How a Writing Sprint Can Help You Become a Better Writer

In 2022, 413,295 writers from all over the world participated in a month-long writing sprint during the month of November.

The organization sponsoring the sprint has been the subject of multiple controversies, but the principles behind a collective writing sprint still remain valid and powerful for writers.

There’s something about a writing challenge that gets people’s juices flowing.

The traditional writing challenge many writers are familiar with is to write 50,000 words in one month, the equivalent of a first draft of a short novel.

But the beauty of a month-long writing sprint is that you can take advantage of the energy of a collective challenge AND make it your own.

Last year, I hopped on a group coaching call with several clients to brainstorm, then commit to a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goal for the month of November.

The energy over the airwaves was palpable.

Writer 1: You know I'm down for some solid competition.

Writer 2: I have a feeling you are a snake in the grass. I don't know why—I'm just sensing it :)

Writer 1: 😊

Writer 2: lol. We'll see …

We talked about what distracts us from writing and how we could try to minimize those distractions.

Writer 2: My phone is definitely an insidious distraction.

Writer 3 (and 4 and 5 and 6!): My phone too!!!

Writer 4: I put my phone in the junk drawer. LOL!

Writer 2: Laptops aren’t much better. I have to close all the tabs!

And we didn’t just chit-chat; we set goals and made accountability plans.

Here are some of those writing goals:

• 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week for the month of November.
• 50 words per day for 30 days.
• 24 writing sessions, 2,100 words each session = 50,000+ words by the end of the month.
• One scene per week for each week in November.
• Five 1-hour writing sessions for 3 weeks = 15 hours of writing in November.
• 50k words in the month of November, writing 1,700 words daily.

A traditional 50,000 words-in-a-month challenge isn’t for everyone, but writing challenges can motivate you if you’re having trouble putting your butt in the chair.

When I spoke to those same writers in early December, they were jazzed.

They’d made a lot of progress on their books—and even more important, they created a writing practice. They put their butt in the chair, day after day, even when they didn’t want to. They just did it.

It turns out that Nike was right. “Just doing it” is the secret sauce.