We’ve got good news, and better news!

Despite the isolating process writing can be, writers have found ways to build deeply rooted communities around that common experience. One such way is through creating and participating in writing challenges!

We are particularly intrigued by the following ‘enigma’:

• Writing is solitary- it requires a certain detachment and aloneness

BUT

• Writers are sociable- seeking out and forming strong communities based on a passion for writing, a tortured understanding of the process and respect for each writer’s personal space and process.

To me, it feels a lot like dinner with friends- a group gathers somewhere for dinner and though each is eating his/her own dish, they are still eating together. Periodically (though not too often in our family) someone is so moved by what’s on their plate that they reach a filled fork out, or invite an unfilled fork in to their dish, for a sample. But eventually, each goes back to eating and savouring his/her own meal.

Writing challenges prove that you can write alone, together!

So, the good news is that there are TONS of writing challenges from which you can choose and an abundance of writing communities you can join. NaNoWriMo is perhaps the most widely known writing challenge out there, but we’ve come across so many others, some of which we’ll list here for your viewing pleasure:

• A Round of Words in 80 Days– The writing challenge that knows you have a life
• Young Writers Project- Weekly Writing Challenges 2016-2017
• Write Non-Fiction Now- NaNonFiWriMo (Write Non-Fiction in November)
• Story a Day– Write a short story a day! (Yes it can be done)
• ChaBooCha & ChaBooCha Lite & ChaBooCha Jr.– Month long writing challenges for early reader, chapter book, middle grade book, Young Adult novel or Children’s books annually in March and September.
• YeahWrite- Weekly Writing Challenges and SuperChallenge
• Write31Days– Writing every day, every October

The better news is that if you don’t find something that tickles your fancy, you can create a  Challenge of your very own with Pacemaker’s newest premium feature- Challenges!

The Challenge Subscriptions allow users to create groups which take on writing tasks together. As the challenge creator, you can set rules and goals for the group, and each participant in a challenge will be able to browse the schedules and progress of others in the challenge, and track stats across the entire group.

You may all be working towards the same goal, or you may want to achieve your own separate goals over a common period of time. You might also split your group right down the middle and have (for the sake of argument) Team Android vs Team iOS racing for writing dominance in a match to see who reaches a certain word count first! Hey, you might even have a one day write-a-thon which works sort of like a fundraiser where everyone’s individual writing progress contributes to the overall goal. You can do all these and more with Pacemaker Challenges!

Pacemaker Challenge groups can provide motivation, support, accountability and a bit of gaming fun to your writing! It’s ideal for teachers, writing centers, NaNoWriMo regional groups and anyone else who wants to add a sense of community and a bit of excitement to their writing. We hope you’ll try it today!