Making On-Line Writing Challenges
Work for You
Part 1: Sandy
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Lora Koehler’s and Jean Reagan’s
Picture Book Marathon . . . Julie Hedlund’s
12 X 12 in 2012. Laurie Halse Anderson’s Write Fifteen Minutes A Day Challenge
. . . Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month . . . Maureen Thorson’s National
Poetry Writing Month . . . and more. The Internet is awash in writing
challenges, many of them well-organized, encouraging, free, and all but
guaranteed to increase productivity for those who participate.
How to choose? Where to begin?
Much to my surprise, my answer
turned out to be, “Why choose at all?
Begin everywhere.” And that’s
exactly what I did. From January of 2012
through April of 2013, I took on and met every one of the above challenges, one
after another and often more than one at a time.
Which might have been impossible,
except that I added a twist: “Do it your
own way.”
“Why?” you might ask. Well, I had my reasons . . .
As 2011 came to a close, I found myself
wondering whether I had anything left to say to the readers and audiences I’d
been sharing my work with for nearly 50 years.
Behind me stretched a publishing record of 30 books, more than three
dozen plays, and well over 200 articles, stories, and poems in magazines and
anthologies. Ahead of me loomed a
significant birthday. A feeling of dread
settled over me as I recalled a colleague’s announcement: “I haven’t written anything in a long
while. Maybe I’ve retired and just don’t
know it.”
But how does a writer retire? Writing has always been far more than a job
to me. It’s been a way of experiencing
life itself. I write, therefore I
am!
If I stopped writing, I’d be . . .
? Whatever that was, I didn’t want to go
there.
So when a message arrived by email
describing the on-line Picture Book Marathon – a pledge of 26 drafts in that
February's 29 days, I signed up. Perhaps
this would be the very thing to nudge awake my snoozing brain cells, assuming
they’d only dozed off and weren’t actually dead. But as February approached with no further
word from the Picture Book Marathon folks, I decided to sign on for Julie Hedlund's 12 X 12 challenge of a dozen PB
drafts, one a month for all of 2012. No sooner had I begun January's
effort for the 12 X 12 than confirmation came through for my
participation in February’s Picture Book Marathon, with the starting gun about
to go off. I was now entered in two races running at the same time!
Okay, I thought, I'll do both.
And then I added Laurie Halse Anderson's August event AND the well-known
Picture Book Idea Month challenge of brainstorming a new idea every day in
November. AND THEN, with all that behind
me, I took on the National Poetry Writing Month challenge to write poem a day
every day in April, 2013.
I completed them all. BUT, with the exception of Anderson's writing prompts, which simply had
to be addressed as posed, I tailored each challenge to meet my own
needs. Nothing against the original guidelines, mind you. They were all impressively well thought
out and, as each blog’s posted comments attested, all successful in helping
writers get motivated and stay motivated, myself among them. Call it cheating, if you will, but I had a
personal agenda I couldn't ignore: Along with various interrupted
plays and one bogged-down novel, I had 50 years of short-form fiction
manuscripts filed away in my cabinets, each of them carrying the promise, “I’ll
get back to you some day.” So my 26 Marathon drafts in February began as fresh revisions of
some of those manuscripts. I looked them
over (finally!), all 37 of them, narrowed them down to the 26 most hopeful and
set out to tackle one a day.
To my happy surprise, reworking my
ideas-gone-stale began sparking new ideas, so my daily output for February became
a mixture of the brand-new and the old-becoming-new-again.
Meanwhile, back at the 12 X 12
challenge, my one picture book draft per month became an opportunity to tackle
the 12 most-likely-to-succeed pieces out of the 26 I'd generated or revived in
February -- a full month of focus and further revision for each. The
new ideas took additional leaps forward; those that had fallen asleep in my
files long ago began to stir, stretch, sit up, and take a look around.
Did I feel guilty not doing the
challenges exactly as they were designed to be done? Well, yes. A
little bit. But how bad could I feel when I was writing each and every
day, looking forward to that with renewed eagerness, and generating a wealth of
material? Retired? Heck, no! I was recharged!
