Five months ago, I decided to take up the #100DaysofWriting challenge. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s a play on the #100DaysofCode challenge. If you haven’t heard of THAT, the basic idea is that you write an hour a day for a hundred days. I write a lot anyway, so I thought I might as well step up my game and take on the challenge.
Here’s how it went.
Day 1
The first piece I wrote for this challenge was this blog post: #100Daysof Writing: Day One. Even just a quick glance between that post and this one will show you how my writing style has changed. (I should mention, however, that a WordPress formatting update also played a big part in stylistic differences.) In that first blog post, I said that I would put my own spin on the challenge. Instead of writing for 100 days in a row, I would simply do 100 days of writing at my own pace. I decided to do this because I knew that I wouldn’t keep up with a schedule of 100 consecutive days. In my Day One blog post, I say ” I’ve got some time-consuming stuff coming up”- and let me tell you, that stuff consumed a lot of time. I think it’s more important to stick to the challenge than its rules. I did 100 days of writing, I just didn’t do them all in a row.
What can you write in 100 days?
The short answer: whatever you want!
Obviously I write on my blog pretty regularly; I try to post something once a week. I liked the idea of dedicating my #100DaysofWriting to my blog because I would be able to showcase all the work I did through the challenge. However, creative work rarely goes the way you want it to. I run a theatre company called Calamity Theatre and over time, more of my writing hours went to a play I’m developing. That said, I still wrote quite a few blog posts during the challenge (check out the list below!).
My #100DaysofWriting blogs
- #100DaysofWriting: Day One
- Post-Show Depression: What It Is and How To Deal With It
- Why I’ve Stopped Using Medium
- 7 Ways To Stop Procrastinating
- Books I’ve Read in 2019 (So Far)
- Has Upwork Made a Fatal Mistake?
- My Digital Nomad Countdown: One Year
- 9 Shakespeare Quotes To Write In Birthday Cards
- Embrace Your Creativity
- Grow Remote: Tubbercurry Conference, 16th April 2019
- My Digital Nomad Countdown: Exploring Connemara
- HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr | Theatre Review
- Want To Start Freelancing? Do These 4 Things First
- The Time I Quit Freelancing
- Coffee vs. Co-Working: The Best Places To Work Remotely
- Vlogger | Theatre Review
- A Freelancer’s Guide To Going on Holiday
- Ko-fi Review: Better Than Patreon?
- 2019 Galway International Arts Festival: All The Free Events
- And this post makes twenty. Not bad!
My #100DaysofWriting experience
I really enjoyed doing this challenge. I logged my hours in a notebook and really enjoyed watching the list fill up. There were a few times when I wouldn’t have written anything if it hadn’t been for the challenge, and I’m glad I had that push. 100 days can seem like a lot, but I’d encourage anyone who feels daunted to break it up like I did. They say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at something. This challenge has gotten me that little bit closer to becoming an expert writer.
My blog content is 100% free, now and always. If you found my writing entertaining or useful and want to say thanks, you can always buy me a cup of tea.