30 day challenge wrap-up: writing

So how did I do on my 30 day writing challenge? Well, the picture tells the story:

Completed calendar

Not too bad! I did miss one day, but here’s a secret about 30 day challenges: if you miss a day or two, you can just keep doing the challenge for another day or so at the end. Or don’t worry about it: you’re trying out something new, and you only have to answer to yourself.

What went well this time? Well, I finally wrote down a few things that I’ve been meaning to publish for years, from Scott Adams’ financial advice to my own hard-won financial tips, and from a piece about a level playing field to how to buy viagra online. Some posts were like hairballs that I just needed to get out of my system.

I also liked my running tips post, my post about dial tone moments, and my tips to protect your account security. I even got to pick on active.com for their Active Advantage membership program. I also enjoyed loosening up a little bit (“fuck Columbus Day”). It’s so much more fun to write when you don’t put as much pressure on yourself.

What didn’t go well? Well, I meant to do some journaling, short stories, and private writing, but somehow this challenge morphed into a public blogging exercise. That’s okay. I like that I wrote a bunch of new things. I still put too much emphasis on polish (or at least correct spelling/grammar) in my writing. Part of my goal was to lower my bar a little bit so that I could knock out a quick blog post whenever the mood strikes. I partly met that goal. Overall, I’m glad that I did this challenge.

25 Responses to 30 day challenge wrap-up: writing (Leave a comment)

  1. Congratulations on completing your challenge Matt. Well, since you’re done with you 30 day challenge and mastered in short writing skill, when you’re planning to join the office?

  2. You have inspired me to try a month of blogging as well Matt. You didn’t mention that inspiring others through your efforts was an outcome, but I want to say that I’m quite impressed and think it would be a worthwhile to do. I tend to go months at a time without blogging. Do you ever get frustrated that you have a bunch of things to say, but forget that it’s a “blog worthy” thing to post? I do this all the time and constantly think later… “you know that would have made quite a good piece”.

    • I did realize that I’ve been tracking my “toblog” items poorly. I’m sure that there’s 6-7 other things I’ve wanted to write about, but they’re buried in my email somewhere or otherwise slipped my mind!

      • Matt-

        This is a powerful comment/response which gets at the philosophy of “good” and compelling content. To me if you are scheduling content what is that saying about the writer’s intent and creativity? With that being said, planning topics ahead of time is another story. Kudos to you for pursuing your interests.

  3. We can just schedule our post to post on that day. For example two post today, but one is schedule for today and another for the next day. Automatically posted, insyaAllah

    • soleh, for this challenge I forced myself to write every day instead of writing a bunch of posts in advance and then publishing them one day at a time..

  4. Sometimes i visit your blog to see new extra-ordinary articles, ideas. You have made SEO industry very fare and good. I appreciate your work against black-hat SEO. Salute to you and i am also taking 30 days challenge for my new website into my name.

  5. Viagra is a hairball you just needed to get out of your system? Did you seek medical attention if the hairball stayed for more than four hours?

  6. This is amazing Matt,

    I am a blogger but I am not that active like you because having a day job eats up all of my time. You have motivated me to take a challenge of this kind but I would like to commit that writing is easy but topic selection becomes tough on daily basis for this kind of challenges.

    Would give some idea as how we can come up with new topic ideas everyday?

    Thanks in Advance!

  7. Best of Luck and Congratulations your challenge Matt Sir !!!!

  8. Hi Matt, I have been following your 30-Day Challenge – I in fact started many of my own, and encourage my colleagues to do the same. I found that waking up at 4am (I am in bed by 9pm) and having the first 2 hours to myself has enhanced my writing, thinking, and made my projects more manageable. You are an inspiration! 🙂 Key

  9. congratulation matt you inspire me to return to my hobby but the problem that i face in my practicing that i find that my mind is empty how can i solve this problem

  10. Matt, you keep blogging real … and most important fun. I must admit, I get carried away with the “business” of it. I have a few blogs but all are business focused. A few days ago I started publishing my poetry which is new (and personal) … something I have thought about doing, then done in journals. Ha, most of my journals got tossed, but a blog is here to stay. Now, I am blogging it – planofdevelopment.com. Thanks for your idea. Intending that you and your family have a satisfying holiday season. Steu

  11. Never regret proper grammar and spelling!

  12. So how did you schedule your day during the 30 day challenge, did you designate a fixed number of hours for writing every day, I mean what was your parameter to judge that your particular day was a success?

  13. In my personal experience, professional writing is really hard job, because of we need to collenct good information with real data and manage to read other blogs post. However, when we struggle to write professional content then it’s helpful to generate more readership and good responses. Thank you for your professional and quality writing. I have been reading your blog posts for one and half years, and learning your ideas.

  14. Goodness, the amount of times I have committed to the same challenge and failed. Even when the discipline was there, I would struggle to find something new and fresh to write about, even within my own specialities. I hate re-writing what is already out there, even when I have a different view to state, so after a few days, those brain cells would dry up. Then just like buses, 3 ideas would come to me at once and so a week later, I end up writing 3 posts in a day. Not good for my visitors, but at least I am being honest. And there is of course that blog that only has 4 post in total that seemed like a good idea at the time. So a question for most bloggers is, should we write every day? Or should we only write when we feel we have something good to say, or more to the point; when someone else thinks, it is worth reading?

  15. This is a great article because blogging is therapy, it allows me to interact with others and voice my opinion about things going on. I would love to try this 30 day challenge but I stay so busy.

  16. I’ve followed your method for 2 years! You don’t believe that? It’s the true! And I’ve given many good things since I realized your talk at TED. I make easily my private calendar by Google’ Calendar with one month, and printed it out. I write on it my subtracted things with “-“, and my positive things with “+”.
    Thank you very much, Matt Cutts!

  17. Wow! Matt, but what happened during 6th? It seems a unhappy face there?

  18. This is pretty awesome. I want to say Congrats Matt, I found this entire challenge pretty inspiring. I always find it nearly impossible to stick with anything, especially when it involves writing (I know, so important but I just can’t get into it). I think I will try to do something similar though.

  19. Matt, do you know one thing about you that you stick with your plans and maintain your workload by doing it on time with discipline, which everybody wants to do but everyone fails at the end and me too. I want to write on a daily basis for my blog but when it comes to a real situation, I skip the things and push myself backward. Today, I take this 30-day challenge for my writings. Let’s see what happens. Thanks for writing this article.

  20. Bookmarked this page for extra articles.

  21. Very useful post in a time of increased security issues.Thanks so much.

  22. The key to writing anything generally worth reading is taking your “Columbus Day” approach and just having fun with it. And I think you’d agree…the best online content is the stuff that resonates with people and brings a smile to their face. That can’t happen when you’re writing for deadlines or word counts though, and it’s refreshing to see that you touched on this in your blog. Great stuff and keep writing, my friend!

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