Not All Challenges Are Created Equal

I’m doing a writing challenge with my writing group, Quill and Cup, this month. And no, it’s not THAT writing challenge. I have never and probably will never write 50,000 words in a single month (though I’m impressed by anyone who does).

For the longest time, I didn’t think I was built for writing challenges. So many people thrive in the all-or-nothing rigidity of fixed word counts and total focus. But me? The second you tell me I have to adhere to strict rules or outputs, I’m out.

But I think I found a challenge that feels properly empowering, and I’m excited to talk about it. I’m now two weeks into a month-long challenge called the Taper Caper, and it’s all about gearing down as you go.

Photo by Juan Jose on Unsplash

At the beginning of the month, participants get to choose a word count goal or a daily progress goal. Already, that flexibility is amazing, because you get to tailor the challenge to exactly what you and your story need. I’ve found a lot of writing challenges are pretty drafting-centric, which is great, but when you’re in editing mode it can be hard to figure out how to participate. I’m on draft 3 of my novel, and sometimes my “output” looks like me typing furiously, but sometimes it looks like me spending hours reading and rereading the same material, cutting or inserting lines here and there until I’m happy with it. With the Taper Caper, I’m not married to a word count goal, so I get to count the number of days I show up to the page instead.

The second reason I love this challenge is because it’s about gearing down, rather than trying to sustain a massive creative output over a long period of time (which, for me, has never worked). The idea is to spend the first week showing up to write for five days. Then the second week, you only need to show up for four. The third week it’s three, the next it’s two. This is the second week of the challenge, and I hit my fourth day of writing yesterday, so technically I now have Friday through Sunday “off.”

Do you know how incredible it is to be participating in a challenge where I get multiple days off? To feel zero guilt about the fact that I’m going away for the weekend and won’t need to squeeze in any time to write? Not only that, my days off actually increase over time! Rather than forcing constant or increasing levels of output, this challenge is about slowing down and recharging from week to week.

I used to think I wasn’t built for writing challenges. Turns out, I was attempting the wrong challenges.

The way this is working for my can’t-commit-to-anything brain is amazing. First of all, my life isn’t built for committing to a solid month of any kind of steady action, whether that’s saying I will work out every day, or I will eat a vegetable with every meal, or I will write a certain number of words each week. I’ve never been able to make myself stick to a strict routine for more than a week. Part of the problem is that my life’s routine isn’t strict. My work schedule is all over the map (which is something I love about my job – it’s never boring, though it does make creating routines around it difficult). On top of that, I have a six-year-old who brings home a new virus every few weeks. There are birthdays, holidays or family emergencies every other weekend. Cars or appliances break, pets need to go to the vet, emails pile up, doctor’s appointments need to be made. My life is never the same one week to the next, so I can’t expect my writing time to look the same from week to week, either. Telling myself I will accomplish a certain number of words every single day for a month – and if I don’t, the result is that I have to write more words the next day if I want to hit my ultimate target – gives me an immediate stomach ache.

Of course, I could get strict with myself and prioritize my writing a little more. I could refuse to do anything else until my writing gets done (which, realistically, looks like getting up at 5 a.m. because the early hours are the only ones I can get to myself). Or I could skip my lunch on work days and write, even though that will result in me being at a desk for a solid ten hours per day without any movement breaks (in which case I guess I’ll kiss my back muscles goodbye). I have done both of those things, by the way, and they have their place in certain seasons, but they aren’t something I can sustain long term without serious consequences.

I can’t string a sentence together without sleep, and I am a deeply unpleasant person to be around when I’m hungry. If I am challenging myself to produce a certain amount of writing every single day, I can only neglect my physical needs for so long. Eventually, because I become so miserable, I will quit writing altogether, while burying myself under a lot of self-judgment that I’m “undisciplined” or “not committed”, when what I really am is burnt out. Sound familiar?

If you’re harming yourself to pursue something, you’re probably pursuing it wrong.

I don’t think challenges are inherently good or bad, but you have to be careful what kinds of challenges you take on.

If you’re going to participate in a long(ish)-term challenge of any kind, it should be built around your strengths and your lifestyle. There is no shame in rearranging your entire life around a particular challenge if that’s what you want and can sustainably manage, but for those of us whose days of pulling all-nighters to crush a college deadline are way behind us, it’s completely valid to honour our limits in pursuit of lofty goals. Taking on writing challenges should ultimately make us feel better about ourselves, not worse. Pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones can have great benefits, but going outside of your comfort zone shouldn’t result in abandoning all of your limits. As soon as any challenge has you telling yourself you’re a failure, that’s a sure sign it’s not the challenge for you.

Some people thrive on structure, routine, and pushing themselves to the edge of their abilities. Some people have a lot more time to commit to their passion projects, too. If your life is also chaotic, I’m giving you permission to set your own goals and only accept challenges that will set you up for success. You are not undisciplined for being realistic about what’s possible within the constraints of your other responsibilities. If you’re managing to write in ten minute pockets of time while pasta is boiling for dinner, then you are a hero in my book. Spend some time thinking about what kind of challenge will motivate you to make progress, something that won’t feel punishing, and that allows you to celebrate small milestones as well as big ones.

For me? I’m grateful to be in a writing group that understands we can’t put our lives on hold for our writing (as much as we’d love to) and that encourages us to prioritize it in a way that is unique to our individual circumstances. I’m excited that I only “have” to write for three days next week, instead of my previous 5 or 4. The upcoming week isn’t daunting to me, because if I managed to write four days last week, I can certainly manage to write fewer this week. What I predict is that by not chaining myself to a steady state of production to measure my success, I’m actually going to feel more energized and make more progress than if I were trying to write every day for a month.