June Challenge - Write Every Day

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Magnus

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June is around the corner!

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.

It's entirely up to you how much and in what way you participate.

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.
  • 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.
  • 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 June 1st!
 

DanielSTJ

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I'm going to set day-specific goals this month depending on how much time/energy I have.

This is going to be great Magnus! I'll see you at liftoff. :e2salute:
 
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fenyo

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Write Every Day- easier said than done.

unfortunately, I can not write on demand.
There are some habits that I can practice. By doing it every day, setting goals and being patient.
But writing mean that I need to be creative, I need to have a idea, an inspiration. these are not things that I can have on demand.
maybe, forcing it will even make me write worse.

I don't know how it is for others. I suppose every ones different.
 

Layla Nahar

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I will do my 3 key points as usual

Add words to a WIP every day
Take an action of responsibility and/or self-care
do something to increase my earning capacity

I do the 3 because in the past I couldn't write and take care of life together. If something stressful came up, or if I had financial challenges - writing went out the window. So I realized if I wanted to write I had to learn how to Write+Adulting...

*Saturday is my skip day

** The Write Every Day this month turns 1 in two months! The first one was August 2017. Thanks Magnus!!!
 

Lakey

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Write Every Day- easier said than done.

unfortunately, I can not write on demand.
There are some habits that I can practice. By doing it every day, setting goals and being patient.
But writing mean that I need to be creative, I need to have a idea, an inspiration. these are not things that I can have on demand.
maybe, forcing it will even make me write worse.

I don't know how it is for others. I suppose every ones different.

fenyo, it's precisely because writing every day is easier said than done that this thread exists. The folks who pariticipate in this "write every day" thread each month are here to support and encourage each other, with whatever goals we want to set, and entirely without judgment. (Take a look at last month's iteration of the thread to get a sense of what I mean.)

Some of us set humble goals - a hundred words, a quarter of a page, 15 minutes with pen in hand. Some of us don't set daily word-count goals at all. (Some of us, like me, set them and then miss them as often as we hit them.) The point is the support - that's really the beginning and end of it. And that's what we do for one another.

If it doesn't sound like it would be helpful to you, that's all right too - but please don't think that the intent of the thread is to push anyone to do anything that doesn't feel productive, or pass any kind of value judgment on folks who don't write every day. That's really exactly the opposite of what it's all about.
 
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Magnus

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Write Every Day- easier said than done.

unfortunately, I can not write on demand.
There are some habits that I can practice. By doing it every day, setting goals and being patient.
But writing mean that I need to be creative, I need to have a idea, an inspiration. these are not things that I can have on demand.
maybe, forcing it will even make me write worse.

I don't know how it is for others. I suppose every ones different.

If you can't write on demand, participating in this challenge is a great idea because learning to build a habit of writing is the whole point. The truth is that most writers aren't inspired to write every day, or even every week. If you want to finish something, learning to push through that is the first step. Forcing yourself to write a little every day isn't about the results; it's about the habit. You may end up writing something you won't use, but that doesn't matter because you're still flexing your writing muscle. Then again, you may end up opening the creative faucet. That's happened to me many times.

But if all you do is wait around until you're inspired, then you won't get anywhere. Trust me, that's what I did for about a decade, and I barely have a short story to show for it.

Getting results means challenging yourself, getting uncomfortable, and putting in a lot of work. It also means accepting that you can improve. You do not have to be a slave to your creative whims, so breaking out of that mythical notion is your first step. I suggest you come join us for the challenge!
 

Magnus

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For June, my goal is back to basics: 300 words of fiction writing every day, of however questionable quality. :banana:

I've not been idle these past few months, but the bottom line is I've produced very little fresh material, and I have a lot of stories that need to be finished. So that's the second goal; work on the smaller projects so that I can finish something. I'm juggling too many ideas and need to clean up a bit in the creative closet!
 

fenyo

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I understated it's not easy, that is why it's called a challenge. :)

I saw an interview with Claire Bloom a few days ago, she said that Philip Roth entered his study every morning and come out in the evening after writing all day. some times he come out with a few written pages and some times with nothing.
We can't all be like Philip Roth, but at least we can have a role model.

And I do wish the best of luck to every one that take on the challenge.
 

LadyRedRover

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I'll be joining again this month. Trying to get enrolled in college and finding a new job has knocked me fully off of the productivity train but I refuse to go another month without writing! So, here's my (very humble) goals for June:

1. Send out 2 short stories
2. Complete one story for an anthology
3. Start brainstorming ideas for Book 2
 

Keithy

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I'm in. The goal is either getting half the first draft done properly or the whole thing badly.
 

thereeness

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May was a really rough month for me. I basically suffered a writing existential crisis XD But I've gotten my priorities straight and I'm ready to get back in the game. Gods, I forgot how much fun it is to write something you love and are excited about.

My goals for the month:

-STOP READING SO DAMN MUCH (No seriously, my Nook now has 50 books on it and I've read them all at least once >.>)
-Finish editing Ambershield outline for Acts 2 and 3
-Finish drafting Act 1

I'm keeping it simple, just in case some things come up, but if I can, I'll definitely push on beyond drafting Act 1. Good luck everyone and can't wait to rejoin the insanity for June :D
 

SKara

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After dropping out of the May thread (hit a snag with the revision), here I am, back again, recharged and re-motivated.

