Scribes & Archers

Originally published Sep. 17, 2019; adapted and republished Mar. 4, 2025

While many of us may have developed a habit of preparing for NaNoWriMo in the fall and have now migrated to various alternatives, there is still something to be said for participating in designated writing challenges. Maybe you’re a veteran author who’s done NaNoWriMo or other writing challenges before, maybe you’re a veteran author who’s never been sold on short-term challenges working for you, or maybe you’re new to the community and you’re wondering what “writing challenges” I’m even talking about. Wherever you stand, here are five benefits I’ve found of participating in writing challenges.

First of all, a quick explanation of NaNoWriMo and writing challenges for anyone who’s new to the idea: NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month; it refers to an event that spans the month of November, in which authors are challenged to write 50,000 words in a month. This is the average length of a novel, and the idea is that the month results in a completed first draft of a novel you haven’t started yet. That’s not always the case, since some novels are longer, or some authors (myself included) choose to work on an already-started draft, but that’s the basic idea.

The organization behind NaNoWriMo has unfortunately taken a nosedive in the past five years, but there are still similar challenges to be found online–including my personal favorite, Christine Smith’s FicFrenzy challenge, one installment of which is coming up March 15-April 15!

What these writing challenges have in common is a designated time frame in which to collaborate and compete with other authors to accomplish a particular writing goal–whether that goal is designated in the challenge itself or decided by the individual participating author.

Now, on to the benefits of participating in such things!

1. Writing Challenges Provide a Concrete Goal

This isn’t a struggle for everyone, but if you’re someone who finds it difficult to set concrete goals in your writing, a writing challenge could be just the solution. Such events have built-in deadlines and sometimes built-in word count goals–and even those that don’t dictate a word count goal still challenge you to lock in a progress goal for yourself. Having a concrete goal allows you to split the project into manageable pieces and know what your aim is for each day or writing session, which makes it easier to actually achieve your goal. Knowing that your goal is 50,000 words in 30 days, for instance, allows you to determine that your daily word count should be 1,667, or you can divide it in whatever way works best for you and your schedule (there are some word count tracking tools, like Pacemaker or WriteTrack, that make this really easy). But having a concrete starting point makes the smaller goals possible to figure out.

2. Writing Challenges Provide Outside Accountability

It can be hard to keep yourself motivated and disciplined to keep working on your writing project, but writing challenges provide accountability–through the communities around them, or even just through the goal itself and your progress through the month–which can help to keep you on task and motivated. Whether you’re competitive and get spurred to write by trying to keep your word count higher than your best friend’s, or you just want to hit the word count each day, or you want to challenge yourself to hit the goal as fast as you can, or it just helps to have someone there cheering you on… Whatever your accountability style, writing challenges can be a great opportunity to revive that determined spark and get you writing consistently.

3. (Some) Writing Challenges Provide an Automatic, Encouraging Community

Not all writing challenges have communities built up around them, but many do–FicFrenzy included. When you join most online writing challenges, you’re joining the dozens or hundreds of authors–sometimes from all over the world–who are undertaking the same challenge, and the majority of them are going to be super excited to cheer on a fellow writer. Whether you find a community around your chosen writing challenge itself, find people in your existing writing groups who are participating, or attend write-ins* in your area, chances are you’ll have at least one person you can turn to when that mid-month writing slump sets in. (If you ever need a writing pep talk, feel free to shoot me an email!)

*Write-ins are in-person meet-ups in a community, where local writers get together to work on their current projects. They usually include writing prompts, word wars, and snacks. Write-ins are often hosted by libraries or coffee shops, so check out your local venues to see if they have anything set up.

4. Writing Challenges Provide an Excuse to Carve Out Writing Time

Whether your family isn’t good about letting you get time to write, or you have too many engagements to make time, or you just keep putting off the novel you’ve been wanting to write for ages, taking part in a writing challenge provides a designated window of time in which you have a clear excuse to give people (or yourself). Having an official event makes it way easier to tell people you need time to yourself to write and get them to take you seriously.

Of course, there are some things you simply can’t shrug off (work, for instance–although I’ve known some people who have taken a week off work during November to give themselves additional hours to write), and you should always make sure you’re flexible and aren’t totally shutting people out for a month (I see you, introverts). But it does provide a solution to something I know is a legitimate problem for a lot of people.

Still not sure how to make the time? This post covers seven time management tips for authors.

5. Writing Challenges are Just Plain Fun

Whether you “win” or “lose,” writing challenges are a ton of fun. Chances are you’ll make new writing friends, or better get to know the friends you already have, and be challenged to write more than you would ordinarily. You’ll have a chance to participate in word wars, to read other authors’ snippets and share snippets of your own, and maybe to push yourself out of your comfort zone with your writing. If you’ve never tried it before, I definitely recommend participating at least once and checking it out.

Additional Resources

Why Bother with NaNoWriMo? – Pen of a Ready Writer

Checklist: 30 Things to Do for NaNo Prep – The Road of a Writer

Waiting for NaNoWriMo: Making October Count – The Sprint Shack

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Have you participated in a writing challenge like this before? How did it go for you? If you’ve never participated before but you’re interested in trying it out, I’d love for you to join me in participating in FicFrenzy this month!

Need some help prepping for your next writing challenge? Sign up to the newsletter and get access to the Scribes & Archers resource library, including a writing challenge prep checklist!