13 things writers learned in our first Substack sprint
From showing up each day to the magic of accountability: words of advice from our intrepid sprinters that will help you keep writing.
We’ve just hosted our first writing sprint on Substack - it was a bit of an experiment to see whether they would work on this platform. We’ve run them in various guises for a long time now – starting them ten years ago as an email course to a few people.
What’s a writing sprint?
Taking place over seven days, a sprint is a structured way to move your writing forward in daily steps. If you’d like to know more read this. Last month we asked for volunteers and lots of amazing people said they’d give sprinting a go - thank you one and all 🤗.
This is the biggest and busiest sprint community we’ve ever had with 145 people taking part and 667 comments being left - although many of those were from us because we really can’t help ourselves.
This post was going to be about what we learned from running the sprint but instead, we’re sharing what our Substack sprinters learned. We believe that while all writers are different, it helps to hear how other people get the writing done - and you may just find a spot of advice that helps you to keep going.
A big thank you to everyone who agreed to be quoted for this post - all super people and writers, we encourage you to check out their Substacks too. Over to them:
1. You can do a lot with little
“My biggest learning this week is how much progress can be made in 60 minutes. During the week, I was setting aside just an hour to work on the novel around everything else, and I was so productive! Hopefully I can work out how to keep this going and keep motivated on these lines.”
- Mel Piper, The Little Things
2. Achieving your goals feels great!
“Boom 💥 recalibrated and wrote loads. Achieved today’s target of 2 hours plus another hour and felt good (and worked on the day job in between). Definitely feeling in a good place. Thanks all!”
- Benita Mayhead, Benita’s Substack
3. Just get your sh*t down
“I guess, in my head, there is this romantic vision of what writing looks like (organised desk, cup of coffee, household equilibrium, dog snoring) versus just getting sh*t down on paper; meeting myself where I’m at and not where I think I should be.”
- Annette Corbett, Fifty Unfiltered
4. Keep it simple - just show up
“My one good thing has been the magic of showing up. Even though there’s been competing tasks and in all honesty, I should have blocked out more time for this, I can see how much the project’s shifted and with the next two days, and a couple of hours on Monday, I know it will be where it needs to be for my call with my agent next week. Thank you xo”
- Antonia Taylor, The Conversation
5. ‘Doing’ is always better than ‘not doing’, but…
“What I'm considering today: somehow, the 'sprint habits' feel like they've sunk in and I automatically work to find a way to 'do' instead of 'fret,' 'ignore' or 'make excuses.”
- Cynthia Reed, RoadNoise
6. …staring out of the window can also be ‘doing’
“I think staring out of the window is a necessary part of the creative process - although I have only recently learned not to berate myself for not doing something more obviously productive.”
- Jenny Cooke
7. Deadlines work
“I've been reminded this week how much I love a deadline, so my next step tomorrow will be to review and edit my poems, create a list of actions for the following week and keep up this momentum!”
- Rosie Mowatt, Rosie’s Substack
8. You might surprise yourself
“Didn’t think I’d manage anything today but I’ve drafted something while the onions sweated (vodka pasta for tea).”
- Beth Daley
9. A little every day helps
“What’s gone well? I’ve touched some aspect of my writing every single day - yay! While I haven’t worked on my novel as much as I hoped to (yet), my short story is DONE. I’ve already sent it off to my beta readers who love it. I just have some very minimal editing to do and I’ll be submitting it for a local writing contest.”
- Grace Gorham
10. Writing IS hard - but that’s also why we love it
“Writing is hard because we have to teach ourselves what we think in order to put words on paper (or screen). But that’s also what makes writing so amazing! As I read the pages I have written during the sprint, I can see just how much I have learned about my project. I am now convinced it is both achievable and worthwhile. It’s a nice feeling.”
11. Harness the power of Pomodoro
“You read my mind. The Pomodoro method is working its magic. Thanks for the encouragement.”
- Lisa Phillips
12. There’s no ‘one way’ to get the writing done
“The biggest lesson for me is that there isn't any one routine that works. Between this sprint and the RESET earlier in the year, I've got a toolkit of different routines and a nascent sense of when to deploy each in reaction to the specific blocks life tries to put in my way.”
- Paul Sturrock, Niche Navigation
13. Writing together can be a game-changer
“Accountability feels good to stay on track. Feeling that someone supports you and can give you advice to reaffirm what you already thought gives more strength to your everyday actions and disposition towards writing. I was able to get out of a blockade and my self-boycott; and deal with my discomfort. I am very grateful for the company!”
- Francisca Avilés
So what’s next?
Some of you have asked us to run the sprint again (and again).
“This sprint has been more helpful to me than 3 months worth of Substack membership because it’s meeting us where we are. It’s so nice to be among people who are sharing the same journey and being transparent about what works and what doesn’t, it’s a place from which we can all learn something and grow. I find what feels like a recent barrage of notes about subscriber counts and wotnot really dispiriting. So Bec/Chris can we extend the sprint for another 8 months? 😂”
- Annette Corbett, Fifty Unfiltered
And we’ve been considering it…
Ahh go on then. Who’s up for the week of 6th May? 🙌 (Okay it didn’t take us that long to consider).
However (serious face)
I’m afraid for the next one we will need to limit membership of the sprint club to our paying subscribers. Please note that if you volunteered to help us last time we’ve comped you a free month as a thank you.
Why do we need to charge? For a couple of reasons.
Firstly, privacy. We want your comments to only be available to other members of the sprint club and the only way we can do that on Substack is to paywall the sprint posts.
Secondly, our time. Running sprints takes quite a lot of it and frankly, we have a mortgage and our elderly labradoodle’s vets’ bills to pay. We hope you understand.
You can support us with a small monthly payment or you can take out an annual subscription - we hope you think this is a reasonable. Also, if you really can’t afford to pay, just shout and we’ll comp you - no questions asked.
➡️ Here’s how to sign up: Everything you need to know about our Substack 7-Day Writing Sprint
Hope to see you on the starting line in May.
Chris and Bec
Oooooo fantabulous!! I have felt a little lost this week without the sprint which has really surprised me as I thought I had working from home and being, well, alone, down to a fine art. I didn’t know what I was missing, I guess. And I’ve not written as much this week either **sighs**. So I shall be there in May with bells, whistles and jazz hands 🥁
Also, to anyone wondering, it’s great value membership with the perfect cadence of content 🥳
Here’s to hoping this time works out a little more in my favor! (Thank you for the comp, by the way!)
I think I shot myself in the foot by focusing more on how much to get done (or not) versus time and attention I was able to give to the work — so when the goal post wasn’t drawing nearer and my blocks of work time went out the window — I had to bow out.
Looking forward to seeing how I can support myself better (and more realistically) this next round!