Did the on-going advice and
encouragement offered by each challenge host still apply to me and help
me? ABSOLUTELY! And reading
about what others were up to as they met the challenges added to my options for
and approaches to my work. I’ll talk
about one particular inspiration I received in my next post. For now, I’ll just say that it was amazing
how the sound of strangers cheering out there in cyberspace really did keep me
going. The challenge organizers were
that good at communicating their encouragement and keeping their blogs lively
with guest bloggers, participant comments, writing tips, mini-contests, and so
on. They offered daily reminders that I'd made a pledge -- maybe not the
pledge they’d originally asked for, but very much the pledge I needed to make
and keep. With their help, keep it I
did.
More specifics about how I did that
next time. But now, it’s your turn,
David. I’m curious about how on-line
challenges look from the point of view of the challenger!
* * *
Making
On-line Writing Challenges Work for You
Part
2: David
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Well, dear Sandy, dear Sandy, I’m glad you asked how on-line
challenges work from the point of view of the challenger. So far I haven’t been
much of one to accept challenges but boy can I dish ‘em out.
My challenge-tossing habit began in 2009 when I became
sole owner of a brand-new blog thanks to the devilishly clever Kathy Temean
who, upon finishing the nifty website she’d created for me, said that I had to
have a blog and, in spite of my manly protestations, proceeded to make me one
anyway.
After some stuttering starts, I settled into the routine
of searching for material to post. I didn’t want to talk about what I had for
breakfast, as utterly fascinating as that might be. Besides, some mornings I
skip breakfast so where would that leave me? I began to think about worthwhile
content that would justify the time of anyone who happened by my speck of
space.
One of my favorite exercises is to take a word – any word
will do just fine – and see where it takes me. I’m hardly alone in doing this.
What reminded me of it at the time was something I’d just heard Billy Collins
say when he lectured in Springfield.
One of his poems, “Hippos on Holiday,” sprang
from those three words. First came the title, then the poem inspired by the
thought.
I issued my first challenge, which I called, WORD OF THE
MONTH POETRY CHALLENGE, in October 2009. It has continued each month since
then. Again enlisting Kathy Temean’s help I created one category for adults and
two for students (grades 3-7 and 8-12). Each month a number of poets, some in
other countries, think about the word until a connection occurs that starts
them off writing a poem. Long ago I stopped tracking how many poets, poems, and
countries have been represented on WORD OF THE MONTH during the forty-five
months since it began. Maybe one thousand poems? I get contributors from United States, Canada,
U.K., Italy, Australia,
Philippines, South Africa, Germany,
France, Sri Lanka, India,
Malaysia, New Zealand,
and many others. I always accept my own challenge so I’ve now written
forty-five poems for WORD OF THE MONTH.
The challenge hasn’t been as successful with students
although we’ve attracted quite a few. Partly it’s a matter of time. Rules call
for teachers to select up to three poems per month per class to post. But if a
teacher is into a nonfiction unit or bearing down on math or preparing for
testing or a million other things, spending time with young poets has to slip
down the list of priorities.
Over the years I’ve thrown down the old gauntlet a few
other times too. Now and then I’ll respond to some spontaneous urge. A year ago
the lake behind our house was “turning.” Scum from the bottom was rising to the
top as the weather changed and caused the semi-annual cycle. I moaned on my
blog about my ugly lake and issued a plea for help in couplets. They came in
serious numbers from poets who seized the moment to dash off a bit of sarcasm
or encouragement.
Linking up with my friend and partner in two books (bugs and Vacation), I occasionally prevail upon Rob Shepperson to provide
one of his wonderfully witty drawings, which I post with a challenge to caption
it. The idea is borrowed from the weekly contest on the last page of the New Yorker. I see it as a way to exercise a different
writer’s muscle and many of my visitors apparently do too.
On several occasions I’ve enjoyed posting challenges
issued by others. J. Patrick Lewis has come on my blog with such interesting
challenges that poets leap into the game. Steven Withrow suggested a challenge.
