October just started and it is the perfect time to start my first challenge. This month it will be a writing challenge, I’ll have to write every day and here I’ll post what I did and any thoughts on the general challenge.
Results
To avoid having to scroll down to read my conclusions on this, I’ll just add them at the top, here. I would say this experiment was a success. I didn’t get to write every single day, but I did most. I was able to do things I wouldn’t have thought of before. By forcing myself to write I did create the habit and now I feel like I need to look for what to write because I just want to keep going.
Will I write every day from now on? Definitely not, might even let a week or two pass without doing it. But in general, I will write very often. I found the fun in it. I found a way to express myself in as many words as I need to. I even got several ideas for books, posts and just general writings. For an introverted person as myself, I found in writing a way of expressing my feelings and let myself go lighter. Again, this was a success in many, many ways for me. Might even do another challenge soon. Anyway, here’s the actual diary day by day.
Week 1
Oct 1 – This day I didn’t write much, really. I got the general idea for a book I’d like to write and documented the general structure for it. I also got the idea for the post I will write for the 7th. It will be about Pokémon!
Oct 2 – This day I created the Monthly Challenges page and the one for October. That is some writing right there. And I also set the basic structure for my post on Pokémon.
Oct 3 – This day was not great, I am really tired. I still managed to write a draft for the intro and first section of the Poképost.
Oct 4 – On this day I wanted to write more of this weeks post, but I just couldn’t get into the zone. Instead, I expanded the Monthly Challenges page with an introduction. I’m starting to think I’m writing too little, but circumstances.
Oct 5 – Today I wrote something for this weeks post, but I got blocked – I think it was because of the sub-topic. Anyway, I could get something done. Tomorrow will be another day.
Oct 6 – This is finally a bright day in my journal of writing. It’s 11.41 A.M. of a Sunday and I finally finished my post on Pokémon. I had to basically rethink the whole post as the original ideas I had were not good enough when I tried to expand it. But I’m satisfied with the result and it’s going to go live tomorrow morning. I also thought that I might have to move my posts to two weeks apart, since I am having trouble coming up with ideas and developing them. I’ll try once more and then I’ll decide.
Oct 7 – This day I wrote, but it was not for my blog directly. it was the backstory of a dnd character I was gonna play in a campaign I’m starting as a player. Yes, i WAS going to use it. Turns out my character was not as prepared for this campaign as i thought it was and i ended up dying.
Week 2
Oct 8 – To start the second week of my writing challenge, today i wrote an adaptation of the character that died yesterday as a short story.
Oct 9 – Yesterday I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As a combination of playing, writing and getting video games to non-gamers I will document my play-through of the game as a story. I started with that yesterday and I added some to it today. I also wrote some sort of a short story (If it could be called that). But, to be honest, I don’t think I’ll be publishing that anytime soon. Might write a less personal adaptation of it some other time.
Oct 10 – Today I updated my journal on Breath of the Wild (BotW). I added some new events that happened.
Oct 11 – Today I added some more entries to the BotW journal. I think I have enough written to start publishing it.
Oct 12 – Today is Saturday so I woke up early to play some BotW and added relevant entries to the journal.
Oct 13 – This day I started expanding the idea for a post on happiness. Didn’t really write much.
Oct 14 – This day I added to the post on happiness. I wanted to publish today but couldn’t. I think from now on, Saturdays will be the main day I’ll write for Monday posts and Sunday will be final edits. On this conclusion I end the second week of the writing challenge.
Week 3
Oct 15 – This day I wrote, even if just a little, on my diary of BoTW.
Oct 16 – On this day I set the structure for a post on a method of saving money I “designed”. I’ll probably post it soon.
Oct 17 – This day I watched the movie and wrote my post on How to Train Your Dragon.
Oct 18-20 – Life happened and this weekend it was specially hard for me to sit down and write. I was out of town and basically always walking or driving somewhere. This is something I should learn from and manage in the future.
Week 4
Oct 21 – Mondays are specially hard time-wise. I had to go to work physically and play D&D at night. I couldn’t get myself to write.
Oct 22 – On this day I did write. It was not purely for pleasure, but I wrote some kind of an alternate version of my biography. It was a very interesting exercise for someone who wants to learn to write.
Oct 23 – Today I added a bit more to my adventure in BoTW.
Oct 24 – This day I wrote and published my experiment on saving, The 3 Items Wish List.
Oct 25 – This day I added a few entries to the BoTW diary. I might not have been a lot, but I’m working on it!
Oct 26 – This day I wrote in my diary of BoTW. I added some more of my adventure.
Oct 27 – Today I wrote my experience liberating the first Divine Beast from Ganon’s powers. It will be in my diary of BoTW. I’ll link it when published.
Week 5-ish
Oct 28-31 These last four days were as exciting as I was expecting, not a lot. But, I kept on it. I added some new entries on my BoTW diary, but that’s pretty much it.