Summer is upon us! Depending on your season of life, maybe that makes you think, “Excellent! I’ll have so much free time!” Or maybe, like me, you instead go, “Ack! All my time is going to disappear! My routine will be gone!”
Either way, the 100-for-100 can work for you! If you haven’t played along before, the challenge is to write (at least) 100 words a day, every day, for 100 days.
100 words is about a paragraph. You can likely do it in 10 minutes or less. While it might seem like just a drop in the bucket, all those drops add up to 10,000 words in your manuscript by the end of the 100 days. And that’s if you do the bare minimum! Not bad, right?
This writing challenge is open to writers of all ages! Here’s how the challenge works:
1. You sign up on the form at the end of this post. You must be signed up by noon central time on Monday, May 20th if you want to play along. If you live in a place where May 20th in the U.S. is your May 21st, do whatever feels easiest for you. Either start on May 20th in your time zone or in ours.
2. Beginning on Monday, May 20th you write 100 words on the project of your choice. You must pick one project to work on for the 100-for-100 challenge. Only words for that that project count toward your daily words. Here are the exceptions:
- If you finish your project. Hooray for finishing projects! If this happens, tell us so we can celebrate, and then pick something else to work on.
- If you and your project part ways. This happened to me one year. The 100-for-100 coincided with a writers conference, and I pitched my 100-for-100 book to an editor at the conference. She told me they already had a book in the pipeline that was basically the same concept. And that was probably the last time I ever opened that manuscript file…
3. You write 100 words a day everyday until Tuesday, August 27th, and you keep track of it. At the end of the challenge, you’ll send me your tracking sheet.Here’s a link to one we’ve made, but you don’t have to use this one. (This link will give you access to view it but not make changes. You can print it out, download it, or save a copy to your own Google Drive. If you’re having trouble with it, let me know.) Somehow, though, you need to keep track of how many words you’ve written so that I can see. A few notes about your words:
- You are allowed one “grace day” per week (sometimes life happens, plus many people take a day off a week for religious reasons and we want to respect that), and one “grace week” per contest. So if one week you only write 300 words, you just count up what you have, and press on.
- You can write more than 100 words each day if you like. Most people find they do. But you can’t write 700 words on Monday and nothing the rest of the week and still participate in the challenge. The idea is to develop a writing discipline. So some days you might write 1,000 words and others you might barely get in your 100.
- Yes, you can write by hand. Just add the words up as best you can.
4. When the challenge is over, you send me your form. Then three things happen:
- You get my admiration and respect. I have actually never made it all the way to the end. Maybe this is my year???
- You get entered for prizes! Books, gift cards, critiques, and all sorts of fun writerly things that you’ll like.
- We post your name on a list on the website as someone who totally rocks.
Some helpful tips:
Lydia Howe is a published author and community member who has been faithfully doing the challenge since 2012. YES, SINCE 2012! She wrote a post last year with tips for writing everyday that’s totally worth checking out!
If you’re looking for a community to do this with, the Go Teen Writers Community Facebook group is a fabulous place. We’re very careful about who has access to the group, so if you want to join, go ahead and apply, and then expedite your approval by emailing us: GoTeenWritersCommunity(at)gmail.com. If you don’t email us, it might be weeks before we get around to approving you, so definitely do that.
We will be using the hashtag #GTW100for100 on social media.
That is a great chance to rack up words and make friends this summer! We hope you’ll join us!
Quick question: Can I count outlining, character bios, and/or backstory for my words, or does it have to be words that actually appear (or likely will, anyway) in the finished version?
So long as they’re related to your project, they count!
This is one thing I love so much about this contest!
Also one reason why it is so much more helpful than NaNo for me (I have done and won both).
I’m so glad to hear that, Rebecca!
I’m going to give it a go!
Here goes
Will
I hope it does,
Okay, thanks!
I’m so excited! I tried to do this last year and didn’t quite make it, but I left with a fantastic WIP that I’ll be working on this year!
Yay, Jasmyn! That sounds like a successful 100-for-100 for me, even if you didn’t technically finish.
I’m so excited for this, I’ve kind of already started!
That’s excellent! This is a great contest to get a “running start” in.
Another question:
I can still participate even though I live in Australia?
Fingers crossed!!
ABSOLUTELY! Just decide ahead of time if you want to start on your May 20th or ours.
So excited to be trying this! 🙂 I’ve been stuck in a bit of a rut with my writing lately. Here’s hoping this helps to pull me out of it.
Oh, I hope it does, Naomi! We all get in those ruts sometimes.
I am so excited!! My hope is that this 100-for-100 will finally motivate me to start work on a project I’ve had sitting in my head and journals for a while. Thank you!!
I hope it does, Amelie!
Yaaay! By the time this contest is over, I’ll have been working on my current WIP’s first draft for two years! I’m hoping this challenge will help me finally complete it so that I can move on to the editing process. If this happens, then this will be the first full length novel I’ve written in its entirety. I’m so pumped! I’m also grateful that the contest doesn’t begin until AP tests are over. That will simplify my life greatly.
Good luck everyone! You’ve got this! And even if you don’t “win”, but you still really try, that’s still a lot of words building up your manuscript. 🙂
Aww, that’s so exciting that you might finally finish after 2 years of dedication! That’s a huge milestone! Good luck to you, too, and I hope all goes as planned! <3
Excellent perspective, Em! And I’m so proud of you for working on your first draft for so long. That’s incredible! Way to stick with it!
And I shuddered internally at the mention of AP tests. I’ve blocked those from my memories.
