Are you ready to begin your personal writing challenge? If so, read on.
Everyone has a story to tell and every story matters regardless of the varying details.
Revelations 12:11 says, “And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.”
Did you catch that?
We defeat our enemy, the devil, by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus) and by sharing our testimony.
The problem is that many writers get started but never cross the finish line. Thus, the writing challenge begins. Our spiritual enemy knows he can’t touch the blood of Jesus so he seeks to attack our testimony and prevent us from sharing our unique story with the world.
Do you need a jump start in your writing? Do you long to make a difference for eternity because of the words you write?
We want to lend you a couple of “jumper cable” strategies that can help jumpstart your writing and get you back on the road to the destination God has for you.
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Keep in mind that it’s important to be YOU! God created each of us uniquely and has a specific blueprint for your gifts and personality.
Pray and ask Him for wisdom as we get started.
Writing Challenge
Writing Challenge Strategy #1 – Track Your Writing
Tracking our progress as we write is one of the keys to writing more and writing better. Whatever we monitor and track, we manage.
Think about it.
Have you ever kept a food diary or daily budget? CJ lost almost 50 pounds in the last several years and part of his success has come from tracking his food intake. He didn’t do it forever, but he does start tracking his calories any time he wants to lose a few extra pounds.
The writing challenge strategy of tracking does work. There are different ways you can track. We recommend using our excel spreadsheet, Word document, or you can print off our writing journal and track by pen and paper.
We have done a TON of reading and research to determine which categories we should track and have narrowed it down to this list…
• Date
• Time of Day
• Location
• Goal for session
• Word count (session)
• Total Word Count
• Total Time (min)
• WPM
• Dictated, Typed, or Transcribed?
• Your energy level
• Journal your thoughts/feelings
Don’t be overwhelmed. This should only take a few extra minutes and you will only be doing this for a limited time (unless you love it and want to continue) to give you insight into what works BEST for you. This is NOT something you’ll need to do forever.
This is the order we recommend when you write:
1. Outline
2. Research
3. Write
4. Edit
If you do it in this order and focus on one thing at a time, you will tend to get the best results. Everyone is different and that’s why it’s so important to track your writing so you can see trends and what works best for YOU! You’ll start to see the environment, time of day, and type of writing that gets you the best results. Ready? Let’s go!
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao-Tzu
And we say a journey of a thousand words (or more) begins with the first word. You can do this! We’re cheering you on in this writing challenge.
1. Choose how you will track your writing: excel spreadsheet, printed journal, or your own document.
2. Download our free Writing Wheel and get access to helpful tracking resource files
3. Write for at least 15 minutes today (longer if you have the time) and fill out your daily journal.
Writing Challenge Strategy #2 – Scheduling
There is power in scheduling. You know it’s true – if it’s on the calendar, it happens.
However, when we say we’d *like* to get some writing done *sometime* this week, it usually *does not* happen.
We know we’re not alone here. LOL
This writing challenge strategy is all about scheduling your writing. This is important to do in order to ensure that you keep moving forward.
When you schedule a doctor’s appointment, you keep it 99% of the time. Right?
When you schedule an appointment with a friend for coffee, you show up.
We want you to think of your writing sessions in a similar way, like an appointment. Whether it is 15 minutes per day (the smallest increment of time we recommend) or 1 hour per day, put it on your calendar.
Why?
Because when it’s on the calendar, it happens.
CAUTION: When you start to get into a daily habit of writing, there WILL be things that try to distract you. It’s easy to procrastinate by doing other work. You know what I mean, suddenly you need to do the laundry or check Facebook one more time or maybe you have other work you need to do and end up working on it instead of writing.
We encourage you to see your scheduled writing time as time for writing only. Either write or do nothing. So instead of getting up to check the laundry, train yourself to stay in your designated location for the block of time you scheduled to write.
Whatever you do, we recommend scheduling your writing time and doing your best to guard it!
Take Action
“It’s not the writing part that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write.” Steven Pressfield
When you schedule time to write, either get some writing done OR do nothing at all. This will train your brain to focus better and know that when it’s writing time, it’s writing time.
- Today, we want you to take out your planner or online calendar and block out time for your next writing session. If you’re using a calendar on your phone, we recommend creating a reminder as well. Go do it right now. We’ll be here waiting for you.
- Write for at least 15 minutes today (longer if you have the time) and fill out your daily journal
Writing Challenge Strategy #3 – Our Mindset As Writers
We know that self-doubt, fear, and self-sabotage are some of the biggest obstacles we face as writers. In fact, when I started day one of my own writing challenge, I journaled my thoughts and feelings. What did I write?
“It feels too hard. I’m overwhelmed as there is so much to do before I can truly write.”
We all struggle with this at times. That’s why I believe this writing challenge strategy about mindset is so crucial to your long-term success.
It’s also one of the reasons we want you to journal your thoughts and feelings as you sit down to write. This will help you see trends in your thinking that you can change by replacing the negative thoughts with positive thoughts.
However, we know how difficult it can be to come up with these affirmations on your own. That’s why we wrote out 72 different affirmations for writers. You can use these affirmations exactly as they are or use them as a springboard to give you ideas for your own.
There are 45 general affirmations and 27 affirmations based on scripture. These PDF handouts are available for you to download in the free Writing Wheel resource.
Whatever you do, take a step today to overcome the negative thoughts that are potentially holding you back in your writing today. We truly believe it will make a huge difference for you as you undertake this writing challenge.
Take Action
“Success comes in cans, not can’ts.” Anonymous
“For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34b
- Review the section where you journaled your feelings and emotions when you tracked your writing. Do you see any trends? If so, write out in your Writing Week Journal entry for today the trend you found.
- Download the affirmation handouts in the free Writing Wheel resource and choose three affirmations that stick out to you.
- Write your three affirmations on notecards, sticky notes, or a piece of paper. Put these affirmations in a place you will see them every day.
- Say your three affirmations out loud. There is power in speaking them out loud. It may feel awkward at first, but we encourage you to not skip this step.
- Repeat daily. Feel free to change your affirmations each day if you prefer variety.
If these writing challenge strategies have been helpful to you, there are two more powerful strategies you’ll find in our free Writing Wheel download. You can find it HERE
We’re cheering you on as you undertake this writing challenge in order to fulfill God’s call on your life to write, publish, and market your book!
Resources for Your Writing Challenge
- Christian Book Academy – We help you progress through our Kingdom Writer’s Path
- Writing Wheel – Learn 5 Proven Writing Strategies You Can Use to Get More Writing Done
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