Five Year Reflection: Looking Back At My 2020 June Writing Challenge

Watch the full writing challenge series on YouTube.

Five years ago I challenged myself to write every single day for at least fifteen minutes for thirty days straight. Yes, this reflection was a long time coming.

This challenge started as part of a coping mechanism for the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was also a way to keep me motivated to make progress on my writing. The June Writing Challenge was the summer after achieving my undergraduate degree, and at that time I was struggling to work on my book manuscript.

While in school for my Bachelors, I was writing 1,000 to 5,000 words a week to keep up with class assignments. However, once I graduated there was no grade to keep my writing on track. This writing challenge was my version of a gradebook that would positively enforce me to write my book.

By the end of the challenge, I wrote over 20,000 words in one month. Ironically, I ended up changing the premise and time period of this book project and rewrote the entire manuscript—but it was still a great accomplishment nonetheless.

If I did not commit to this challenge, I would not have developed my characters and plot enough to realize the necessary changes.

What happened to the manuscript?

In actuality, the characters I was writing during the June Writing Challenge were Annie and Lillian from my story "Must See the Bones" in the collection Under Water: Stories.

In the past five years, the manuscript went from a 1950s novella to a 1990s short story. And I am pleased to say that there are plans to develop "Must See the Bones" into a full novel, where you will get the complete story of not just Annie and Lillian, but those around them.

Do I recommend this challenge?

I fully endorse the challenge of writing at least 15 minutes a day because a little bit of writing can go a long way. And, most of the time, the writing juices were flowing so much so that I ended up writing for an hour or more each day.

However, what I do not recommend is doubling the writing challenge with a video challenge. Since the June Writing Challenge was a YouTube series, I also tasked myself with filming, editing, and posting a new video every day. The stress of producing a daily video did negatively impact my writing because I was willing to cut my writing time short in order to save time for the video production.

Toward the end of the challenge, I was acting as a YouTuber first and writer second, which defeated the purpose of the challenge. If I were to do this challenge again, I would prioritize the writing and sacrifice the video documentation. Although it is fun to look back and watch the challenge, what is more important is getting words out on the page and letting your ideas come to life.

The number one advice I give to writers is you can't edit blank pages. And challenging yourself to write at least fifteen minutes a day to an excellent way to get your pages full.