Some Challenges For You

Hey everyone, and welcome back to my blog!

This week’s post is going to be a little different; It’s been a stressful week this week, so I decided to make this post slightly shorter, and more relaxed. One of the things which helps me stay motivated during times like this is setting myself some writing challenges. So, I thought I’d post in here some of the challenges I’m currently working on.

Challenge 1 is probably the one which I have put the most time into, and, if you’ve been following to my blog for a while now, you may recognize the title Tikadi’s Gift. As I mentioned before, Tikadi’s Gift is a short story adapted for the challenge I set myself. I planned out a story, bought an A6 notebook for under £1, and now I am aiming to completely fill it with that story, beginning to end. Being someone who spends most of his time writing on computers, picking up a pen and scribbling words feels incredibly stress-free by comparison. I’ve also tried to make the story simple enough that elements can be expanded on or cut, should it not fit the restrictions of the notebook.

Challenge 2 is simple enough in concept, but is one I have struggled with for some time now. As mentioned, I generally use a laptop to write, and I have always found a distinct pride in checking the wordcount at the end of each session. The aim of this challenge, then, is to finish an entire story (short or long) without once checking the wordcount. This, obviously, places focus on quality over quantity, encouraging the author to reach the end of a passage or finish at a certain time, rather than at, say, 1000 words. In this way, I could also be a useful method for trying to keep a healthy work-life balance, and get into a good routine.

Challenge 3 is a fun one! My husband came up with this one a week ago whilst we were out on our morning walk. He suggested writing a story about an item in the last videogame, book or movie you watched(for example, a sword or a necklace). But, the twist is that your story must be the opposite genre from the media that your item came from. Did it come from a horror? Make something sweet and fun! From a thriller? Make it relaxing!

Anyway, that’s about it for the challenges I’m taking on right now. If you like these, feel free to try them out yourself, and let me know what you come up with! Hopefully next week will be more productive, writing-wise. But until then, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy your week!