So have Joy Acey, Jeanne Poland, and others. I’m happy to act as host when
these opportunities come along.
Sandy, for some reason the challenges I’ve issued so far
have all involved poetry. I think I know why. There are many good bloggers who
keep writers challenged with writing novels, picture books, creating story
ideas, and so on. I also know of some who challenge their visitors to write
poetry. Laura Purdie Salas posts a picture on Fridays and asks poets to write
something in fifteen words. But poetry keeps me amused so I tend to stick with
it.
My most recent addition, May 2013, is something called
THEME OF THE MONTH POETRY CHALLENGE. The twist here is to help writers focus on
one basic theme, very much like they’d probably need to do if working with an
editor in hopes of being published. For this one I asked visitors to suggest
themes and I got a lot. The first one I selected was fishing. For June, the theme
was food. This month it’s relatives.
Sandy, I
think I’ll wait for my second act to talk about the responses I get from those
who accept my blog challenges. By then maybe I’ll have some new comments from
participants that I can pass along. So for now, back to you!
* * *
Making On-line Writing Challenges
Work for You
Part 3: Sandy
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Wow, David, so much to think about
in your post! Thank you! Besides the fascinating insight into
challenges from the challenger’s point of view, I note two points that resonate
in important ways with my experience:
First, all those “others” who’ve influenced your decisions – Kathy
Temean, Billy Collins, Rob Shepperson and the New Yorker cartoon contest, and all your guest bloggers – are
absolute proof that writers do not and should not work alone. We encourage, inspire, read, respond, and,
yes, CHALLENGE one another. Good for
us!
Second: The line “See where it takes me.” You’re talking about allowing a single word
to lead you into a poem, but that’s exactly the approach I took to the on-line
challenges. They were a starting point
that led me down unexpected but highly productive paths. And isn’t that the creative approach to
everything? Whatever presents itself,
see where it takes you. That requires a
certain amount of courage, doesn’t it?
But, oh! The places we go!
So, where was I?
Twenty-six picture book manuscripts
in February. Done.
A draft of a picture book each month
in 2012. Check.
Fifteen minutes a day of responding
to writing prompts in August. Yes,
ma’am. (Although, as Laurie Halse
Anderson warned it might, this one did take until August 43rd. And as she assured us, that was just fine.)
I was on a roll! And then along came Picture Book Idea Month
(familiarly dubbed PiBoIdMo), soon to be joined by National Poetry Writing
Month (aka NaPoWriMo). By now I was not
only a writer emphatically and energetically still writing, I was a pro at
taking on-line challenges and making them work my way.
Did I really need to sign on for
PiBoIdMo? With 26 first drafts and 12
second drafts in progress, I now had more than enough work to keep me busy for
the foreseeable future. Would any of it
actually be publishable? I had no idea. I could already see that some of the stories
I’d generated were better suited to magazines than the book market, but – hey!
– I was generating something, a lot of somethings, and enjoying the daily doing
of it the way I’d enjoyed myself as a very young writer. I was writing for the sheer fun of it, because
there was simply no time to worry about anything other than the writing itself.
Still, I couldn’t resist taking a
peek at what was going on at PiBoIdMo.
How were folks generating an idea a day?
There were posts from those who had taken the challenge before and
parlayed an idea or two or three into actual publishable manuscripts. They had contracts in hand to prove it. In describing their process for the benefit
of the rest of us, they showed how they’d generated ideas willy-nilly. Nothing censored; everything gained: A Picnic with Monkeys, A Picnic with Rabbits,
A Picnic with Ants . . . each and every one admissible as a day’s work.
Oooh! I thought, as another
unconventional modus operandi hit me:
For years, I’ve wanted to write a cycle of poems around one topic –
maybe even a book’s worth. (Full
disclosure: I’ve loved David’s poetry
books and longed to try one of my own.)
So how about my idea a day becoming not one for a picture book, but for
a poem? Yes! Around the topic of . . . um . . . let’s see
. . . well, I was up to my eyebrows in book ideas, how about around the topic
of libraries?
