 Hello, hello, writers! I'm Kristin Kiefer, author of fantasy fiction and creative writing resources, and you are listening to the Well-Sturried podcast, where I share insights, encouragement, and actionable advice designed to help you craft sensational novels and build your best writing life, always in 30 minutes or less, so you can get back to writing, of course! Ready for the show? Let's get talking! Hello there, writers, and thank you for joining me for another episode of the podcast. Today, we are talking all about how to make the most of a writing challenge. I've been thinking about writing challenges quite a bit recently because it occurred to me a few weeks ago that we're not that far away from National Novel Writing Month. If you don't know, NaNoWriMo, as it is colloquially called, lovingly called, is a community-based event in which writers are challenged to pen 50,000 words of fiction in the month of November, and this is a massive worldwide event in which like hundreds of thousands of writers take part, and I first took part actually way back in 2014, way back. That's not actually that long ago, but that's when I first took part and that was really before I had come to start writing with any seriousness. I had dabbled a lot, I had started several blogs, but I hadn't really nailed down a writing practice or made much progress in my writing life, and so when I'd heard about NaNoWriMo, I thought it could really be the event that would help me become the writer I wanted to be. So I signed up, I took part, and it was a great experience. I wrote 50,000 words in a month, never before had I accomplished anything like that, and it really got the ball rolling for me in terms of building the writing life that I wanted to lead, which was super awesome. But a writing challenge doesn't have to look like writing 50,000 words in a month. A writing challenge can be as simple as a self-imposed deadline that you set for yourself. It can be something like a daily flash fiction challenge or a weekly short story challenge. There's all sorts of different types of challenges out there. And today I wanted to talk about all of these, and I wanted to talk about not just how to complete a writing challenge, but how to rock it because I completed my first NaNoWriMo back in 2014. But I wouldn't say I rocked it exactly. By the end of the month I was exhausted. I was burned out, I was just done with writing, even though I'd gotten my 50,000 words in, and that was great. But just in general, I barely wrote a word in the month that followed or really in the months that followed. It took me until February to kind of start writing with any consistency again. And I'm very, very grateful for my first NaNoWriMo experience because it showed me, it gave me a sense of creative fulfillment that I had really been lacking in my life. It gave me a sense of confidence in my ability to complete difficult creative work. But I also didn't handle the writing challenge as a whole very well. I let unhealthy pressures push me to complete the challenge, rather than adopting some and adapting the challenge in a way that would benefit me most in my writing life and help me build a writing practice I could actually sustain. So all that said, in today's episode of the podcast, we are going to talk about how to determine how you can determine if a writing challenge is right for you, how you can then adapt that writing challenge to best benefit your writing life and fit in with your unique schedule and needs and process. And we're going to talk about how to rock the challenge itself so you can have the best possible experience. So whether you are preparing to participate in your very first writing event, writing challenge, maybe even this year's national novel writing month, or if you maybe haven't had the best challenge experience in the past, this is definitely the episode for you. But before we dive in, a quick behind-the-scenes update at well-storied for you guys. I'm going to mention this later in the podcast, but I wanted to bring it up now here at the top. And to let you guys know that there is a workbook sale going on. If you don't know, I currently offer three PDF workbooks for sale through the well-storied website. And each of these workbooks is designed to walk you through developing a particular part of your storytelling step by step. So those three workbooks are Crafting Incredible Characters, Worldbuilding Warrior, and The Pre-ight Project, which is the most popular of the three. I am putting these workbooks on sale for 50% off, starting today through September, nope, sorry, through October 3rd, 2019, this year, just in case you're listening in from the future. And I'm putting them on sale now in particular because October is the month of the year that a lot of people spend preparing for NaNoWriMo. So if you plan to participate in that, or you're just otherwise interested in the workbooks, now is the time to grab your copy. To save 50%, all you have to do is enter the code PREPTOBER in the part of me at checkout. So that's P-R-E-P-T-O-B-E-R, PREPTOBER, that's what a lot of people call the October month leading up to NaNoWriMo. And to check out the workbooks, simply head on over to well-storied.com slash workbooks. I also just wanted to give a quick kind of update on my upcoming book for writers, Build Your Best Writing Life. This is something that I've been updating you guys on for several months now as I've