April Challenge - Write Every Day!

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Magnus

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April is coming up!

So, hello and welcome! This is a thread open to anyone who wants to start, maintain, or reinforce a writing habit. (It can also be about revision, editing, research -- all writing habits welcome!)

The basic idea is that repeating something daily, even in small amounts, will build a habit that becomes stronger over time. You can read more in this blog post I wrote.

It's entirely up to you how much and in what way you participate. Some of us like to keep up with how the others are doing and send some encouraging words, but if you just want to check in, that's fine!

Here are some tips:


  • Set achievable goals – I can't stress enough how important this is. Habits build over time, so look at your current writing habit and set a goal to increase it a little bit, in word count, time, and/or frequency. (For example, I did a lot better with a small daily goal than with a big, looming, monthly one).
  • Keep the habit up every day – even if it's just a few sentences or a bit of editing. It reinforces the habit.
  • Mix it up – Try different types of goals, different times of the day, different tricks to reward or motivate yourself. A good habit is what works for you, not someone else. For example, some people find it works best with a set time. Others – like me – prefer a conditional habit.
  • Be patient – It takes a long time to build a strong habit and you'll always be facing new challenges. Get used to constantly adapting and you'll be better prepared for whatever problem comes up next.
  • Don't give up because you didn't hit your goal – When you fail to hit your target, your job is figuring out why it happened. That way, you can find ways to get around your roadblocks (and don't be scared of lowering the bar - doing something is better than doing nothing). If you share your stumbles in the thread, others might be able to help out with tips, tricks, and support! And sometimes, it's okay to just take a break for a day or two, or even have scheduled days "off". Whatever works for you!


Good luck, and see you on April 1st!
 

Layla Nahar

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Good morning everyone, & as always, a big thanks to Magnus for starting this.

My goals are as usual, write something every day, and *and* take care of Life every day - which for me means one action to improve my earning power and one action of self-care/responsibility. (The "extra" two actions are because previously I had only been able to manage any one of the three at a time - but adulting just won't go away...)
 

LadyRedRover

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Hi Magnus, hi Layla!

My goals going into April are:
-Write something every day (I have a Camp NaNo goal of 50k, but we'll see how that goes)
-Send out three short stories
-Spend at least an hour or two a week working on edits for 'The Prince's Champion'

@Layla Nahar, I like your goals for the month, especially the self care part. I have a bad habit of skipping self-care, especially since I'm working on increasing my income/decreasing my expenses right now as well. Adulting is way harder than it should be *sigh*
 
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D.L. Shepherd

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Thanks for making another thread Magnus, and glad to see you back Layla and LadyRedRover!

I'm in also.

I'm going to take a page from Layla's book and list two additional goals. In addition to working on my writing, I've been trying to get into better shape which means eating better/exercising/reduce stress, better dental care, etc., etc., but the easiest of those to track will be walking, which leads me to my next goal. I'm trying to halt my Labrador's leash reactivity when he sees other dogs, which means outings, formal training sessions, and more walking, since there is a good chance of passing leashed dogs while we are out on a walk (and hopefully no loose ones!)

But instead of daily goals, I'm going to make weekly ones. My goal is to work on my novel at least six times per week. I'm not going to make a time or page count goal, I just need to show up and work. As for walking and training the dog, they often overlap, so I think a fair goal would be to walk at least four times per week, and then shoot for two additional training outings away from the neighborhood per week, either with our trainer or at a park or at a pet store. The other health goals I'll just work on in the background, rather than documenting every time I eat, how often I floss, or take a deep breath!
 
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Magnus

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My goal for April is to write every day. I've been successfully writing nearly every day for the last two weeks using my SECRET SYSTEM*, which I will continue with.

The primary goal is to work on one of my works in progress. The fallback is my writing journal. I've been doing exercises in it: mostly freewrites, either about life in general or about my different projects. It's been very effective and it's knocked loose new ideas for WIPs several times.

On top of that, my goal is to publish one essay and one piece of fiction on my Patreon before the final week of the month.

I'll report in this thread when I feel up to it. Hopefully, that's every day, but actually getting writing done is priority one.