I was off on a new brainstorming
frenzy and accumulated my required number of ideas right on schedule, plus a
dozen or so extras, because once you start brainstorming, you tend to keep on
going. In keeping with the storm
metaphor, “It never rains but it pours.”
Short pause, deep breath, and then
BOOM! A post on Facebook
about National Poetry Writing Month! I
was too late to sign up, but that didn’t stop me. With my ideas already written down, I was
ready to begin my long-awaited cycle of poems, one a day and sometimes two, to
catch up with those who’d left the gate before me.
Which brings me to today. After considerable revision, I just sent off
my collection of library poems. Wish me
luck, and stay tuned! Plus I’ve got a
couple of PBs out there knocking on doors, a magazine story submitted, and a
bunch of other promising drafts awaiting my attention.
Does every on-line challenge fit
everyone’s needs? No. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is
very strict in its procedure. Write a
full-length work of fiction in one month from scratch. Excellent!
But not for me, thanks. Not this
year, anyway.
Laurie Halse Anderson’s August
challenge prompts are heavily weighted toward novels and therefore probably not
well-suited to those with PB or poetry dreams.
Still, in my challenge-taking mood, I was interested in whether this
wise and wonderful author had anything to offer me. She did.
My responses to her varied prompts began to clear a path back to that
novel I’d set aside years ago. Am I
ready to pick up the manuscript and dive back in? Not yet.
But I did write all those 15-minute snippets Anderson called forth. I’m thinking I may take the same challenge
this coming August and see what more I can learn about my unfinished
piece. And maybe the August after
that.
Bottom line? A writer writes. On-line challenges – adjusted to fit my needs
– have restored my confidence. I am
undeniably still a working writer. So
thank you, Laura and Jean and Julie and Laurie and Tara and Maureen and David
and Kristi and everyone else out there giving back to the profession in this
clever and uplifting way. Much has been
said about writing alone, but much can also be said about writing together. It helps!
Back to you, David, master of the
poetry prompt . . .
* * *
Making On-line Writing Challenges Work for
You
Part 4: David
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Hi again, Sandy.
I’m astounded by the number of challenges you seem to handle without breaking
stride! On occasion you have mentioned that you think I possess a lot of
energy. But REALLY! You make me feel like taking a nap after reading about all
the projects you’ve been working on. You also are the personification of a
writer at work. As you so succinctly put it, “A writer writes.”
Some of us may accept writing challenges and/or propose
them because writers sense a constant need to test our mettle, stay fit,
compare our work, get it out there. Some highly successful writers, such as
you, also provide a service as role models for writers who may be a rung or two
down but actively engaged in improving their craft.
Jane Yolen, for example, occasionally jumps on my poetry
challenges with one or several poems. It invariably causes a burst of energy
that attracts other poets to join in. Others have lent their talents as well:
J. Patrick Lewis, Joyce Sidman, Laura Purdie Salas, Sara Holbrook . . . the
list is much longer. One surprise visitor was Gregory Maguire, author of
WICKED: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST.
As I mentioned earlier, not as many student writers have
been represented on the Word of the Month challenge as I’d like, but we’ve had
quite a few. Two in particular who stand out in my memory are Rachel Heinrichs
and Taylor McGowan. They were both 4th graders when they first began
posting their poems. In those days we held a vote-off at the end of every month
to determine the Poet of the Month in each category. The girls mustered so many
backers for their cause, some from other countries, that my total count of
visits for the day – something over 1,600 – remained a record until early this
year. It has been fun to keep track of Rachel and Taylor as they’ve grown,
developed additional interests, and entered middle school; an unexpected bonus
for issuing a challenge that young people can also take on.
In another case a teacher began sending poems written by
her high school kids. These were students with various learning issues and much
of their work was not of the highest quality, but they loved the idea that they
could write poems that would be published on my blog and they were proud of the
encouraging comments they received from other visitors there. Their teacher
wrote me a note. “When I introduced poetry, my students were interested.
