Whew, we made it through January. Happy February! Writer friends—or friends interested in writing—if you need a little kickstart to motivate you, February is your month! Two writing groups I belong to are hosting month-long opportunities to encourage writing-related progress. Jump in, set some goals, and join me in working toward them! Inspired by November’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), these online events are scheduled during February, which is generally a much less hectic time of year for most of us. The original NaNoWriMo challenges participants to aspire to draft a 50,000-word novel in one month. The following two February-based events put their own spin on the concept.
Flash Fiction February
First, my beloved Spark Flash Fiction, where I’m honored to serve as Editorial Assistant, has issued the challenge of Flash Fiction February. The idea is to write one flash fiction piece each day. Flash fiction is defined as a short short story of 1,000 words or less, so it’s doable in a single day to get that many words down. This year, February gives us 29 days, so ideally at the end of the month, writers will have up to 29 first drafts of stories.
If the idea of a story a day is overwhelming, set your own goal (a story every other day? a story a week? ten stories for the month?) and just write. Commit to write something daily, then follow through. Don’t waste time trying to edit as you go or get it perfect the first pass. Note the result is a first draft, not an edited, perfectly polished piece. After the challenge is over is the time to go back and edit your stories. Your edited pieces make perfect material to use as lead magnets, social media posts, and content on your website.
I’m setting my personal Flash Fiction February goal at eight stories this month because we have quite a lot going on. I’d love to think I’ll accomplish more than that, but I’m trying to set a reasonable goal so I can actually reach it.
Spark has created an event page within the Spark Flash Fiction Writers Facebook group where we’ll post prompts and inspiration throughout the month-long event. To join the event, be sure to join Spark Flash Fiction Writers if you haven’t already. Reasons to participate in Flash Fiction February include:
- Gaining hands-on flash fiction practice
- Creating content for newsletters and social media
- Honing your writing skills
- Exploring and experimenting with characters, genres, and POV
- Developing a daily writing habit.
540WriMo
Along similar lines is an event hosted by my favorite writing community, the 540. The 540 Writers Community is a non-profit writing group dedicated to educating and encouraging writers. The group is full of some of the most wonderful, supportive fellow writers who have become my writerly family. The 540WriMo challenges participants to chase their writing dreams, encouraging them to set their own goals—something attainable that will also stretch them a bit—and then run after them. Some suggestions include:
- Editing four chapters a day instead of your usual three
- Writing twice a week instead of just once
- Progressing on marketing efforts, such as working on a website, newsletter, or social media
- Plotting out the next story (for plotters) or capturing daydreams (for pantsers)
- Setting a word count goal, either by day or week.
One of my favorite benefits of 540 is the 24/7 Zoom write-in room. We have scheduled “hosted” write-in times, as well as a member chat where people can post they’re in the room and invite others to join them. The encouragement and accountability are pivotal in getting me to my computer and working toward progress. And the community has created a special chat for 540WriMo where members can drop their goals and some encouragement for fellow writers. Again, to join the challenge, be sure to join the 540 Writers Community.
As for my goals for 540WriMo, I feel that I can overlap the two events, so I’m including the eight flash fiction pieces I’ll write plus I want to finish outlining my next romantic suspense novel idea and map out a writing schedule for that one.
I hope to see you there, friends! What do you think? Do you enjoy group writing challenges, and if so, why? Will you participate in either of these February events, and if so, which one? And what goals will you set for yourself?