Lately, I’ve been thinking about how it feels to be a writer.
While I wasn’t writing much this spring, I carried this annoying little ball of worry around with me that said I was wasting time and being unproductive.
Every article about the latest must-read book would make me tense with jealousy and frustration.
I want my novels published and I don’t want to keep waiting for it to happen. I want to be an exciting new author with a killer book everyone’s talking about.
Yet, that’s not how writing works. That’s not how publishing works, either.
You can’t worry yourself into a book deal or fill yourself with so much envy that it manifests a literary agent.
It’s also not what I want for my writing life. I want to feel my ambition and keep the joy of writing at the forefront of my process.
I’m sure you want that, too, right?
Instead of feeling like you’re behind or you’re not writing enough, wouldn’t it just be nice to feel proud of your desire to write and find a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment with each writing session?
If so, I have a small summer writing challenge for you.
But first, I want to let you know that my posts and newsletters will go from weekly to every other week after today through the end of the summer.
By this weekend, I plan to be done with the first draft of my second novel, a book I started exactly one year ago. I want to free up more time to revise it and work on short stories, too.
But back to that summer writing challenge I mentioned.
If you’re like me, you might be drawn to small writing challenges that ask you to stretch yourself or try something new.
I wrote my first novel as the result of a self-imposed 100 days of writing. It truly was one of the best things I’ve ever done for my writing life.
That’s the thing about tiny challenges: you never know when one will have a huge impact on your writing.
So, try this with me. You’re in charge of what you do and for how long, but if you need some suggestions, let me know.
Pick something off the following list and commit to doing it for a set amount of time, like 21 days, 50 days, three months. Shorter is sometimes better, yet there’s something to be said for committing to yourself longterm.
- Write daily for 5 minutes
- Write 3 sentences in a notebook each morning
- Complete a writing prompt or exercise each morning
- Submit a piece until it finds a home (you could try to amass 100 rejections, like me)
- Establish a word count goal and try to hit it each week
- Block off time that’s just for writing
- Leave your usual surroundings and write elsewhere
- Write something unexpected and totally out of the box for you
This list isn’t exhaustive. Maybe you want to write one new short story a week, or a chapter of your novel every few days, or a poem a day until you have 50.
The challenge here is simply to challenge yourself and commit to yourself.
There’s amazing power in deciding that you’re worth it. And even more power in deciding that your writing ambitions are worth it, too.
The key to writing more and worrying less is this: build a little challenge for yourself, commit to it, and be so focused on your mission that you don’t have time to worry about what’s coming next.
Keep your expectations at zero, but be prepared for the results to be more than you could’ve imagined. And don’t think too much into the future or worry about what you could’ve done in the past.
Start here, now, today.
Make the next couple of months about rediscovering why you ever started writing in the first place.
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