He knew that making a commitment to write every day would help him be a better writer. He didn’t know how much else he would learn.
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I recently completed the Writer’s Challenge offered by the editors of The Good Men Project. The idea of the challenge is to submit 30 articles in 45 days. I accepted the challenge because I knew it would help me grow as a writer.
Having completed the challenge, it’s helped me in even more ways than I imagined. In this post I’ll share five ways this challenge helped me grow as a writer. Maybe this will convince you to consider writing for GMP. If you’re already a contributor I hope you’ll consider joining the challenge the next time it’s offered.
1. I learned the value of working with an editor.
My editor at GMP is Dixie Gillaspie, and working with her has shown me the importance of having other experienced writers review your work. Even if you think you’re a good writer, a good editor will make it even better by making suggestions that improve the body, headline, subtitle, and other post elements.
A good editor will push you to reconsider your viewpoint or point out holes in your logic.
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But a good editor does more than make minor corrections. He or she will also push you to reconsider your viewpoint or point out holes in your logic. Everyone needs a good editor.
2. I learned to try writing new types of posts.
I am a creature of habit, and I tend to write list-based posts (like the one you’re reading now). However, when you’re submitting posts every day you become almost desperate for something new. I tried my hand at a story-based post, and a couple of video-based posts — one about persistence, and one about the Star Wars prequels. You can judge for yourself whether these were successful, but I enjoyed the challenge of trying something new.
3. I learned to increase my writing output.
The 30-day challenge forced me to write more than I usually do. Make no mistake, I spent a couple of hours each day working on a post, but the results were worth it. I learned to write faster and began to look for post ideas on a daily basis.
Our work fills the time we allot to it. If you’re only writing a post occasionally, you will tend to dawdle on it. But if you’re writing daily, you will learn to increase your speed to match the deadline.
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It’s been said that our work fills the time we allot to it, and I’ve found this to be true. If you’re only writing a post occasionally, you will tend to dawdle on it for a few days. But if you’re writing daily, you will learn to increase your speed and output to match the deadline.
4. I learned to effectively format posts.
There’s more to writing posts than just typing and rearranging words. You also have to find an image that complements the post, format the text correctly in WordPress (the platform GMP is built on), choose and format appropriate “pull quotes” (the text in a larger font that offsets the body of the post), choose a good headline and subtitle, and a few other minor things as well.
These are skills that not only help you become a better GMP writer. They are useful anywhere you will be writing for the web, including your own blog and other media sites.
5. I learned to see the bigger picture.
The less often you write, the more hope you tend to put in each post. It’s easy to be disappointed when you publish a post and don’t get as many shares or views as you like. Of course, it’s important to write quality posts, but it’s also important to see the bigger picture of your overall writing.
It’s not just about one post, it’s about dozens or even hundreds of posts over time.
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It’s not just about one post, it’s about dozens or even hundreds of posts over time. It takes time for people to get familiar with you. It also takes time to develop your voice as a writer. You simply have to do a lot of writing in order for both of these things to happen.
The more you focus on both quality AND quantity, you increase the chances of writing a “hit,” and sometimes these will totally surprise you. During the challenge, I wrote a post called “4 Subtle Clues That Reveal a Man’s Character.” I honestly didn’t think the post would get much traction, but I felt strongly about it and hoped it would impact a few people. Just a few days later it had been shared over 4,000 times and had gotten over 10,000 pageviews. But I probably wouldn’t have written that post if I was producing content less often, since the topic was off the beaten path from what I normally write.
The major lesson I’ve taken away from this Writing Challenge is that it was as much for me as it was for my readers. It was a great way to push myself and develop my skills in the process.
As the saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If you want different results, you must do something different. Writing for GMP for 30 straight days turned out to be a great way to shake up my writing routine and learn some great skills in the process.
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Photo: Flickr/Drew Coffman
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