Please watch Kate’s video above if you want to know what the heck I am talking about.
This is a writer’s challenge that can be for 75 (hard) days…or 185 (insane) days (that’s six months. There is a large, large rabbit hole that you can fall down into on YouTube of videos of people taking a six-month challenge to improve their lives (whether they are writers or not). These challenges, this six-month type of challenge, is for all walks of life—and people approach this sort of challenge in a variety of ways.
Once you listen to Kate’s video, and then follow the links in her video’s description, you will see that even for writers there are a myriad of steps you can take.
I myself am sort of ignoring the seventy-five hard days and heading straight into the one hundred and eighty-five days challenge.
I wrote out all of Jenna Streety’s challenge ‘rules’…followed by the more simple ‘rules’ of Dr. Daley (Knows Kids Lit). A few of Jenna’s initial rules made my heart pound in abject terror and horror. Post anywhere three times, per DAY? Jeezum Crow, I am tearing myself apart trying to keep up my three platforms (Patreon, Medium, and the website) once a week each, much less anything more than that.
However, Jenna says to take these rules and modify as needed for “…any disabilities, mental health, and other chronic issues…” and chronic health issues I do have. Not to mention anxiety and … oh, let’s not go there.
But, I do like the idea of taking the next six months to change my life, as a writer.
When I am not doing someone else’s writing challenge, my goal is to write at least five hundred words per day on a writing day. In this challenge, my daily word count will be one thousand and five hundred words per minute.
Completely draft three books. Jenna suggests at least five hundred thousand words (total) for all three drafts. That equates to one hundred thousand six hundred and sixty-seven (rounding up) per novel. My first draft of my first novel was over sixty-five thousand. Uncut and unedited.
I am not going to focus on word count for the drafts or anything like that.
My goal is to draft out, entirely, three books. Period. Whatever their word count is, that’s it.
As an indie writer, self-publish two novels or three novellas. In the next six months.
Uhm, the thought is pretty scary. However, that is the whole point of this challenge—to push myself out into the world and put forth the effort.
However, I have nothing ready for that sort of anything.
I am in the process of catching up with the May Flash Fiction challenge that I missed due to illness. I had planned all along to create a book of the short stories and self-publish that by the end of the year. For me, this book of short stories, these flash fiction bits, will count as one book.
I have Novel #1 in the second draft range. If I focus more, I can get her up and running and use her as a second book.
I have the outline and plot for the first book of my Prince Charming novella series—if I write that up and get busy with the editing and all of it, that could be book number three.
The issue I have is … I can work my ass off and get those three things written, edited, formatted, you name it, and get them self-published…but I want to actually have … three books drafted on top of those as well.
As an indie author, do one author event and sign copies of your own book. Uhm, I don’t yet have anything appropriate as yet to sell or promote in that manner as yet. Perhaps by the end of the six months I will. This I may push out past six months, so that I will have more to offer at an event.
The next ‘rule’ is that post three times per day thing…and I am going to stick to posting three times a week. I have a choice: either focus on my writing, my work, or focus on producing content to post online. I cannot push myself hard enough to do both because it sucks the spoons out of my drawer like a Hoover. I will stick with what I know I can manage that will not wear me out in a week or less.
I can get behind the ‘pick your days off… schedule healthy breaks… and honor them without guilt…’ one hundred percent. I especially appreciate the ‘honor them without guilt’ part.
Next is make a new author friend, online or in person). I am not going into any local place due to the desire not to be any sicker than I already get, no disrespect to anyone at all. I have lost more of this year to illness than I have been able to enjoy or accomplish anything. So, online it will be. If anyone has any recommendations, or would like a new friend themselves, please let me know.
Five thousand steps per day. Not going to happen. I have problems with arthritis, especially in my lower back, so walking may be too difficult at the moment. I am working on improving my core strength. However, I can commit to twenty minutes of stationary bicycle riding five times per week. Plus our once a week gym access for roughly an hour on the weekend will help me a lot there.
Five plus bottles of water a day. This would be a boon for me.
Stick to a healthy routine of exercise and diet for you (with cheats, of course). I can stand behind this as well. With the afore-mentioned exercise, I am already working on a high protein diet. I am required to be on a high protein diet, required by my doctor.
Join the twenty-four hour novel challenge (in June) — I have already signed up for it and am more than a little frightened about that, but also willing to give it a go.
No social media before 9am or after 9pm. I don’t see an issue there. I have been working to stay off my phone more and more in the past few weeks for a variety of reasons.
Thirty minutes of reading per day (in any genre so long as you do not read your own book). Again, no real issue there. I am grateful to have a ‘mandatory’ reason to do so.
Stick to a sleeping schedule and night routine best for you. This too is something I am working on. Some evenings I am better than others. If I get on a roll of writing, I forget where the clock is and when I stop for a moment and look up, it’s usually about 3am. This is not the time I want to go to bed: I plan to retire way sooner than that, lol. The night routine is what I am working on at the moment. I’m getting there.
Find a new hobby you WON’T monetize that brings you joy and stick with it. Do I have to find a new one? Can I keep crocheting and knitting—without giving thoughts to creating patterns to sell? Please? Because that and reading are all I have—on top of my art journaling, but I need that to create zines for a different purpose.
Now, I am going to touch on what I am taking from Dr. Daley (Knows Kids Lit).
- She is planning to do two forty-five minute writing session per day. One will be in a different location than she normally does her writing. I like the idea of two different writing sessions per day. I typically try to write in the morning and then again in the evening, cat and child depending. I don’t plan to change where I write. I might change HOW I write, for at least one session per day.
If I go somewhere, it has to be Friday through Monday, four days. Those are the days I have access to our vehicle (we still haven’t replaced the car I had the accident in); however, Friday through Sunday are typically family time for us. I could roam afield on Mondays…and I have been meaning to—but, sick, didn’t even think of it then.
The changing my how…I typically type everything I write these days. I can type far faster than I can write things down. My ADHD brain races…and there has never been a clear way for my hand to keep up, especially not if I want to be able to read it with later. So, typing. But, I have been planning to handwrite all the flash fiction stories (all thirty-one of them) and transcribe them later. That is my how…writing in a notebook (typically a composition, or rather, Decomposition, notebook) and a Bic Cristal pen (in black).
- Healthy diet. Done and done.
- Reading ten pages per day, she says she will be reading self-help books. I will read whatever I have on hand. I have stacks of both fiction and non-fiction waiting for me to dig into them.
- Drinking water. You got it. Already on the list.
- Daily word count tracking. This I can and will absolutely do. I do this anywhere. Even though I haven’t written in weeks at the moment.
Now, this is the list of ‘rules’ and the adjustments I am planning to make to them for myself.
The other thing I plan to do is to begin the challenge on July 1. This way I will have from July 1 to December 31 to work through this challenge.
The tasks I am giving myself in the month prior to that (the month of June) are: to get the routines in order that I need to sort out; to write those flash fiction pieces; to either draft out PC #1 novella or finish Novel #1 completely so that the manuscript is ready to go once July arrives.
What do you think of the author hard/insane challenge?
Would you consider engaging with and taking on this type of challenge?
Will you join in this challenge in some way?
How do you feel about the change your life in six months challenges, unrelated to authors?
Would you start one of those challenges at any point?
Let me know how you feel in the comments.
Tabitha Low 