*It's coffee. No joke. I told myself I can't have coffee unless I write. Now I'm writing every day. We are truly a stupid species.
 

Taylor Harbin

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Hello all. After a roller coaster of emotions this previous weekend, I am having to change up my schedule a bit.

My my immediate goals are:

- Send revised story to new market (done this morning)

- Draft new story for anthology submission.

- Continue doing research for story number three.

- Figure out how to un-stick my novel.
 

Esmae Tyler

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Hi all! I'm checking on on this side of the page too. I'm still technically on track for my big goal for the year but with 1/4th of 2018 gone I'm not 100% positive it's accurate to say that I'm a quarter of the way through said goal.

I'm going to go gutsy (again) and make April's goal to tackle revising one scene per day every day, with a more realistic goal of at least opening up the document and trying to polish some words every day. We'll see how that goes.
 

DanMorrison

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March's thread was really helpful for me to keep accountable so I'm in for April too.

I'm hoping to get back to actual writing by the 1st, if not, soon after. My goal will be 250 words a day (5 days a week), with a monthly goal of 10,000 words.
 

Enlightened

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DanMorrison: April 1st is Easter Sunday, if you celebrate it; that's why I am waiting till the second to start writing. I may jump it mid-month.
 

D.L. Shepherd

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*It's coffee. No joke. I told myself I can't have coffee unless I write. Now I'm writing every day. We are truly a stupid species.

That's great! I thought your secret system was listening to tunes, by something you said on twitter. But this is even better. If I withheld my coffee until I wrote something, I'd either get a lot written, or possibly kill someone.
 
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Magnus

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If I withheld my coffee until I wrote something, I'd either get a lot written, or possibly kill someone.

Might be worth it. You can still publish books from prison, right?

Oh, and I don't have to write before I drink coffee. That wouldn't work. I have to write while I drink coffee.
 
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heykatydid

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Hello, lovely thread-goers. I'm hoping that now that the paperwork (round two) is done, we've moved out of our apartment, and I've finished my job, I can finally get back to writing again. It's been a really rough couple of weeks because I made the mistake of reading my reviews, which I knew I shouldn't do, and got so demoralized that I couldn't bring myself to continue writing at all. Luckily, I got back into some words today and felt better, so I'm hopeful that I can push out 500 each day from now. I've promised myself that I don't even have to ever show anyone what I'm writing, I just need to write again.

So! My goal is my standard 500 words per day. No editing right now, just pushing through this self-confidence writer's block issue. :) Happy to be back with the thread again! This thread is a great motivator, and I think I really missed it after so many months of positive thoughts.
 

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I hope it's okay if I jump in here...

I'm going to start writing daily again, since submitting work has apparently paralyzed my fingers and brain, and I can't just sit and WAIT. That's ridiculous.

I also need to have a self-care goal and an adulting goal. I'm not looking forward to either of those. *sigh* I guess I will strive to do something relaxing or enjoyable every day, and open the freaking mail every...other day.

Steph
 

D.L. Shepherd

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Might be worth it. You can still publish books from prison, right?

Oh, and I don't have to write before I drink coffee. That wouldn't work. I have to write while I drink coffee.

Magnus...You may be on to something! I'd probably get free healthcare too.

The having coffee *while* writing trick, now that makes a lot more sense to me. I got stressed just thinking about waiting until after!

heykatydid: Wow, those reviews couldn't have come at a worse time too. I'm sure they just added to all of your stress and pressure. I'm glad everything seems to be smoothing out for you now. Welcome back!

Stephmas: Welcome aboard!
 

Taylor Harbin

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Ok, wasn't much, but I wrote a full page on a new story. Was tempted to continue with the novel, but I don't think I've rested my brain enough for that just yet. Glad to have gotten something done!
 

tnfalpha

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Hi folks,

The March thread looked cool!
Magnus: your system sounds dope. Definitely going to investigate it further.
DanMorrison: I like the sound of your goal and I'm going to adopt it. I hit ~250 words during a writing session but don't write often; a 5-day writing schedule is going to be a challenge!

