I Tried Writing for 30 Days Straight: My Progress and What I Learned

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to sit down and write. I want to be writing every day now, especially if I want to become a better writer. So, I challenged myself to write for 30 days straight.

My goal is to write at least 30 minutes each day. Hopefully, by the end of this process, my creative juices will be flowing again, and it will be a habit to just sit down and write. I will try my hardest not to miss a day, but I know that sometimes things just happen.

I set up other rules for myself in addition to the 30-minute minimum. All of the journal entries, Her Campus articles and fiction pieces are written in 12 pt. font, Times New Roman and double spaced. And any plays will be written in proper playwriting format (Courier New, 12 pt. font, etc.) which I googled. This will help me see an average of how much I am writing in whichever genre.

Here we go!

Day 1 (12/20/18)

I wrote for an hour and 40 minutes. I wrote eight pages from a Storymatic prompt. Not the best thing I have ever written, but I don’t think it’s bad considering I have not written in a while!

Day 2 (12/21/18)

I wrote for 30 minutes. I wrote a two and a half page journal entry. This is also really rough, but I was just trying to remember details. It’s writing, and it’s getting me going.

Day 3 (12/22/18)

I wrote for 50 minutes. I wrote four and a half pages using another Storymatic prompt. Once again, it’s just a rough draft, but writing starts somewhere.

Day 4 (12/23/18)

I wrote for 55 minutes. I wrote about two pages of a play idea I had. I spent a lot of the time brainstorming and formatting, so I don’t know how much this actually counts, but oh well. Also, my laptop battery was practically dead, so I couldn’t write more than that.

Day 5 (12/24/18)

I wrote for an hour and ten minutes. I wrote a one-page journal entry and added five and a half pages to the script I started yesterday.

Day 6 (12/25/18)

I wrote for 30 minutes. I started a short story, but I was too tired to write more. I got about two and a half pages done. I’ll finish it tomorrow.

Day 7 (12/26/18)

I wrote for 50 minutes. I finished yesterday’s short story, adding two additional pages. I also started a Her Campus article. I wrote about one and a half pages for that.

Day 8 (12/27/18)

I did not write anything.

Day 9 (12/28/18)

I wrote for an hour because I didn’t get home until really late the night before. I wrote four pages for the play. I was stuck a bit on where I was going, but I got through it.

Day 10 (12/29/18)

I wrote for an hour. I wrote a four and a quarter page journal entry that I really like.

Day 11 (12/30/18)

I wrote for 45 minutes. I started a new Her Campus article that I really love. I did a bunch of research and wrote about two pages, but formatting is always a bit weird for me.

Day 12 (12/31/18)

I did not write anything.

Day 13 (1/1/19)

Since this is the first day of 2019, I wanted to write more, to challenge myself, especially since I missed yesterday. I only wrote for 30 minutes. I could not find the words tonight, but when I finally did, I only had one and a quarter page written. The words will come. I am not worried.

Day 14 (1/2/19)

I wrote for about 50 minutes. I used a Storymatic prompt and ended up writing six pages of a rough draft. A bonus: I really liked this piece.

Day 15 (1/3/19)

I wrote for 55 minutes. I wrote a full five pages and I’m not done with the piece. I also really love this idea and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Day 16 (1/4/19)

I wrote for an hour. I finished the piece from yesterday and added six and a half pages. I love this piece so much! I’m feeling so good about my writing right now.

Day 17 (1/5/19)

I wrote for 30 minutes. I wrote one page of a journal entry and a page for a Her Campus article.

Day 18 (1/6/19)

I did not write anything.

Day 19 (1/7/19)

I wrote for 50 minutes and added five pages to the play I was writing. I was blocked again tonight.

Day 20 (1/8/19)

I wrote for 50 minutes and only got about two and a half pages of a journal entry. I’m still working through a block.

Day 21 (1/9/19)

I wrote for an hour and 30 minutes. I finished the piece from yesterday and added four and half pages to it.

Day 22 (1/10/19)

I wrote for 40 minutes. I finished a Her Campus article that is a page long. I also added a page to another Her Campus article in the works.

Day 23 (1/11/19)

I wrote for an hour. I wrote four and a half pages. I broke out an old idea I had for a book.

Day 24 (1/12/19)

I wrote for an hour. I only wrote about four pages. I continued my idea from last night and did a bit of research too.

Day 25 (1/13/19)

I wrote for 30 minutes. I only wrote a one and a half page journal entry.

Day 26 (1/14/19)

I wrote for 30 minutes again. I was really tired, but I added two pages to a journal entry.

Day 27 (1/15/19)

I wrote for 50 minutes and finished the journal entry I was working on. I added three and a half pages.

Day 28 (1/16/19)

I wrote for 40 minutes. I wrote three pages of a new short story.

Day 29 (1/17/19)

I wrote for 45 minutes. I wrote four pages and finished the story from yesterday.

Day 30 (1/18/19)

I wrote for an hour. I wrote five pages for my novel idea.

Overall, out of all 30 days, I missed three for various reasons. I logged my progress to show that a writer can get blocked. Every writer also writes at their own pace. Some days I wrote longer pieces and more pages. That doesn’t matter to me, though. Writing anything is still writing something.

I think this experiment helped me get back into writing. It wasn’t that I stopped loving writing; I just felt like I never had time which made me not want to write. When I had free time, I wanted a break, and sometimes writing is really draining. Forcing myself to make the time was the best idea I could have had. I wrote a lot of rough drafts that I really loved and will continue to work on. I was also able to write out some of my bottled feelings which can help me for my nonfiction workshop this semester.

I highly recommend writing every day, even if you’re not a writer. It helps you get things off of your chest. I will continue to try and write every day for at least 30 minutes, but I’m not going to log my progress anymore. Writing is personal. I get to choose what I share with the world.

Start writing. I think you’ll be surprised at what you are able to accomplish.

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