If you took part in the StoryADay May Challenge you might be finding yourself confused.
You wrote so much in May and now? Now, it’s hard to get anything done.
You’re Progressing, Not Graduating
As a creative person, there is never a moment that you can point to and say, “That’s it. I’m finished.” We will always strive to be better…and so it’s important to notice the milestones along the way.
Don’t beat yourself up for losing momentum after the challenge (or any big writing push).
It’s possible you needed a break.
But it’s also possible you miss the structure of the challenge.
So, in case Option B applies to you, here’s my suggestion for the next four weeks, so that you can feel yourself making consistent progress without burning out.
Each week I encourage you to focus on one thing (while, obviously, doing many other things at the same time) so that you can feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of a defined period (in this case, the next four weeks).
It’s tempting to think that other writers have it easier, or other times were easier on writers.
Wasn’t it easier to get published when there were more independent publishing houses?
Wasn’t it easier to make a living at writing in the golden age of magazine publishing?
All those other writers who are selling their work must have some kind of cheat code that they’re not sharing with us, right?
This week I read the editorial in the February 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, a relatively new publication at the time. The magazine was making its mark, in part, by offering the highest rates in the market in order to attract the best writers. And they did—publishing Brandbury, Asimov, Clarke, Del Ray, Simak, in their primes.
But here’s a snippet from the editorial that I found weirdly encouraging. Editor H. L. Gold was trying to explain to readers how the economics of the writing business work, but I think he left an important message for us writers, too:
“Counting false starts, stories that won’t work out, stories that shouldn’t have been written at all but seemed good at the time, research, productive labor, etc., it takes a stupendous amount of writing even at the highest rates to support an author and his family on magazine sales alone.”
-H. L. Gold, Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1951
There’s your cheat code: there is no cheat code.
There’s just ‘a stupendous amount of writing’.
Which we love to do, anyway, right?
Looking At The Wrong Metric
When people think of success as a writer, they tend to measure external, visible rewards: sales, income, awards, praise, etc.
But the rewards, if we’re honest, hit most deeply in those moment when a story draft pivots towards it’s real purpose, when you suddenly know what the story is really about; or when you realize you’ve revised it as far as you can, and it’s ready to be read by someone else.
The real reward is in the writing.
What stalls a lot of people is the sense that you’re doing it wrong if you’re making ‘false starts, stories that won’t work out, stories that shouldn’t have been written at all but seemed good at the time…’
If you feel like you’re ‘not a real writer’ because it requires a stupendous amount of writing to generate the occasional piece that works, H. L. Gold would like a word…
He left those words in his editorial to justify paying the highest rates on the market; and they serve to remind us writers, that this was never easy. And that’s OK.
Write a stupendous amount this week
If you’re an ambitious* writer, you have to write a stupendous amount to reap the rewards you’re after. It’s not a race or a competition. You don’t have to burn out. But you do have to write. Probably more than is comfortable.
(*And ‘ambitious’ doesn’t have to mean ‘support myself financially via my writing’. That might be part of your ambition. But I suspect the true ambition is to do the best work you’re capable of.)
StoryADay May is an opportunity for you to find out what ‘a stupendous amount of writing’ feels like, over one month’s time. Are you capable of pushing through, writing when you don’t feel like it, and giving up on those ‘stories that should never have been written’?
If you want to feel the sharp satisfaction of success – whether that ‘success’ is ‘a day of good writing’ or ‘a story sold’, both are valid – remember that ‘a stupendous amount of writing’ is the baseline. It’s the thing that helps you find the stories, tell them well, and sense your own progress.
It’s OK if you don’t want to do all that work. If you have better things to do with your time, by all means do them.
But if you’re floating through life waiting for it to become easy I have some bad news: the struggle is frustrating, and annoying, and sometimes painful, but it’s also where the rewards lives.
What will you write, this week?
Here are the most recent prompts from the StoryADay challenge
Not sure how to get started with prompts? The StoryADay 2026 Handbook has custom warm-ups and brainstorming exercises designed to catapult you into your day’s writing. Get it now (NOTICE: PRICE WILL INCREASE ON JUNE 1, 2026)
Get the StoryADay Challenge Handbook for 2026 – custom warm-up and brainstorming exercises for every prompt, delivered as a private podcast with transcripts. SUBSCRIBE NOW
Get the Essential StoryADay Challenge Handbook (the one that’s a short story course disguised as a challenge) from 2024. Video, audio, written lessons & captions START HERE
There comes a time in every writing push when it feels like you’re failing.