At first, they tried to act cool and aloof, but I knew them... When I showed
them poetry, they were a little interested. When I taught them to read
poetry, they were more interested. When I told them to write poetry, they
thought I was crazy. When they wrote poetry, they came alive. Were
the poems good? No, not technically. But they poured their hearts
into them and they loved seeing their names on your blog. And that is when
their reading scores went up.”
Sandy, I
can see that my challenges may be different from those that come with specific
rules and guidelines. You have had success accepting the challenges but making
them work to your advantage by adapting them to your own needs. In my case,
Word of the Month Poetry Challenge merely tosses out a word for anyone to
accept or not. Some months most of the poems come from regular contributors but
along the way new names are always joining in the fun. There is no long-term
commitment involved so people come and go depending on whim, time, and energy.
Some of the first devotees of Word of the Month continue to post their poems
while others have dropped out somewhere along the line.
From a challenger’s point of view, I take pleasure in
watching a community of writers come together around a central issue such as
writing a poem inspired by one word or writing something that is theme related
or, well, writing anything at all. What invariably happens is that the sense of
community serves like an extended family to welcome in newcomers and develop
ties with everyone involved. People get to know one another. They exchange bits
of personal history, express their concerns about an unruly line or a rhyme.
Sometimes they even ask for advice although an unspoken guideline is never to
offer unless asked.
So what do I make of these challenges? I think they serve
an important purpose and you’ve already stated it: Writers write. No one ever
said that writing is simple, fast, or easy. It takes work. It requires
patience. It demands passion. Whatever it takes to keep us exercising our
writing muscles can’t be a bad thing. I don’t take credit for the marked
improvement I’ve observed in the writing of many who routinely post their work
on my blog where I can see it, but I believe that those who write on a regular
basis are going to get better. That’s how it works.
And now – drum roll please – Sandy and I are delighted to
announce our special guest for next week’s concluding essay on this subject of
“Making On-line Writing Challenges Work for You.” Our mutual friend Kristi Holl
has agreed to join us on the 5th Tuesday so be sure you are here on July 30 to
learn what she has to share. Until then here’s a way to get better acquainted
with Kristi and her wonderful work. http://www.kristiholl.com
.
Thanks, Sandy!
It has been good fun as always.
Kristi, the floor is now yours.
* * *
Making On-Line Writing Challenges
Work for You
Part 5: Kristi Holl
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
“I
Challenge You!”
In April, I ran two 30-day challenges from my writing blog based on
Dorothea Brande’s classic book Becoming
a Writer. She claimed that unless you could do two certain types of
writing every day, you’d never have a career as a writer.
Structure of the Challenges
One type was early
morning writing—the kind you do as soon as you get up (after necessary restroom
visits and letting the dog out.) I make microwave hot chocolate to have while I
write. But within ten minutes you are to be at your keyboard, even if you have
to get up half an hour early to avoid those you live with. You write whatever
you feel like writing, a lá Julia Cameron’s morning pages. It might be creative
writing, a gripe session, a planning session…anything.
The second type of writing Brande called scheduled writing. You study your day’s
schedule in the morning, decide where you would most likely have 15-30 minutes
free to write, and schedule your writing for that specific time. When that time
comes, you stop whatever you’re doing and WRITE. No excuses for skipping, other
than maybe the house is on fire. You change the time from day to day, depending
on when you have available times to write.
I kept the challenge groups to eight or nine people.
(There were four groups.) I wanted them to get to know each other; with bigger
groups than that, it’s too impersonal. And when it becomes impersonal, the
accountability is lost. (In a huge group of strangers, “no one will notice if I
check in today or not, so I guess I won’t write”…is common.)
Challenges, Improvement and Progress
From January through March, I had done a “30 minutes per
day” accountability exercise with another writer. She had read that it took
three consecutive 28-day periods of writing to make a solid writing habit, so
that was our goal. After just doing the challenge for six weeks, I had seen a
significant change in my writing, especially in three areas: (1) my enthusiasm
for my writing went up, (2) my procrastination went down, and (3) the actual
word count increased significantly.
