nanoer or Wrimo. I discovered it years ago because one of my writing students wanted to do it and would only if I promised to do it too.

Check out my NaNoWriMo Boot Camp — A quick and dirty guide to Surving National Novel Writing Month.

This year I’m doing NaNoWrimo as a Nano Rebel; so I’m writing 50,000 words of non-fiction in November instead of a novel.

This is, you guessed it, my writing stash of articles that I’ve wanted to write for a while.

I don’t plan to publish them until next year as I’m trying to write content in advance.

If You Want You Can Read My First Drafts and False Starts

I’m sharing my unpublished pieces, with any of you lovely people who wants to read them, as a Google Doc (using this link).

If anyone wants to see them in progress or give feedback that’s fine but please be kind. Don’t make me cry!

These aren’t the finished pieces. They’re false starts and first attempts.

Please beware — the writing is atrocious. I’m not even joking.

I’m starting to get ideas down and will work them up over time. This is where I’ll be putting the most work in November.

The goal is to write content that I can use next year. It will take me a while to work these notes up into finished pieces.

I NEVER USUALLY SHOW PEOPLE THIS EARLY STAGE SO YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Summit 21

And last, but certainly by no means least, we have Summit 21.

Medium Top Writer Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi invited me to be part of her first cohort-based writer’s workshop.

Summit 21 is a course in the making. It’s also lots of fun and a great place for me to hang out with other writers who are doing the same thing.

I won’t go into too much detail here as the doors are now closed and I don’t want to spoil anything for future participants.

Needless to say I’m chuffed to be part of the group.

Summit 21 will keep me on my toes throughout November.

It provides me with writing prompts, and tips and tricks, from professional writers; as well as much needed moral support.

Thanks to Summit 21 I’m experimenting with things that I wouldn’t have otherwise tried.

If you want to find out more then check out Niharikaa’s work and by all means get in touch with her.

Promoting your work is also part of it.

I intend to publish at least one piece every day on Medium or Vocal.

I’ll promote it according to Summit 21 prompts, ideas, and best practices.

If you want to see what I’m doing then look out on Twitter for my posts with the hastag #Summit21.

Why am I doing this?

I’m doing this because it gives me an interesting story to tell.

Some people have joked that I’m crazy or a machine but, truth be told, I’m incredibly lazy!

Don’t get me wrong; each of these three writing events is unique and a worthy challenge in its own right. But they’re basically the same thing if you squint a bit and move a few goalposts.

I’m achieving three hard things for the effort it takes to do one.

Plus that means I’ve three sets of deadlines to keep me motivated throughout November.

And three sets of excuses to keep me caffeinated. Instead of hibernating for winter which is all I want to do right now.

What Should You Do Instead?

If you’re reading this there’s a good chance that you’re already doing Zulie’s November Writing Challenge. If so, your mind is already made up for you.

Do that.

If you’re looking for a writing challenge that lets you set your own goals then you should definitely give it a go.

If you want to write a novel then you should also consider National Novel Writing Month.

Use whatever writing challenge tickles your fancy to keep you honest and on track.

Regardless of any writing challenge you choose to tackle here’s some things you can do for yourself:

• Write 250 words in 15 minutes every day as practice. Do this as a writing challenge for a month even if you’re not doing anything else.

• Set aside a week or a month in which you do nothing but write. Forget about getting things published. See what comes out.

• Write for the year ahead — write in batches and in bulk — and think and plan as far in advance as you can for your content.

• Schedule what you publish online, and when you publish it, to be consistent with your output.

• Keep a running list of possible titles — your very own Fantasy Football League of things you want to write.

• Keep an editorial calendar — print out a blank month to view calendar and stick it on your desk. Use it to track what you write and when you publish.

Remember that I love you

We’re done here, right? Is it a wrap? Do you want some takeaways? Do you want to have your cake and eat it? I’m so hungry.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could get all our ducks in a row? Buckle down for a month and you can get a year’s worth of writing done.

Please let me know how you get on.

Thanks to all the lovely people who have already connected with me on Medium and Twitter and said hello!

This month I’ll follow any of you on Medium or Twitter if you follow me and say hello.

Before November I didn’t follow anyone on Medium and hadn’t done for quite a while. So, I dunno, feel special or something.

I’m a chatty Cathy on Twitter but I’d love to connect with you wherever you are.

Best of luck to you. Good luck with the writing challenges that you face!