August is here and as summer is winding down, it’s time to get back to your writing and publishing goals. Each week this month I will present you with a writing challenge for the week. Come back every Wednesday to join the challenge and get back into the habit of writing on a regular basis. As Desiderius Erasmus once said, “The desire to write grows with writing.”
Over the past two weeks, I hope I’ve been able to help you get back into writing by completing the poetry challenge and short story challenge. Both of these tasks were designed to get you back into the routine of writing and to get the creative juices flowing. (If you missed the first two challenges, be sure to go back and check them out by clicking the links above.)
This week, I have yet another challenge for you: the 15 minute challenge. Your goal is to write a fiction story with one main character and a crime. Here’s the catch — you have 15 minutes. The “rules” are as follows:
1) Set your timer.
Once you are ready to start the challenge, set a timer for 15 minutes. No working on the story before or after your timer is set.
2) Focus on quantity, not quality.
For the 15 minutes, try not to stress about the details. Just write like the wind. Write whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about fixing mistakes. Just write as much as you can for 15 minutes. You can always go back and “fix” the story later.
3) Keep going.
After completing the challenge you could do a couple of things. 1) You could be proud of yourself for completing the challenge and taking the time to write. You don’t ever have to look at the story again. You completed the goal. 2) You could let the challenge inspire a new project, such as a self-published crime novel. 3) You could decide you like the story and choose to go back and continue working on it.
No matter what you decide to do after completing the challenge, be proud of yourself for taking 15 minutes to write. The more you write, the more likely you are to find success as a writer.
After you complete the challenge, feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear about the story you wrote this week.
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ABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog at http://kellyschuknecht.com. |
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