Bath-based writer Alex is in Year 10. He is a Junior Judge for the Bath Children’s Novel Award and a former Junior Journalist for the Bath Children’s Literature Festival.
This autumn, I’ve been completing the volunteering section of my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award by helping Paper Nations conduct research into their Dare to Write? Prompts. Each week I was given a different prompt to respond to, either with a piece of creative writing, a piece on why I believe the prompt is important (or unimportant) or advice for others.
Keep Writing was one of the prompts that I found especially valuable. One of the really helpful things about it was that it made it harder to procrastinate. Writing’s great and all, but there always seem to be other ways to spend time. It’s easy to get distracted from writing. However, writing every day meant that I couldn’t ‘just do it tomorrow’.
Alex’s Dare to Write?-inspired challenge
So this is my challenge to you: write for ten minutes a day for thirty days straight. It’s really easy to write lots for a few days and then lose motivation if you write too much too quickly. So stick to ten minutes and finish, even when you want to keep writing. Research suggests that the best way to form a long-lasting habit is to perform an activity little, often and regularly. Print out a calendar and cross off the days. If you miss a day, add it on to the end or, if you want a challenge, start all over again.
What are you going to write? Write anything – stories, poems or whatever’s on your mind. Work out what time of day works for you and try your best to write then. You can keep your work or throw it away; the point is to build up the habit of writing.
It may be the perfect time for New Year’s resolutions, but don’t wait! Start writing today.