I blogged at Writer’s
First Aid about how much the accountability was helping me, and many
readers made comments like, “I wish I had someone to do that challenge with.” Voilá. I decided to set up the group
challenges for April. I said participants could sign up for one or both
challenges. Four people signed up for both.
Each group mentioned different difficulties when they
checked in throughout the day. The early
morning “dump it on the page” groups had the highest number who completed
the challenge. At first they had a hard time putting the writing first, feeling
like they were squandering time they didn’t have to waste. Gradually they
realized that the early morning “dump” writing was clearing the decks—priming
the pump—for the more structured writing later. As Heather W. said, “I forgave
myself and wrote what I needed to write in the morning to get into my day. The
‘real writing’ is always waiting for me.”
The scheduled
writing groups had more challenges because they were trying to squeeze the
writing into their already crammed days of small children and day jobs. At
first, many scheduled their writing session late in the evening, after their
day job ended and the kids were in bed. If they got the writing done, often
they were exhausted from staying up too late. Gradually, over the month, I
noticed a number of them shifting to writing during newly discovered “down”
times during the day: waiting room times, sitting in the car pool lane, sitting
in bleachers, while cooking supper, etc. They became better at noticing
previously wasted times throughout the day, and consistently they reported at
the end of the week that they couldn’t believe how much writing they finished
just by fitting it into odd “unused” times in their busy days. That was a major
paradigm shift for many of them.
Another big benefit was
reported by McCourt T. “During the challenge I attended a writing conference,
and I really appreciated how writing every day boosted my confidence. I felt
that I could confidently talk about my works-in-progress because I was actually
spending time on them!” This confirms
what professional writers frequently say: nothing makes you feel more like a
writer than writing.
One surprising result
was that one participant decided she didn’t want to write professionally after
all. As Kim T. said, “I stopped checking in 2/3 of the way through the month
because I realized that I don’t want to force my writing. I
don’t want to schedule it in my day and be held to that… I have realized that I
don’t want to be a full-time author. I want to keep writing as a hobby—to
write what inspires me when I am inspired to do it.”
Did the challenges actually help the participants?
Heather W. thought so. “I signed up for the early morning challenge. The theory
was that if you wrote in the morning before your brain really kicked into gear
that, when you sat down to write later, there wouldn’t be as big a struggle to
focus and find the right words for your story. I hoped that would be true. It
was… I initially felt I wasn’t ‘doing it right’ because my early morning
writing was a more of a diary, a place to vent frustrations, count my
blessings, organize my day, etc. I thought I wasn’t really ‘writing.’ Well it
turned out that the ‘non-writing’ was one of the best things I could do with
that time. It just made the rest of the day better.”
Many participants noted that even writing fifteen minutes
daily reactivated the feeling that they truly were writers. As McCourt T. said, “I
was surprised that some days were so busy, I really only had about 15 minutes
to write, but those 15 minutes made a difference. Just focusing on my writing
each day, even if for only a small amount of time, made my writing seem like a
priority again… this challenge helped me realize that writing every day is good
for me—not just for my writing itself, which definitely improves the more I do
of it, but also for my mental well-being and sense of personal accomplishment.”
The participants exchanged email addresses when the
challenges ended so that those who wanted to could continue. Many expressed the
concern that Jennifer R. voiced here: “I would love to continue to stay
involved in an accountability group. I have never written more consistently
than I did while participating in this challenge. I am afraid that without the
accountability group I will fall back into my old habits and writing will only
happen when I get a chance instead of making time for it.”
I can understand that because I’m exactly the same way. I
really need someone to “report” to. Many of us are truly helped by these daily
check-ins. I hope my writing accountability partner never wants to quit!
Kristi Holl is the author of 42 books, including Writer’s First Aid and More Writer’s First Aid, as well as the new e-book Boundaries for Writers. Go to her blog to sign up for her free
e-book Managing Your Writing Space and
Your Writing Time
* * *
