Write More For Fall: We Challange You To Produce! By Allison Nick

If you are thinking of joining our November open workshop or considering the chaos of National Novel Writing Month, read on for some encouragement and a few ways to spice up fall writing challenges.

I have a friend who is obsessed with New Year's resolutions. Every year she labors over her list of resolutions, debating which ones are both realistic and challenging, discussing how to hold herself accountable, ultimately trying to pick apart exactly what she wants out of the next year. I tease her a lot about her overly dramatized goals. “You don’t have to keep going to kickboxing class. You won’t die if you break your resolution. I might die if you keep talking about this though,” I would say, perched on the couch with a book while she stared at the fluorescent pink tennis shoes still sitting on the coffee table. “Well, I want to go, but I don’t want to go…you know?” Eye roll.

    The truth is, I did know, and while I pretend to find her resolutions ridiculous and trivial, really I marvel at her ability to believe her life, her self, malleable. I think of resolutions and I think of winter swim practices—showing up every day in January, in parkas and thick socks, our wet bodies literally steaming from the contact between the heated pool and the cold air, watching as the crowds of resolute fools stalking the gym diminished as February approached. And they always did—diminish—because making such a sudden lifestyle change is hard to start and even harder to sustain.

I am jealous of my friend for being courageous enough to try, of being brave enough to be foolish, to fail if necessary. The truth is, sometimes there are things that I want to do, but I don’t want to do. I want the long-term benefits of waking up a half hour early to go jogging, but I don’t want to relinquish the moment, to give up those lovely moments of sleep. So, I let my self-awareness take over, let the knowledge of my impending failure, the self doubt, the cynicism concerning anyone’s ability to actually change, convince me not to try in the first place. Eye roll. Who’s foolish now? My friend or me?

The same friend, on top of her dresser, has a giant jar of happiness. I kid you not. Now that I think about it, this friend might honestly be Pinterest incarnate. This jar of happiness is full of tiny handwritten notes from all her friends and family, sharing a happy memory. Whenever she has a bad day, whenever she feels the old enticing friend self-doubt creep in, my friend takes out a note and reads it. She prepares for her resolutions and she prepares for when they might fail.

So this year, I’m challenging myself, and any of you other hesitant, borderline pessimistic people reading along:  be courageous enough to try. Fall is the season for writing challenges and it’s as good a time as any. As no less than five of my Facebook friends posted on the first day of fall, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” Or, so says F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fall does bring a buzz of energy—no more oppressive lazy heat—and there’s less pressure—you’re not promising for a whole year,  you’re just promising for now, while you have a crisp new perspective.

    Okay, that was the encouragement part. Now, if like my friend, you need some back-up jars of happiness, here are some ideas I had for spicing up the normal daily writing challenge. You know those calendars at the front of ladies’ magazines, the ones with little extra challenges or treats sprinkled throughout the month? Think of these suggestions as “cute” things to add to your monthly writing calendar.

• Take a cue from my friend and make your own jar of writing happiness. Get your friends and writing community involved by asking them to write down different writing prompts for days that you need extra inspiration. Then you could, like, uh, I don’t know, maybe, uh, ask them to do the challenge with you or at least read along as you respond to each of their prompts.

• Give fan fiction a try. I know, I know, people have their views and opinions on fan fiction. I don’t even write fan fiction, but I do see the merit in writing purely for fun, with no strings attached. Let go of all your goals and aspirations for a while and just jump into a world you love, pick up a character you love, and allow yourself to be immersed. It doesn’t have to be apart of some large fandom either, you can write fan fiction about whatever you want: Ishmael, life after my boat sank and all my friends died.  

• Start your day with a morning writing stretch. Write a 25-word story or a haiku while you are laying in bed, not wanting to go to work.  You might end up late to work, but at least you’ll be thinking about writing all day.

• Sometimes your challenge needs to be tailored exactly for you so consider what you need most. You might find that getting away from the page or that blinking cursor is more rejuvenating than forcing yourself to write. Try going for a walk or a bike ride, but read a writing prompt, a story, or part of the piece you are working on before you go. Then, your mind will be free to wander and be inspired, old school transcendentalist style.

• If letting inspiration flow through you from the heavens isn’t really your thing, then don’t be afraid to seek it out middle school field trip style. Decide what aspect of writing is giving you the most trouble. Maybe your dialogue feels stiff and expected and you need to spend some time eavesdropping at the mall. Perhaps you’re having trouble describing how characters look and you spend the afternoon hiding in the coffee shop, creepily staring at people’s faces. Writing challenges don’t have to be solely about the number of words you put on the page or the number of minutes you spend writing (though, for some people, that kind of forced focus, might be what you need), they can also be about honing your craft and developing your style.

There’s one more week until November. If you’re in need of more encouragement or a writing community, come join us on Medium. Don’t be afraid to channel your inner optimist and plan ahead for those moments when you want to write, but you don’t want to write.

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