Anybody else feel like they’re limping toward the end of May finish line? I didn’t until last week, when it felt like our calendar was suddenly full, half of us came down with our first cold in over a year, and all the “last concert/cross country meet/big project due dates” got crammed together. Two weeks ago, I wasn’t looking forward to summer. Now, I’m feeling soooo ready.
And I’m feeling excited that I’m at the early stages of writing a new book just in time for the 100-for-100 to get going! If you’ve been around Go Teen Writers for very long, you know this is a writing challenge we host most summers, and it’s by far the most popular event we do.
What is the 100-for-100? 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 31st if you want to play along. If you live in a place where May 31st in the U.S. is your June 1st, do whatever feels easiest for you. Either start on May 31st in your time zone or in ours.
2. Beginning on Monday, May 31st 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, just 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. Sometimes things happen and we lose interest for good reasons.
3. You write 100 words a day everyday until Tuesday, September 7th, 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. With my handwriting, I usually have 10 words per line so I just go with that. We all have way more important things to do than count individual words.
4. When the challenge is over, you send me your form. Then two things will happen:
- You get my admiration and respect. I have actually never made it all the way to the end. Maybe 2021 is my year?
- 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 faithfully did the challenge for at least 6 years. YES, SIX YEARS. Maybe even more. I’ll have to ask her. She wrote a post for us several years ago 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 me at Stephanie(at)GoTeenWriters.com. If you don’t email me, it might be weeks before I get around to approving you, so definitely do that.
We will be using the hashtag #GTW100for100 on social media. Jill, Shan, and I are most active on Instagram, and you can follow the Go Teen Writers account here.
That is a great chance to rack up words and make friends this summer! We hope you’ll join us!
This challenge is now closed. If you have questions about that, please email me at Stephanie(at)GoTeenWriters.com
Ooooh, this sounds like it’s gonna be sooo much fun!!!!!!!!! Definitely joining this challenge!!!!
Yay!
This sounds exciting!!!!!! 😀 And it will be great for me to actually write this summer! I’m definitely signing up!!!!! Thank you for hosting this challenge!!!! 🙂
You’re welcome! It’s always a fun event.
Just signed up! I did this challenge last year, and it’s great for motivation. Thanks for hosting!
Hooray!
Just signed up! I don’t know if my outline will be ready in time, but this will motivate me to really try and work on it!
Even if it’s not, words for writing your outline would totally count!
I finished in 2019 but only made it like a month last year. But I have a story that I am working on and am hoping to complete it again this year!
I’ve never finished, but this year MAYBE my schedule and where I am with my book will both be more conducive.
I’m signing up! This sounds great!
Yay!
Do we have to update the log every single day? For instance, if we’re in a place with no internet and we can’t update the log, will the words written still count?
Yes, the words would still count! You would just update when you can.
So excited to do this for the 3rd time!!!
Glad you’re joining us again!
Definitely signing up! This’ll be great!
Hooray!
I’m so excited! Thanks for hosting it! I did it for the first time last year, and it was a blast. This year, I’m trying to get some of my cousins or friends to do it with me!
The community piece of the challenge is really fun!
😀
I can’t wait for this! The last time I completed this challenge was in 2013 (I think?), when I was 16 — I’m 24 now, so I’m really happy you’ve opened the challenge up to people of all ages! I have found your site so inspiring and helpful in the past, and as I dive back into fiction writing for the first time in 5+ years, I’m committed to becoming a community member again 🙂 Since my masters paper is due on June 1, that might have to be my first project since I’ll likely feel too guilty to be writing anything else . . . but it will still be something, right?
Just signed up! I’ve never done this before, but it sounds like a lot of fun!
Signing up to try this for the third year running! Let’s see if I can actually do it this time around… XD
ohh! so excited to get back into the writing groove after a long school year 🙂
I started my current writing project exactly one year ago and although I’ve made some progress I’m hoping that this will really give me a boost. ? This is my first year doing the 100-for-100 and I’m very excited!!
This was SO much fun last year. I don’t know if I’ll be able to complete it in this crazy busy time, but I can’t wait to try!
I have signed up. This is my first time (attempt). Should be fun.
Wahoo! Can’t wait!
Just signed up! Last year was my first year trying my hand at this challenge (spoiler alert, I only made it about halfway). Who knows, maybe this will be the year I push through!
Good luck to everyone!!
I’ve never done this before, but I signed up! Looking forward to the accountability and extra push to work on these stubborn stories of mine 🙂 Thanks for running this!
Woo-hoo! I’ve been waiting for this to show up in my inbox :P.
I struggle to write consistently when relying entirely on my own self-discipline, so I love having this going all summer to keep me working.
I agree! I have barely done any writing this school year. Am so looking forward to have a reason and reminder to write all summer!!
I skipped last year–it was all too much!–but I’m excited to this with my (no longer teen) daughter again. It’s a great way to get the creative juices flowing…now I just need to pick a project 🙂
This was a lot of fun last year and definitely helped pick me out of a writing funk. I managed to complete it with two simultaneous projects–this year I think I’ll aim for just one!
I did this challenge back in 2019 and made a lot of great progress on my WIP thanks to it. I’m currently on the second draft of that same project (I finished the first draft last June), and I’ve already made it my goal to work on it a little each day (half an hour to be exact). This challenge should help with that! Can’t wait!
Good luck everyone!
I want to say I’ve done this for the past four or five years. The first two times I failed miserably, but the more recent years I’ve made it through and done so much more writing than at any other time of the year. I think I’m going to be too busy this summer to participate, but thank you for always hosting this!
This is the first time doing this and I’m excited to get started tomorrow! Hopefully I’ll be able to make it through the whole thing, lol.
So excited!