HOW CAN I CREATE MY OWN WRITING CHALLENGE?
A writing challenge is a slightly different beast than a writing retreat, although both have their uses. I think of the retreat as a bit gentler in spirit and also as potentially more exploratory as to the outcome. I also think that writing retreats can be fruitfully undertaken either solo or as part of a group.
For a writing challenge, however, the accountability and energy of the group seem to me to be crucial ingredients.
There are a number of well-publicized and free writing challenges out there. I just completed Jami Attenberg’s wonderful #1000wordsofsummer, during which writers commit to writing 1,000 words every day for a period of two weeks. If you want to follow Jami, subscribe to her CraftTalk newsletter, and learn about next summer’s challenge, here’s her substack.
Additionally, many of you may be familiar with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which some academics participate in via the hashtag AcaWriMo (also in the month of November), or the 14-Day writing challenges periodically offered by the NCFDD (their next one is in October).
If you wanted to experience a writing challenge with some regularity, you could put these various well-established challenges into your calendar.
While the intensity of a challenge of this kind would be difficult to sustain over the long run—for example, it’s a good idea to take days off periodically—challenges work for lots of people because of a particular blend of characteristics:
· Time limited: It’s possible to push hard, as long as you know the time of hard work has an end. Many challenges are thus a week, two weeks, or a month. More than that can be difficult to sustain.
· Concrete: Writing challenges typically have a specific metric you are trying to hit. It could be a certain number of words or a certain number of minutes per day.
· “Special time”: This goes along with challenges being for a limited time period. There’s a sense that this writing time is somehow out of the ordinary routine, so you might take extra measures to protect it or bring a particular focus to work sessions.
· Accountability (and reflection): Many writing challenges use a hashtag, and for good reason. Posting to the hashtag and knowing that others are acts as a fun form of accountability. It can be fun to get that gold star. I also like to use these posts as an opportunity to reflect on how my writing is going and what I’m learning about my writing process.
· Camaraderie: Because writing challenges are typically done alongside others, there’s a feeling that you are in good company, which is a nice counter to the feelings of isolation that can sometimes accompany academic writing.
While it’s nice to take part in the big writing challenges I mentioned above, using these ingredients, you could also design your own, whether on campus or online.
For example, I’m planning to host some form of a cowriting/writing challenge in the month of August because I will need to get a final push of writing done to complete book revisions before the semester starts. I’ll announce it here as well as on the various social media places, if you’d like to join.
In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you could use support and accountability with your academic writing. I offer free Friday cowriting sessions from 7-9 am PST as well as individualized coaching for faculty.
