Tried a 30 day flash fiction challenge and it wrecked my writing process

Last month I saw this flash fiction challenge that said write 300 words every day for 30 days. I thought it would help me get faster and stop overthinking. By day 12 I was churning out stories that felt hollow and rushed. The problem was I started caring more about hitting the word count than making something actually good. I deleted two of my favorite longer pieces because I was too tired to work on them. Now I'm sitting here a week after finishing it and I can't seem to write more than a paragraph without second guessing myself. Has anyone else done one of those daily challenges and had it mess with their head instead of helping?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_scott4429d ago

I did this exact challenge and my writing got sharper, faster, and I finished a whole story cycle I'd been stuck on for months.

holly_gonzalez6129d ago

My buddy Sarah tried the same thing last November. She wrote 500 words every day for a whole month, no exceptions. By week three @fiona_scott44 she had this messy short story about a haunted laundromat that turned into a whole novella. She said it felt like her brain finally stopped fighting her and just let the words flow out.