I wrote for 365 days, every day 1% more than yesterday

When I started writing five years ago, my ability was to write the word "thank you" as "thank you", take half a day for a paragraph, and run out of sentences 🙂

…Now I get compliments on my writing. For some reason. Well, I can't know the real reasons? No, I can't, because I'm not my own reader, although I read the written texts out loud and correct them until they sound like I'm speaking.

But I don't feel like a good writer.

am i Can I be if I don't push myself beyond the limits of writing?

The voice of my God 1 doesn't sleep and says: "Keep building". He has woken up again and is gnawing at the shell of my self-confidence like a satanic worm.

…Yum!

Guided by this worm, I desire to write better, faster, more, more fun, more interesting, -more. I want to write like Haruki Murakami, 2 Stephen King 3 or at least Antanas Škėma. 4

Time for a new challenge; year-long!

What if I wrote 1% more everyday than yesterday?

That is, I would start at the end of September 2016 with 100 word goal for the day and I would end with 3741 literally on the 365th day?

• Would I go crazy?
• Overworked?
• Would I learn to write better?
• Release tracks sooner? 5
• Thinking of headlines?
• Puzzle words?
• Commas?
• Would I write a second book? 6
• Would I become a famous writer?
• Shall I talk more?
• Would I start listing too many examples? 7

Who knows here! Let's try.

So… Why?

Because the ending -ël!

*laughs maniacally*

…

…

…

I'm not crazy. I promise!
I am only slightly challenged by this drove me crazy.
But let's go back to the beginning. Kwhy this challenge? 

…I think I already told you, didn't I? In that sense, did you ask what I said first? As I said, I wanted to try to expand my skills and become a better writer!

How did it go?

Here it is in bullet points:

1. I started on September 26, 2016. 8
2. I graduated on September 25, 2017. 9
3. I didn't quite finish the challenge - there was only one month left. 10
4. I published all the texts in small debesyla.lt/uzrasai on the blog, where the texts lie, before ending up here. 11
5. I allowed the texts every day until 00:00 of the next day. 12
6. Day one limit: 100 words. 13
7. Daily limit increased by 1%. 14
8. There should have been 3741 words on the last day. 15

And then I sat and wrote!

I wrote everything I could.

I turned old ideas into finished articles, finished unfinished articles, read new books and I stole everything worth noting…

…I wrote, wrote, wrote.

And why 1% more every day, 365 days in a row?

Because it adds up. Here's the word limit graph:

Do you see? For two-thirds of the year, the word limit is less than 1,000 per day. Only later - it rises faster. But it adds up.
Such a progression is the best way to train yourself.
Because:

1. The growth is not too great, especially in the beginning. 16
2. Training is getting harder and harder, so makes you move away. 17
3. The goal is very clear every day - just as much as yesterday, plus a few extra steps. 18

That's what I trained for.

Did it really work?

See the graphic above? Here's what actually happened:

What, hmm…

…It didn't end perfectly.

dare i say like all challenges. If you thought that everything in this life has to be perfect, I don't agree with that. But maybe these are excuses?

what did you learn

Even though I didn't finish the challenge completely, I don't regret it too much. It was a rewarding challenge.

And too long.

Friends have told me this several times as they watched my slow slide towards insanity. I was a lemon and my writing challenge was a big sledgehammer.

First: Only by writing a lot will you learn to write a lot.

As I realized after the short story writing challenge - one learns to write short stories only by writing short stories. This time, you can only learn to be a writer and write a lot of words by sitting down 19 and writing a lot of words.

A blank sheet of paper does not fill itself. The word limit taught me work like a real writer, by profession.

Second: The essence is not in the words!

…And in the senses.

A lot does not mean good. And I began to understand this after only 3 months, when my stock of old (and good), but unfinished articles began to follow.

I had to write new texts and publish inferior ones... And this affected my health - I didn't feel well.

And although I have trouble that I read a lot, but I spend little, 20 this pressure of unreleased tracks alone there is no justifiable reason to allow semi-finished products.

Three: Without advertising, your writing is worthless.

In the world of bloggers 21 there is a saying: "Write and there will be readers"... But there were none:

Although in the middle of the year, when I started sharing my articles a bit more on Facebook, there were more readers, but passive visitors alone do not form a crowd. SEO didn't help either.

It's a very fun fantasy that everything will happen without advertising, isn't it?

However, no creation has emerged without advertising. Even Žemaitė pushed his creativity only through acquaintance. 22

...You don't need to think that the work put in a drawer and shown only to "Friends who won't criticize me" will help you gather a circle of followers.

Finally: Where does this all lead?

This is probably the best question I've come across this year. I wrote a lot! …But so what?

Now I try to look at each piece as an investment.

I don't write them in order to have a lot, but to add them to new works. For example, this challenge story might end up in a book about challenges in a few years. And not much changed because I try to write!

…I'm starting to look at my writing as Tim Ferriss or Seth Godin, who write a lot and then put it all together in books and other works.

Maybe in vain "The Lazy Manifesto" I wrote all over again without repeating myself? 23

Well, that was my year of writing challenge!

And as you? Do you write, otherwise which one? Would you like to challenge yourself? Have questions about this challenge? Let me help.

After writing every day for a whole year,