I'm Joining the 185 Insane Challenge (Author Edition)
Wish me luck!
Call me ambitious, or delusional, but when I saw the 185 Insane Challenge (author edition) my first thought was, “I’m in!” I, who hasn’t completed a challenge in a long while (I’m talking years) decided this was the one for me. I know my energy levels fluctuate and my life can be very busy, but with so many positive changes in other areas of my life I want to make a change in my writing career. This challenge is pretty intense, but it’s the right kind of intense for me. The kind that pushes without punishment. So here I go!
So what is the 185 Insane Challenge (Author edition)? It’s a challenge created by author and youtuber Jenna Streety. She planned for her challenge to go from May 12th through November 13th of this year and designed it to push writers beyond their comfortable routines and on towards their publishing dreams. These are the official rules:
1k More Words Per Day Than Your Usual Goal, Aside From Planned Off Days
Completely Draft 3 Books / 500k Words
(If Indie) Self Publish 2 Books or 3 Novella-Length Works
(If Traditional) Query 2 Projects
(If Indie) Do One Author Event And Sign Physical Copies Of Your Book
(If Traditional) Or Go To An Author's Event
Post 3 Pieces Of Content Per Day (Any Platforms)
Pick Your Off Days, Schedule Healthy Breaks, And Honor Them Without Guilt
Make New Author Friends (Online Or In Person)
5k Steps A Day
5+ Bottles Of Water A Day
Stick To A Healthy Routine Of Exercise And Diet For You (with cheats of course)
Join The 24Hr Novel Challenge (In June)
No Social Media Before 9AM Or After 9PM (Adjust If You Don't Work 9-5)
30 Minutes Of Reading A Day (Any Genre As Long As It's Not Your Own Book)
Stick To A Sleeping Schedule And Night Routine Best For You
Find 1 New Hobby You WON'T Monetize That Brings You Joy And Stick With It
Jenna encourages people to modify the challenge if they need to due to disability, mental health, or chronic conditions. Honestly, that is one of the reasons I say this challenge is meant to push you, not punish you. Everyone is different and what someone is capable of isn’t always stagnant day to day, or even hour to hour. I’m really excited for this challenge, and to see how far I go.
Because I’m going the traditional route with my books, I’m going to be Querying two projects and attending at least one author event. My start date also will be June 20th making my end date December 21st. This gives me time to prepare and get myself in order since I recently switched to day shift and had some other big changes happen in my schedule. It also lets me participate in the 24-Hour Novel Challenge on the 21st. Over the last week I’ve been slowly implementing some of the habits, altering my routine, and writing more. It really helps that I have events and social functions I can go to now and work on my writing with others. Body doubling to the rescue!!
To help myself stay focused, and make the challenge just a little more manageable for my brain, I’ve broken the challenge into three categories.
Writing and Creative Output which includes everything writing related such as daily word counts, the progress of my drafts, querying, even just sharing my progress on social media when related to my writing.
Health and Fitness, pretty self explanatory but this includes the tracking of steps taken, water intake, food and movement. Even the rest days, which are really important! I also think the non-monetized hobby is in this category for mental health.
Personal and Social Development includes the reading portion of the challenge, author meetup, making friends, and resting without guilt. Again, the rest portion of this challenge is important!
This breakdown lets me track everything without it feeling like one giant list. I am most likely going to also track by colors on my calendar and daily planner.
This challenge is intense, but I feel it is also manageable. It’s not about chasing perfection, as I’m sure I will not perfectly execute everything. Some days I’ll hit every goal, knock out thousands of words, and feel amazing, other days, I’ll probably barely write anything and go to bed at midnight after a very long and exhausting day. Perfection is not the goal, it’s to keep moving forward. To work towards the kind of consistency I want in my writing life and every other part of my life.
I’ve decided to join this challenge because I want to know what I’m capable of when I don’t back down the moment things get uncomfortable. I want to finish something hard and know that I did it! I’ll be posting daily updates on Instagram, Facebook and Substack notes once the challenge begins. If you are doing the challenge as well let me know! If you are doing another challenge let me know too! I’d love to hear what you’re up to!
Still here, still writing, thank you for being here!
-Catalleya