So I recently found out about a little thing called Write 1 Sub 1 or W1S1 for short. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Your task, should you take on the challenge, is to write one story and submit one story within a time frame you choose (weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc). I don’t know how closely I’ll be able to hold fast to this, but it’s a good motivator nonetheless and if the main blog where this all started isn’t enough motivation, there’s also an excellent (and very encouraging) community over at Absolute Write should you decide to join in the fray.
What I like most about this challenge is it’s helping me focus. I’ve written several stories that never ended up on submission because I felt they weren’t “there.” As I revisit them now, a tweak here and revision there is all they really needed. Perspective. I need more of it.
While some people can put pen to paper without external motivators, I find writing communities, contests, prompts and groups of people to hold you accountable extremely motivating. Presumably, you’re all in the same boat together, which is great when all you need is a little commiseration.
Since joining in on the fun, I have 4 older stories out on sub and I’ve written 3 new drafts. I likely won’t be able to keep up this pace, but I’m taking advantage of it now.
I’m off to write. Or edit. Or do something productive in the way of words. What are you working on right now? What writing groups, contests or challenges have you found motivating? Let me know in the comments!
Ride the rush, Brenda. A few months down the track you’ll appreciate the extra work you were able to put in to begin with.
I’m doing W1S1 as well–a fortnightly version, though i may drop back to monthly soon–and while i’m going through a wee bit of a rut at the moment, i’ve already accomplished far more this year than i would’ve otherwise.
We at AW are planning a year-long novel challenge, too, to kick off Nov 1st. I’m looking forward to that one. There are still details to be worked out, but if the AW W1S1 community is anything to go by, the novel challenge will work really well.
A couple years ago, when i was writing full-time, i found it useful to set weekly goals on my blog, and then post daily updates. Kept me accountable and motivated, too. Though, i’m sure my blog readers quickly got tired of reading how many words i’d written that day 😀
Hey, I know you! hehe the AW community is great and it’s really keeping me motivated. I plan on participating in the novel w1s1 and like the idea of posting updates about my progress as well as my goals. I write for a living and have trouble getting motivated to write for “me,” which this blog falls under. I may as well kill two birds with one stone in that regard though and have a topic built in–w1s1 status updates!