Goal is to:

a) Finish structural editing by end of June - no getting bogged down in details. After this edit, I won't be obsessing about whether all the scenes are in the right order or not (I wrote the story out of order).

b) Remember that the reason I write every day is that I want to get closer and closer to my end goal (which is to get current MS into the best possible shape) in as little time as possible.

Unlike last month, I ditched the strict time-keeping approach and intend to focus instead on results. I'm going with April's method and not keeping daily targets, but I have set out a writing period during the day when all I'm supposed to do is work on my novel.

Good luck, fellow writers! It feels good to be back :)

Stay inspired:

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style - Maya Angelou
 

Pterofan

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After a couple months off (though not from writing) I'm ready to try this again. I still believe 1000 words a day is doable, though I may have to do it sporadically.

My goals for June are to finally finish that one story that's been languishing it feels like forever, and get started on a romance series. I've already begun the first book, and have vague ideas of what's supposed to happen in subsequent books. Pantsers should probably not try to write a series.

On some days those 1000 words may be free-association on paper as pantser me tries to plot out those future books mentioned above. Does that still count as fiction writing?
 

WGough

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I, too, struggled through May. Intended on having my first revision finished by today. What with vacation and writer's anxiety, it ain't happening.

June Goals:

1) finish 1st revision of 1st novel in a series by June 3 - 3 chapters left to revise, 1 chapter to draft, finish drafting epilogue
2) Finish 2nd revision of 1st novel by June 17 - cut word count down to 80K
3) If satisfied with 2nd revision (Ha!), submit 1st novel for critiques, otherwise complete 3rd revision by June 24
4) Finish structure and discovery draft of 2nd novel by June 30 - current word count 30K

Draft word count goals: M-F 2,000 words/day, Sa-Su 5,000 words/day

Good luck!
 
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Keithy

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Revised target: definitely half the first draft properly!

I spent some time answering questions and dealing with issues in chapter one. It's nearly good enough.
 

xenylic

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All right, let's do this! My primary goal is to hit 70k for drafting by the 30th (i.e. adding 10k words to book #2). I also want to send out a fresh batch of queries for book #1 once my new query letter is done.

Good luck tomorrow, everyone! Let the games begin!
 
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Lakey

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Good morning :e2coffee:

I would love to be finished with the zeroeth draft by the end of the month (somehow I originally typed “by noon” - I’m not sure what my brain was thinking there) but realistically it’s probably not going to happen. So I will stick with good old my good old standby daily goals instead, of one of the following each day:

* 300 new words in the manuscript
* Some quantum of plotting, planning, outlining, or research for the novel
* A book review

Barring that, on the days I simply cannot, I will nevertheless get some reading in.

And now I am off to my 25th college reunion, from which I am expecting a rainy, drunken weekend with some flat fantastic women.
 

Magnus

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Day 1
Wooo 300 words! Had to push them out nearly last thing in the day, but I did it, and that's what matters. I think I've been letting myself off the hook a bit too easily lately; it's good to have a fall-back plan of studying and whatnot, but I've been falling back a bit too easily! So now's the time to be a bit harder on myself. :mad:
 

Layla Nahar

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Congrats on those 300 words, Magnus!


Day 1

WIP: ~1/3 page.

R/SC - took rent to the landlord; took something sentimental to the electronic recyclers, took two grocery bags of books to the charity & a wee grocery Got those copies I missed, dropped shoes at the cobbler, left another 5 books on the sharing shelf at the hippie cafe (whew!)

$$: Continued the writing portion of my exercise, copied some reference material, stopped at the liberry to print up a few pages of learning material for o related project.
 

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Way to go, Magnus. Layla Nahar, you are an adulting machine. I bought dogfood and gave myself a pat on the back. You've inspired me to laundry.

Day 1

Drafted a chapter that will need revising, not sure it does what it needs to do, 2,744 words
Revised a chapter that will need another revision (ran out of gas racing for the finish)
Fixed a plot hole (yay me!)
Thanks to autumnleaf, I think I figured out how to fix my prologue/first chapter
 

Lakey

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Drunk Lakey with a quick check-in during a quiet moment at my college reunion - while I recharge before the next event. I wish every day could include a five-hour train ride. I wrote a book review AND more than 300 words of the next chapter, along with a little reading. Here at the college, along with the general carousing and up-catching, I had a wonderful conversation with my novelist friend whom I mentioned a few days ago in the May thread. More to come as the weekend wears on. I do love my alma mater - I have an emblem of her literally tattooed on my arm, that’s how much I mean it - and reunion thus far has been another rejuvenating jaunt at the Mothership. I almost certainly won’t write anything tomorrow. But I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
 

Girlsgottawrite

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I'll join in. I really want to get on more of a realistic schedule with my writing. I refuse to spend another four years on one MS that doesn't get sold.

So here goes...

Day 1: 943 words!

Not too shabby. I even put in a little work at my job. You know, the one that pays. ;)


Layla- You're making the rest of us look really bad! Awesome productivity!

Lakey- Awesome job meeting your goals. Do you do book reviews for pay?

Magnus - Thanks for starting this thread! 300 words is 300 more than you would have done otherwise. And if they turn out to be crap, that's what editing is for. :)

xenylic, Pterofan and Wgough - I would love to set such lofty goals, but I don't know if I can be that productive. Did I mention my first MS took 4 years?
 
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Keithy

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10 words today. At least it's in double figures.
 
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