UPDATED FOR MARCH 2019 10 DWC

Q: What exactly are you challenging me to do, TNN?
A:  I am challenging you to write something every day for 10 days starting March 19, 2019.

Ideally, you should aim to write the equivalent of 3 pages longhand every day.

Three pages longhand roughly equates to 750 words typed. Writing speed varies a lot person to person, but many people will find this to take about 30 minutes to complete, daily, on average.

I recommend you do your writing in a dedicated Google Drive folder, with each day’s writing on a new, dated Google Doc. This creates a permanent, searchable, secure repository of your writing. (Notebooks work well, too!.)

Once you’re done writing for the day, I recommend you copy and paste the day’s writing out into 750words.com, which will create a running dashboard that visualizes how much you’ve written across the month, will help keep track of your daily streaks and progress and is generally awesome. It’s also free. No one else can see your account or your writing, FYI, unless and until you decide to share it on the SoulTour Community Group.

I am not affiliated with 750words.com – it is a tool I personally have used and think work well for this.

Q: What are you not challenging me to do?
A: I am not challenging you or asking you to publish your writing, though occasionally we’ll throw out a “Share a Snippet” call on the SoulTour Community Group, for anyone who wants to. In the past, some people shared everything they wrote, some shared a paragraph here and there, others kept it all private.

I am publishing what I write to you, as an exercise in vulnerability, but this is your challenge. You do what you need to do. And you know what you need to do. If you don’t know now, you will soon. Just get started.

I am not challenging you to bare your soul or to write about any specific topic. I will provide writing prompts daily, but you can take them or leave them. And I will bare my soul, because that’s the kind of chick I am (becoming). A couple of you have shared that you are planning to use this Challenge to refresh your children’s excitement about writing, looping them in and having them do the Challenge with you (which I adore). Others are using it to set goals. Still others need to process the past or find a breakthrough. This Challenge will work for all of these things.

Q:  What should I write about?

A:  Every day at midnight Pacific I’ll send you an email with the writing prompt of the day. The prompts are designed intentionally to trigger shifts to new levels of personal growth and unlock previously untapped inner greatness. 

On any given day, you can use the writing prompt, you can free-write, or you can work on your own book or blog project.

Q:  What is free-writing? 

A:  Free-writing is a brain dump exercise: put words on the page. Any words. Whatever’s on your mind. It is meant to be private, so no one will ever see it. Uncensored.

If you want more information on free-writing, Google “Morning Pages.” From Lifehacker:

Every morning, take a pen and three blank pages and write down whatever you want to fill those pages.

Q: Do I have to publish what I write?

A: Nope. The moderators and I will publish some of our writing to the SoulTour Community, just for fun. And you’re welcome to do so. And you’re welcome to do so on the Group, which is Private.

That said, if you’re doing free-writing or Morning Pages or journaling, I actually encourage you to start off with a plan to not show your writing to anyone else. The goal of these exercises is just to get your mind and soul and spirit trained to pour out freely, without censorship. And the best way to do that is to know that you’re writing for yourself. That it’s between you and you.

And that said, don’t be surprised if, by the middle of the month, you’re just excited about what you’re writing or discovering and you want to post/publish it.

Q: What if people don’t like what I write? What if someone finds or reads my writing and gets upset?

A: One of the Patron Saints of our Writing Challenge is Anne Lamott. She earned that distinction with this quote, from her book on writing, Bird by Bird:

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”

#preach #Amen #tellyourstories

This applies to people who read anything you write publicly.

With respect to your private journaling or free-writing, writing in Google Docs will help, because: password.

Also, anyone who reads your private writing anywhere else and gets upset or confronts you about it is just giving you a great opportunity to speak your truth and practice boundaries. By boundaries I mean righteous indignation and expressing the unacceptability of reading your private thoughts. Yeah, that happened to me. It was uncomfortable and fantastic.

Q: What if I’m terrified?

A: If you’re terrified, you’re doing it right. See also this blog post:

Q: What’s the SoulTour Community Group for?
A: First, here’s the link to join the SoulTour Community.

Second, it’s to connect with others doing the Challenge. To share your experience. To ask your questions. To get inspired. To stay on track. To get back on track, should you need to.

Third, I am maintaining an archive of the PODs (writing Prompts of the Day) in this Spreadsheet. And I’m also adding videos, thought starters, inspiration and other juicy goods to the Community Group on a daily basis.

Fourth, I love you.

Head up + heart out,