gone through the process of writing, revising, and preparing to publish this manuscript. And I'm excited to say that I have my manuscript back from Sarah Laterno. Sarah is my line editor, so she went through my manuscript line by line and made detailed comments and suggestions and changes that have really helped shape this manuscript into something I am very proud to present to the world. And I just wanted to give Sarah a quick shout out now and just to say how wonderful of an experience this has been, I am more than halfway through reviewing Sarah's line edits and I am learning so much. Really the line editing experience for me has been far more than just having an editor work on my manuscript to help improve the quality of the writing itself. I am learning and growing as a writer from Sarah's work and that's an incredible thing that I'm going to get to apply to the next book I write and to every new blog post and podcast episode I create. It's just a truly invaluable experience and I'm so grateful. I do want to talk about what I've learned from working with my first line editor in much more detail, maybe in a newsletter or in an upcoming blog post. So keep an eye out for that. But I just wanted to give Sarah a quick shout out now. If you would like to check out her work, you can find her at heartofthestoryeditorial.com. Alright, without any further ado, today's episode of the podcast translates the latest article from the Well-Storied blog into audio. Titled, How to Make the Most of a Writing Challenge, you can find the article that also serves as the episode transcript at www.well-storied.com slash challenge. Now let's dive in. With National Novel Writing Month just six weeks away, it's time we had a chat about writing challenges. A writing challenge can take many forms. It can be a simple self-imposed goal or deadline, or it can be a community-based event that encourages you to write daily or weekly short fiction, a 50,000-word novel in a month, or another goal entirely. Whatever the intended output, writing challenges can present great opportunities to improve your writing skills and your commitment to the craft. But writing challenges have a dark side that isn't often discussed. The drive to produce a specific creative output, especially within a limited time, can introduce an unhealthy pressure to succeed. This pressure can then lead to creative burnout, a broken writing habit, and feelings of inadequacy and shame. These results obviously don't benefit your writing practice or long-term creative success in any way. Still, these potential consequences don't mean that you should avoid participating in writing challenges. In addition to the benefits I mentioned a moment ago, completing a writing challenge can provide a sense of creative accomplishment and motivation. So how do you gain these positive benefits without encountering unhealthy pressure and its consequences? Good news, writer. Today I am sharing my top eight tips for making the most out of a writing challenge. So let's dig in. Tip number one, assess the challenge before committing. There's little point in participating in a challenge that won't benefit your writing life Before deciding to take part, consider the terms of the challenge and whether they mesh well with your schedule, writing process, and creative aims. Ask yourself, does my schedule allow me to devote adequate time and energy to this challenge? Do the terms of this challenge align with my unique writing process? Or would this challenge pressure me to use writing techniques that I don't enjoy? How would this challenge help me achieve my personal definition of writing success? If you don't know your definition of writing success, you can find a full article or previous podcast episode about this topic linked in today's episode transcript. Remember that a good writing challenge should motivate you to create without causing overwhelm. If the terms of a challenge don't seem conducive to a positive experience for you, then it might be best that you don't participate. Tip number two, consider the emotional impact of the challenge. The last thing you want a writing challenge to do is to trigger negative self-talk or creative fear. Knowing this, consider the internal struggles you commonly face in your writing life. Do you often wrestle with perfectionism or the comparison trap? With the fears of failure, criticism, or rejection. Or with the belief that you aren't quote unquote good enough to write the stories you want to tell. If a writing challenge you're interested in would trigger these internal struggles, you might want to reconsider participating. Or you can. Tip number three, adapt the challenge as needed. Saying no to a writing challenge because of its terms or potential emotional impact isn't your only option. You can also tweak the terms of the challenge to better align with your needs. For example, you can alter the target output you pursue during that challenge to better align with your busy schedule. Or you can avoid sharing your progress online if doing so would prompt you to compare yourself to other writers. Tip number four, determine your why. By nature, writing challenges are difficult to complete. Knowing why you'd like to participate and how the challenge will benefit your writing life can help you remain focused and motivated as you work. When considering your why, move beyond output. Drafting a book in a month is a valid goal. But