Hone Your Craft With A Blogging Challenge

Have you ever participated in a writer’s challenge? Did you know there are writing challenges for bloggers? Here’s how I made this discovery.

I participated in the National Novel Writing Month 2019 (NaNoWriMo). This challenge is open to all writers and happens once a year in November. The premise is to write daily and produce a fifty-thousand-word novel in thirty days. It was a last-minute decision to participate, and I chose to utilize the challenge to write the first draft for my new book, The Handshake.

There are benefits of taking part in a challenge like this one.

• Developing A Daily Writing Habit

Committing to writing every day helps you carve out time to hone your craft. For my first NaNoWriMo, I opened my laptop after my husband and son were fast asleep. There were a few nights; I was so tired, I typed with my eyes closed and then reviewed what I wrote. It went surprisingly well. During that first challenge, I created my soon to be released devotional called Triumphing Through Your Trials: Devotions of Miracles, Faith & Prayer.

• Meeting Other Participating Writers

Writing is such a solitary craft. It’s you, your computer, and a cup of your favorite beverage. Your pet may stroll in while you’re creating that perfect sentence, but otherwise, you are alone. In most writing challenges you have the opportunity to meet other writers, often through a Facebook group. You can post questions, celebrate word count successes, and exchange writing tips.

• Working With A Deadline

Knowing other participants are writing during the same time is motivating. A little voice will say, “Get your words in today.” Like a magnet, I’m drawn to my computer to meet the challenge knowing my fellow writers are also honing their craft during this limited time.

Working with a deadline encourages you to get words on the page. Editing can come later, but there is no editing if there are no words.

At first, I wanted to use NaNoWriMo to write one blog a day. This would create a series of blogs I could use for future posting. No more last minute, what am I going to post writing frenzies. However, with the novel-writing challenge, I could not be sure to find other bloggers like myself. Thus began the search for a blogging challenge.

• Jeff Goins Blog Challenge

Jeff Goins is the author of Real Artists Don’t Starve, and You Are A Writer. Time Magazine voted his blog as one of the top 50 of 2008. While this free challenge doesn’t have a deadline like NaNoWriMo does, Jeff Goins offers the opportunity to learn the craft of blogging and connect you with other bloggers through a Facebook page.

• The Ultimate Blog Challenge

Paul Taubman is an international Speaker, Presenter, and Trainer focusing on website strategy and marketing online. His blog challenge is offered once a quarter. For 30 days, he will email a daily topic to use as inspiration for your blog. Then you will post your created blog in the Facebook group and tweet it using #blogboost. The website shares the next challenge will be January 2020.

• The 21-Day Blog Writing Challenge 2020

This new 21-day blog challenge is designed to help practice the craft of blogging by focusing on content and creating a treasure trove of future blog posts. A daily blog tip will be posted in a dedicated Facebook group, as well as sharing excerpts of your blog on Twitter with the following hashtag: #bloggerchallenge. The Facebook group is free and open to join now. The 21-day blog challenge will be hosted by yours truly and starts on January 1^st, 2020.

If you have taken part in a blogging challenge, comment below. If you would like to try it out, join one of the challenges above, and watch your creativity soar and hone your craft.

Evelyn Mann is a mother of a miracle and her story has been featured on WFLA Channel 8, Fox35 Orlando, Inspirational Radio and the Catholic News Agency. A special interview with her son on the Facebook Page, Special Books by Special Kids, has received 1.4M views. Along with giving Samuel lots of hugs and kisses, Evelyn enjoys hot tea, sushi and writing. Visit her at miraclemann.com.