The 30 Day Challenge

Obviously I'm getting my money's worth from this planner...

Long ago, I heard about NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you gather together with other writers, experienced and new alike, to write an entire novel over the course of the month of November. I was intrigued by the concept. A whole book in one month? Wow. That takes discipline. I thought it sounded fun, like something I might want to try.

There was just one problem. I have ZERO ideas for a novel right now. Not a shred of a story line or even a couple of character traits I could smash together and give a name to. Nothing.  Without an idea to write, could I even make something up that would be worth anyone's time to read? I wasn't sure what to think.

While I was mulling that over, I read a short e-book about becoming a writer. The book had a cute story about an aspiring writer and a homework assignment at the end of each chapter. One of the assignments was to find and join a community of writers. I didn't realize this at first, but there are communities of bloggers out there who read each other's work, provide feedback and generally support one another along the journey. At first, I couldn't really see the point of something, but because I don't spend enough time on Facebook as it is, I joined several Facebook blogger groups. It only took a few days for me to realize that one in particular, Bloggers United, was full of active, encouraging aspiring writers.

From here I learned about the 30 Day Challenge. The idea is that you write in your blog EVERY DAY for 30 consecutive days. Apparently doing this helps you not only strengthen your discipline, but it can help you focus as a writer and figure out what topics are the best fit for you as well as what your followers enjoy reading the most.

To be honest, this seemed a little bit easier than creating a cast of characters and an engaging book plot. I can think of several different topics I'd like to blog about already. Today, I decided to ask the Bloggers United community if anyone would like to take the challenge with me, since accountability seems important. Thirty people have already responded and would like to join me! My sister has also agreed to try and write every day in November. I am happy that I will have support on the journey!

So rather than writing a mediocre novel in November, I will be blogging every day! I am excited by the challenge. I hope you enjoy taking the journey with me.  If you have any topics you think would be fun to write about, please share at any time!

A mostly white calendar means plenty of time for writing!