A New Year's Challenge

Everyone knows that New Year's resolutions don't work. Every year, therefore, I begin by issuing my 16-week writing challenge. I think resolutions rarely work because they are formulated as vague goals (e.g., "lose weight", "quit smoking") rather than well-defined programs (e.g., "go jogging on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6:15"). We can only resolve to do something, not to successfully achieve our goals. My suggestion today, then, is that you replace your resolution to "write more this year" with a resolution to submit to 16 weeks of writing discipline before summer (and then, perhaps, another 16 in the fall).

We begin with some basic math. There are ten weeks from the end of January until the Easter break. There are then another six weeks until the end of May. (Normally, I try to break the challenge into two 8-week parts, with a one-week break between them, but this year that would delay the start until mid-February and take us well into June.) 16 weeks of 5 working days each is 80 days. If you imagine writing for three hours a day, that gives you 240 hours. Let that be the maximum limit. Try to appreciate the finitude of your resources (time).

Now, look into your calendar from January 31 to May 27. Block out the Easter and May holidays (in Denmark there are quite a few statutory holidays; adjust the challenge to your local conditions; in fact, Easter may not be especially relevant for your purposes). Resolve to write every remaining weekday for at least 30 minutes and at most 3 hours. (Never write for a whole day.) Book these sessions into your calendar. In an ideal world you would book 80 three-hour sessions from, say, 9:00 to noon. But you'll probably have to settle for about 70 sessions, many of which will only last 30 minutes. It all depends on your time and, to an extent, on your resolve.

How many hours of writing time does that give you? How much do you realistically think you can accomplish in that time? Set some writing goals on that basis. Then break those goals up into smaller tasks ("things to do") and assign those tasks time in your calendar. Be as a specific as possible about what you will be writing on a particular day. Try to be realistic. If you need time for "free writing" or "thought writing" (writing to find out what you think) book that into your calendar as well, but the important part of the challenge is to find time to write down what you already know needs to be written. If you don't yet know what you're going to say this semester, then your challenge is to spend your writing time figuring that out. Keep in mind that we are only talking about sixteen weeks in the very near future. Surely you know something about what you are going to write.

Assuming that you do have something say, then, here's the challenge: write always and only when (and what) your calendar tells you to. Don't write when "inspired" to do so (unless this happens to coincide with your writing schedule) and do everything possible to keep your appointments with yourself (the writer). Here's a post about how to deal with fits of inspiration.

My posts this week will be about how to make a sustainable writing plan. If this is your first exposure to the challenge, I recommend you commit some time in January to planning, while also doing a bit of (planned) free writing to see what you want to say. Think seriously about what you want (and are able) to get written before summer. Plan to write it. Then resolve only to stick to your plan. Happy New Year!