what happens when the draft is complete? How do you want that month of hard work to impact your writing life? The following are examples of solid reasons to participate in a writing challenge. I want to leverage the accountability built into this challenge to develop my writing practice. I want to overcome my fear of criticism by sharing my work with other challenge participants. I want to confront my perfectionism by participating in timed writing sprints. I want to write one short story a week to hone my storytelling skills and build creative momentum. Tip number five, have a strong writing practice in place. Most writing challenges require deep work, often over a long period of time. Working with this level of focus and commitment can lead to burnout if you don't already have an established writing practice in place. Be mindful of this fact when deciding whether to participate in a particular challenge. If you're using a challenge to build your writing practice, avoid burnout by starting small. Rather than aiming for, say, 50,000 words during National Novel Writing Month, change your target to a goal you can reasonably achieve, such as 10,000 total words or 15 minutes of daily writing. Tip number six, prep for the challenge. Preparing for a challenge can help you avoid writing burnout and other challenge obstacles, such as writer's block. The type of prep you complete will depend on the challenge itself. If you're gearing up for nano-rimo, you might wish to choose your story idea and complete pre-writing tasks. For a daily or weekly short fiction challenge, you might gather prompts or brainstorm story ideas. For step-by-step guidance, consider downloading a well-stoyed workbook, such as the Pre-Write Project, Crafting Incredible Characters, or World Building Warrior. You can save 50% on all workbooks through October 3, 2019 by using the code PREPTOBER at checkout. You can catch that coupon code once again in the episode description, and if you would like to purchase a workbook or learn more about them, simply head on over to well-stoyed.com slash workbooks. Tip number seven, get involved in challenge communities. Challenges are easier to tackle with support and encouragement. Therefore, many writing events, such as National Novel Writing Month, include an element of community. Sharing your experience with other participating writers can help you remain focused and motivated. If you're participating in a self-imposed writing challenge, share that challenge with other writers. Doing so can be as simple as posting your goal and progress online. Writing communities exist on nearly every online platform, and in my experience, writers in those communities love to cheerlead others to success. You can also join our well-stoyed communities on Facebook and Twitter today. I'm inviting you now come join us. You can check out these communities for yourself at well-stoyed.com slash community. Tip number eight, track and celebrate your progress. Most writers work digitally, and without a tangible story to hold, you might find it difficult to gauge and acknowledge the results of your hard work. That's why I encourage every writer to track and celebrate their progress, especially when participating in a writing challenge. How and what you track will depend on the challenge itself. Most writers participating in NaNoWriMo update their word count daily on the NaNoWriMo website, but for other challenges, you might prefer to track your progress weekly or monthly. You might also choose to track the time you spent writing, the number of pages you revised, or the writing related tasks you completed. Whatever and however you track, don't forget to celebrate your progress. Doing so doesn't have to be complicated. Merely taking a moment to acknowledge your hard work can be incredibly fulfilling, but if you'd rather celebrate in grander fashion, don't hesitate to do so. Treat yourself to dessert or a fancy dinner. Share your accomplishment with fellow writers online whatever floats your boat. Finally, remember to seek progress over perfection when participating in a writing challenge. It's okay if you miss a day of daily writing or come up a few words short of your goal. If you're benefiting from a challenge, you're completing it successfully. I know it can be frustrating to fall short of your aim, but know that you aren't a writing machine. You're human and life is complicated. At the end of the day, you can only disappoint yourself if you don't put in your best work. So let go of unreasonable expectations, pick up your pen, and get to work. You're going to rock this writing challenge, my friend. Thank you for listening to today's episode of the Podcast Writer. I hope you found it helpful to your writing journey. If so, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode and to give the podcast a quick rating and review. Doing so goes a long way toward helping the podcast reach new writers and lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm creating. You can also give me a shout out directly on Twitter at christen underscore keeper. For additional guidance as you work to craft sensational novels and build your best writing life, be sure to head on over to www.well-storied.com where I share blog posts, workbooks, e-courses, and other helpful resources for writers. Again, that's www.well-storied.com. Thank you again for tuning into today's episode, my friend. Until next time, happy writing!