Thanks guys! 🙂
I am so excited to start writing! I’m planning the outline as much as I can so I’ll be prepared to write and not hit writer’s block after the first few days. I’m sure this will be the challenge that helps me stay productive in my free time. Writing is one of my favorite pastimes, but sometimes life kind of hits you with the reality that you can’t spend all your free time doing only it. But devoting at least 100 words a day to my story will really help. Thanks so much! <3
And if you DO get stuck, words that you put toward outlining/character development still count. And yes, I understand. Even as a professional writer, I have to protect my writing time!
I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. I may pick up my project from last year that I haven’t touched since last year’s challenge. I’m hoping to finish it soon.
I’ve been waffling on my project too. It’s nice to still have time to figure it out!
Love the GTW 100for100 … it’s by far the main reason behind why I write every day now 😉
keturahskorner.blogspot.com
That delights me, Keturah <3
Can’t wait I haven’t had time so far to write much. Maybe now I can finish my first draft.
Elsa, lots of writers find the challenge helps push them through to “The End.” I hope you find the same is true for you!
I’m excited to begin! This would be my first time doing this challenge. 🙂
Yay! We love newbies!
Had fun doing this with my daughter last summer. Thanks for the encouragement to get stuff done!
I LOVE that this is something parents and kids do together. My daughter participated last year too, and she was fantastic up until school started.
I’m going to do this challenge for sure and I’m actually going to do it this year and finish it! XD I’ll be editing as my main project for the summer, but for this challenge I’m going to be writing a novella about one of my favorite characters within my main series 😉
I love the “Florid Sword” part of your name! ? Do you happen to like the Wingfeather saga? ?
@Amelie yes! It is 100% from the Wingfeather Saga and that’s one of my favorite series. <3
@Faith I LOVE the Wingfeather saga! That is so awesome! ?
That sounds SO fun!
I’m so pumped! I participated in this three years ago and again last year (the first time I finished… and I completely bombed last year lol), and I can’t wait to get started on this one!
I figure if I wrote more because of the challenge than I would have otherwise, it’s still a success. So glad you’re joining us again, Lydia!
How do I send the form to you? Do I Email you? If so, what email?
You just fill it out there in the website and hit submit. If for some reason you’re not able to see it, here’s a direct link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-CvkyvFcSmZRlze-j8ccypFgaV1qhMDcWkVgQEhKWVUJKzg/viewform?usp=sf_link
MEEP! I am so excited to participate in this for the first time! I’ve won many NaNo’s, but this almost seems like it’s going to require even more dedication… It’ll be interesting to see if I can make it through without bombing. XD
Quick question: where the form says NAME, do I have to give my first and last name, or will my first name be enough? (or first name, last initial?)
Whatever you would like is fine!
Okay, thank you so much!!
I have not heard of this contest, but it looks great.
I hope you’ll join us, Rose!
I’m so excited! I love 100-for-100. I think it’s really going to help me this time around; I haven’t been writing very much lately.
I hope it will, Lydia!
So question: I know the point of the contest is to finish/work on one story. But I am planning on participating in camp NaNo and if I happen to need to start a new story for that (the rules may have changed) would it be ok? If I can work on the same story, I’ll see if I can do that.
Yes, absolutely!
This sounds like so much fun! However, I don’t have a computer or printer. My only connection to the internet is on a phone. So I don’t know if I would be able to send a tracking sheet or not. How are the tracking sheets sent?
We can do it a couple ways that might work for you! If you use the Google Sheets app, you can fill out the tracking sheet right there on your smart phone and then email it to me at the end. You could also make your own sheet and at the end take a picture and send it to me.
Ok thank you so much! Making my own and sending a picture of it should work nicely.
So excited to do this again! It’s just what I’ll need to get me writing again 🙂
I’m glad you’ll be joining us, Hannah!
A month or so ago I wasn’t sure if I would be able to participate again (last year was my first), but when your first reminder came, I knew for sure that nothing could stop me–not college preparation, not the creation of a website, nothing. 🙂 I’m so excited to be starting my new project that I’ve been plotting for several months now.
CutePolarBear
I’m so glad you’re joining us! Hopefully this will help you fit writing in alongside those other big goals.
Question: I’m pretty sure I know which WIP I want to work on, but I also have a short story idea that’s begging to be written. So I was wondering, if I write my 100 words on my wip, can I count my short story word count and add that on top of my 100 WIP words? Or do all words counted have to be from one WIP alone?
For the challenge, our rule has always been that you can pick one WIP to count the words from unless there’s a reason to switch. So you can’t count both on the same day, but if you need to switch during the challenge you can.
I’ll also mention that I have no way of knowing what you work on, so if you veer away from the laid out rules but don’t mention it to me, well… 🙂
lol?. Thanks for the answer. I’ll try to stick to the rules though. 🙂
Can I write in my mother language? Is it okey with you?
Yes, of course!
Always wanted to do this… Finally signed up this year. We’ll see how it goes. XD
Yay, I’m so glad!
I have a question,for the tracking sheet you have provided do we just have to type in the number of words we wrote everyday ?
Yep!
Hi! I signed up a few hours ago but wanted to double check that I was accepted in. Can I still do it (it was after noon when I signed up :O )?
And if so, should I work on a book or would blogging be fine as a “project”?
Yes to both!
Yay thanks!! I am excited! 🙂
Oh no! I literally just learned about this like 20 minutes ago! I hope I’m not too late! I suppose I can always do it unofficially if I am. :/ What a fun idea and a great encouragement for writers!
Yep, it’s fine! I’ve kept the form open because it’s still technically the 20th everywhere in the U.S. and people keep signing up 🙂
Oh, awesome! Thank you!!