Whatever goal you set, you’re not meeting it.
You’re imperfect. And your best intentions, it turns out, aren’t enough.
If this is you, you are not alone…and I have a fix: Instead of hoping to find time for writing, you must take concrete steps to make sure writing happens.
Startitis
We start projects (stories, a novel, a challenge) with the best of intentions.
This time, we say…This time I’ll do it perfectly. If I just work harder, I won’t have bad days.
Yeah…that’s not a thing.
When It Gets Tough
Writers aren’t machines.
We do have to keep showing up even when it doesn’t feel easy, but to do that and stay productive, you must show up with a boatload of compassion and joy.
That is easier to do a, when there are fewer decisions to make and b, when you’re around other people who get it.
Not “Will I Write?” But “When Will I Write?”
I’m as allergic to being told what to do and when to do it, as the next neurodiverse/creative person.
And yet.
Writing time doesn’t just appear because we want it to.
If you’re having trouble showing up for your writing right now (looks in the mirror. Nods.) you might need to take a look at your schedule and see if you have planned time where the writing can happen.
Without a plan, it won’t happen.
Even if you plan to write on Friday afternoon but get suddenly inspired as soon as you wake up, that’s fine. Flexibility is good.
But having a plan–even one you react against–is a powerful way to limit the number of decision you have to make in the moment, and hoard your creativity for the actual writing..
Making time for your writing a gift
… to yourself and the world.
It’s not about creating a rigid conveyor-belt-of-words you must staff at all times.
It is about making your writing a priority, before other people’s priorities steal all your time away from you.
So. I’m off to put some potential writing times on my calendar. How about you?
Inspiration Corner
Here are some prompts that you might have missed, this month, to get your creative wheels turning.
The StoryADay Challenge has rolled into its second week for 2026, and there’s a lively community of writers leaving comments about their writing, over at the blog.
Even if you’re not taking part in the challenge, why not read through them and commit to writing one story sparked by one, this week?
We writers can be in such a rush–to get this project finished; to submit; to hit the best-seller list; to make our fortune—that it’s easy to get discouraged. It can feel like we’re not making progress if the writing is slow, or ‘successes’ don’t come often.
But writing isn’t just one thing. And none of the activities that make up a writing life are particularly quick.
Developing ideas takes time
Drafting takes time
Revising and rewriting benefits from time and space.
Improving our skills demands time, and experimentation, and wrong turns.
It’s OK to be what my friend, coach Jennie Mustafa-Julock, calls “impatiently ambitious”. At the same time, we have to cultivate patience for the parts of the practice that just go…well, slowly.
The Benefits of ‘Slow and Steady’
This idea of ‘going slow’ has come up a couple of times in the Superstars community, this week.
“I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I’m a really slow writer,” said one person, who writes beautiful, immersive stories.
“I’m embracing being slow,” said another writer, who I’m watching make huge strides in their practice.
World-class athletes, actors, and musicians spend a lot of hidden time practicing their craft; only occasionally stepping onto the big stage to perform.
We writers spend a lot of times doing work that doesn’t end up in front of anyone else. And that’s OK, especially when we are focused on improving our skills.
Couture Vs. Fast Fashion
In a world of fast fashion, people still crave a tailor-made suit, a custom-fitted wedding dress, and a beautifully hand-crafted hat. And those who can, value that quality enough to pay premium rates for it.
In this moment of instant-access to information, and AI-everything, there’s a lot to be said for slowing our creative lives down to a human (humane?) pace.
Let’s reclaim the time and space for deep thought, wrong turns, course-corrections, and insights that only come with prolonged effort.
These are the spark of humanity – of creativity–that AI can never replace.
Spend some time this week giving yourself the chance to stare into space, make some mistakes, erase some words, and write something nobody will ever see, just for the sake of having done it.
P. S. Want to put some craft-building writing time on your calendar this week? Try the 3-Day Challenge, a self-paced journey through the short story.
Find out more about the StoryADay
Superstars
The only qualification to be a ‘Superstar” is a desire to write and support your fellow writers.
A supportive group of committed writers, who meet virtually, support each other’s efforts, and inspire each other.
