Writing for 100 Days

If you are not a writer, how do you write a story with over  20,000 words?  Try writing 100 words a day for 100 days.

My daughter, Aly, found a challenge online at goteenwriters.blogspot.com.  The challenge started in January and she announced that she was going to take it; write 100 words for 100 consecutive days on the same story.  You are allowed to miss up to one day a week, but have to make up the 100 words the next day.  You can also take a grace week.

My son, Matthew, also accepted the challenged.  To encourage them, especially Matthew, to finish the project, I decided to do it with them.  Today is the final day, day 100. 

My story is over 21,000 words, which is an average over over 200 words a day.  Even though I wrote over 100 words a day, I rarely wrote more than 300 on one day.  By just writing consistently, the story blossomed and exceeded 20,000.  I can't really believe that I wrote that much.  By writing small amounts everyday, the large challenge was manageable.  My story is actually not finished and I look forward to finishing it.

I am going to let Matthew tell you about his experience.  He says . . .
      I learned a lot about writing when doing 100 for 100.   I learned about perseverance and remembering to actually writing everyday.  One of the many reasons I remember to write everyday is thanks to my sister since she is constantly reminding me.  I did not stay with my storyline very well, which I will definitely try to do better.  Another thing I did not do very well was stay on track with my story during my writing session.  I have finished the contest, but I have not finished my book.  I will definitely finish this book and post it on my blog. 

Aly had done this before, so this is not a new experience to her.  She is also a writer besides doing this challenge.  So, her perspective is different.  I will let you tell about her experience.  She says . . .

     One hundred words is not a lot of words, but it's the one hundred consecutive days that makes it a challenge. Last challenge, I completed the challenge only missing three days. This time, I only missed one. My goal this time was to write the second draft of my current novel.  I made it to 30,000 words, 20,000 words short. I had a steep goal, but I also found the last semester of school more challenging than the first. 100 for 100 helped me keep my writing and school balanced. It was comfort to slowly see my word count climb higher and higher in the midst of a tough school year and busy life.

We had a lot of fun and concluded the event by going to Chick-fil-a for milkshakes.  Of course, we had to write while we were getting milkshakes, so this blog is the result.

The challenge itself might be over, but we are not done writing.