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! Continue reading “5 Benefits of Writing Challenges” →