Writing-related April goals are outlined below:
- Write ~250 words 5 days/week. I am going to be focusing on one project.
- Read 1-2 short stories per week and analyse them (I might publish learning points on my blog, but I am not committing to this).
- Do 1-2 critiques in the SYW forum per week.
- No editing in April. I spent the first 3 months of 2018 editing ONE short story. It was hell. I am not doing that again anytime soon.
 

niknicnac

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A special thank you to Magnus for this wonderful thread!

I can't believe April is tomorrow. It goes by so fast.

My goal is simple, write and enjoy doing it. I hope to add at least 15k to my ms, but I know I need to set aside at least a little bit of time to work on some shorts too. We'll see how it goes. Writing is my destresser, and I want to keep it that way.

Welcome to all the newcomers!

Wishing everyone a productive and word wonderful April!
 

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Hi guys! I've just joined AW. *anxious waves*

I've also just signed up for my first Camp NaNo in years, so my April goal is technically 50k, but I'm really just want to get back into the habit of writing daily after a couple of years of not writing much at all.

Here's to a great month!
 

April Swanson

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Thank you Magnus! Hello everybody! Looks like a great crowd :)

My goal for this month is to write something every day. I'm going to be completely rewriting an old MS of mine, so that *should* make things a little easier than starting from scratch. We'll see...!
 

heykatydid

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Well, it's April 1st! Today I wrote 607 words, mostly going into the bits I'd already written and trying to tighten up the alternating POVs with more differences and details in the narratives. Yesterday I wrote 1,308, so I'm counting both days this weekend as a real win. Hit 28k in this particular project, and even though it's not *entirely* what I think I should be focusing on, it is where the bulk of my motivation is, so I'm going to let it be what I work on. :) Good luck to everyone starting this new month!
 

Lakey

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Good morning :e2coffee: (or rather good evening, to our friends in Japan and Australia)

I got some encouraging feedback yesterday on my recently-published story, from two friends of my mother who run a literary magazine for women writers over 60 (The Persimmon Tree). They both had very specific and lovely things to say about it (not just “it’s nice”). I myself am not yet over 60 so I won’t be submitting to their publication any time soon. But the story they read is about an old woman at the end of her life, so getting compliments on it from my mother’s septegenarian and octogenarian literary friends carries an extra layer of meaning. Altogether very satisfying.

It’s inspired me to head into April with some more rigorous goals. I would like to keep the novel moving forward now that the end of the zeroeth draft is within striking distance; and I would like to get another short story into shape for submission. To that end, I am aiming to do one of the following every day - including those tired weekday evenings when I so often let laziness get the better of me.

* Write at least 300 new words for the novel or a short story; or
* Do some editing in the novel or a short story (including transferring writing from my notebook into a manuscript, which usually involves substantial editing; or
* Significant plotting or outline revision in preparation for the next draft of the novel.

And of course I will keep reading and reading and reading. If on any day I really cannot manage one of the above goals, I will at least get in some reading.

Good luck and good skill to all of you.
 

Taylor Harbin

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I wrote a few hundred the new story. One typewriter is occupied with a sheet on my novel in progress, which is still stalled. So, on a whim, I’m using college rule notebook paper in another machine. Turns out you get a lot fewer words on 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 paper...
 

niknicnac

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Jade: Welcome! This is definitely a great thread to get you back into the writing habit. It's certainly helped me.

heykatie: So glad to see you back and making good progress.

It's April! I didn't get a lot of writing done this weekend. It was busy, busy, busy, but I did do a little research, submitted a couple of stories, and started a new short this evening. Only 306 words, but it's a start. I was glad just to find the time to get that much.
 

April Swanson

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Katy: Fantastic start to the month!

Lakey: That’s great news. Positive feedback gives you such a boost of confidence. Good luck with your goals.

Taylor: How many typewriters do you own? I picture you in an office surrounded by them (and all are placed on beautiful mahogany desks).

nik: 306 is great!

I didn’t do much yesterday; my husband is off so we’re in Holiday Mode, but I did squeeze out 280 words in the morning. If I didn't have a goal to draft every day, I would have ditched it, so - goals for the win! I’ve got another day off today, but I will bash out something in a minute, just to get something on the page.

WIP: 280!
 
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