Writing Challenges

This month, and probably next month, I'm involved with a few writing challenges. Not only am I participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, I'm also participating in A Round of Words in 80 Days.

My goal for Camp is to write 50,000 words in 31 days, while my ROW80 goal is to write a minimum of 1,613 words a day but to aim for 2,000 words a day until I finish this book, then use the rest of the time to type it up and edit like crazy (I'm sure I'll be adding a huge amount of words during the type up since I edit so heavily). These are both pretty doable goals and it will be fantastic because I will have finished writing the sequel to Land of No Angels.

Why do I participate in these challenges? Well, a lot of it has to do with accountability. If I'm a part of something where others are in the same boat as I am, then there's a sense of camaraderie and I have more reason to keep pushing myself to get things done. Also, challenges are fun. You get to see what everyone else is doing, how their doing, and it's just fun to tell people about how you're doing some amazing thing.

Something I've been considering as a way to "up the stakes", as they say, is to maybe become sponsored. NaNoWriMo has this thing where you can become sponsored and have people donate money to the Office of Letters and Lights (the gang who run NaNoWriMo) so they can keep their awesome programs running. The only reason I haven't yet is because I'd like to prove I can win one first. Also, I don't think anyone would donate. Not anyone I know of. How sad is that? It's not their fault, it's mine. So, for now I'm just sticking to the regular "let's write 50,000 words in a month" thing.

READER RESPONSE: Do you participate in any challenges, whether it be writing or art or even sports? Why do you do it and what do you get out of it?