A countdown, a challenge and a community
Celebrating 100 days of writing - a gentle approach to writing productivity
Hey there, Bec here
This Sunday, 22 September marks 100 days until the end of the year. If you’re like me, that’s pretty confronting. Panic inducing - when I look back on my goals for the year, there is so much left to do. But also it’s a come-get-me, an opportunity to show 2024 what I’ve got.
Being the sort of person I am, I love a challenge. Give me a goal and I’m racing to reach it. Give me some rules and I’m following them, how many days, what to do, when - sign me up! So it was with my first experience of 100 days of writing.
My 100 days of writing
It’s June 2018 and I have just achieved my lifelong dream, as I blogged at the time:1
“a publisher wants to publish me. I’ve got a contract and an advance. The only problem: I haven’t written the book yet. ... Luckily, I have a plan. I’ve got until 1 October to write, rewrite, edit, re-edit, and hand in the best possible version of my book. That’s around 100 days of writing allowing for the odd day off and one week’s holiday. Sounds manageable.”
Inspired by Jenn Ashworth’s #100daysofwriting over on Instagram, I set myself a daily goal to turn up to the book. I tweeted my progress each day with an image from my writing life and the hashtag.
In the end, I did it - I wrote the book in 100 days. It was ‘manageable’ in that I managed to write, rewrite, edit then re-edit 60,000 words in 100 days - but the pressure nearly destroyed me. I had full time job running a business and raising funds for a digital startup and was writing on top of that, seven days a week in addition to the unescapable responsibilities that come with being an adult.
I was always playing catch up, teetering at the edge of burnout. When I now read that book, the breathless pace of it reflects that experience. But 100-day projects don’t have to be like that.
“I have always been fascinated with the ways that creative people balance inspiration and discipline in their working lives. It’s easy to be energized when you’re in the grip of a big idea. But what do you do when you don’t have anything to work with?”
- Michael Bierut
A container for inspiration and discipline
When he was teaching at Yale School of Art, graphic designer Michael Bierut set his students a similar task. The assignment was to repeat a ‘design operation’ every day for 100 days. The only restriction was that every iteration must be documented for eventual presentation. After running the assignment for five years, he shared his observations in 2011 as well as some of his favourite projects. Bierut wrote:2
“Everyone starts with high hopes. But things get repetitive by day ten. By day twenty, no matter what you’ve decided to do, it feels like you’ve been doing it forever. And bridging the end-of-year break is always a big challenge. But the students who get past day thirty or forty tend to get in a groove that will take them through to the end.”
That is after all how habits are formed, through repetition.3
Having 100 days is such a clear container for creativity. Just do the thing, every day - simple.
The benefits and downsides to 100-day projects
Along with the simplicity, there’s many reasons why a 100-day project is so compelling. The start of a new challenge boosts motivation and productivity. Achieving a daily goal gives us that feel-good sense of accomplishment. It can lead to unexpected breakthroughs and creative connections.4
But it’s not all fun. As Bierut noted, this is fundamentally about discipline, and that’s hard. The pressure to repeat something every day can stifle creativity, and the fear of falling behind can lead to burnout. Some years, more than half of his students dropped out before finishing.
“The only way to experience this kind of discipline is to subject yourself to it. Every student who has taken this project had a moment where the work turned into a mind-numbing grind. And trust me: it won’t be the first time this happens. The trick is to press on. For each new day (whether it’s Day 28, Day 61, even Day 100) brings with it the hope of inspiration.”
- Michael Bierut
Jenn Ashworth’s #100daysofwriting
While I was inspired by Jenn Ashworth, her 100 days of writing was very different to my output-driven race to the end. Following a family bereavement she was in the grip of writer’s block and decided to be kind to herself, to dial down the pressure and make writing less intimidating.
In order to get out of her writing rut she started small by posting the idea on Instagram with the hashtag #100daysofwriting. “Every day for 100 days I’d turn up to the book,’ she said. She didn’t put herself under any obligation to write for a specific amount of time; there was no goal, no target to aim for. Her hope was to rekindle her friendship with the book.
The gentle approach was the point of it all. It was all about showing up, which she did - she turned up to the book every day for 100 Days. Sometimes she did very little, sometimes she did a lot. She wrote at home, at work, on trains, in hotels, at a wedding, on the beach, and on holiday with her family. Sometimes she wrote, other times she edited, tinkered and planned, and sometimes she got distracted and procrastinated.5
“It was about seeing what it was like every day and trying to observe the process more than the product. I guess, trying to learn why I was so afraid, what worked well for me, and what didn’t, which times of day worked and which didn’t, and how much could I get done, and just consciously observe all of that and figure something out.”
- Jenn Ashworth
Ashworth found that the structure gave her the support she needed to reconnect with her writing. She told me, “It’s not every year that someone close in your family dies, but every day something happens to get in the way of the writing. It is possible to turn up and be a writer and have all that normal stuff happen in your life.”
How I’d approach it now
While there is nothing wrong with my initial drive for creative productivity, it should not come at the expense of health and wellbeing. Over the years, I have learned to apply the good bits of 100-day projects and avoid the pitfalls of too much pressure.
A 100-day project provides scaffolding. It reduces decision fatigue by preventing the endless battle with willpower; it boost motivation and engagement, and doing in public with community support makes you feel less alone - you are part of something bigger.
Looking ahead to the final 100 days of 2024, I’ll take a different approach focussed on the practice of writing. Observing the repetition of a task, rather than racing to complete. It’s an opportunity to embrace imperfection and reflect. Here are some of my intentions:
Focus on practice not output
Show up each day, if only for a few minutes
Reflect on the process - observe what works and what doesn’t
Find community support to stay connected and accountable
I’d love to hear if you’re planning on doing a 100-day project - pop a comment below.
We are also running a workshop for paying subscribers on Wednesday 9 October (recording available) to reflect back on the year and put in place realistic plans. Find out more and sign up here. As always, if you can’t afford a sub, let us know and we’ll comp you.
Keep writing, Bec
Community - support to keep you going with your 100-day project
Get started. A quick way to get going is just to use the hashtag #100daysofwriting on social media. I started on Twitter back in 2018, but found a strong community over on Instagram.
Mark your progress.
’s 100 days free download.100 Days of Writing on Substack. Author and creativity coach for writers,
is running a 100 Days of Writing here on Substack. I met Katherine on Jenn Ashworth’s original #100daysofwriting on Instagram.Free workshop! Our friends at The London Writers’ Salon are running a free 1-hour workshop to help you make the most of the final 100 days of 2024. Join them for a powerful and fun workshop on Monday 23 September to explore what you could do in 100 days. Recording available! Sign up for the 100-day workshop here.
Global art community the100dayproject is run by
on Substack and Instagram. The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and share your process on social using the hashtag #The100DayProject. The next round will start in early 2025 but any day is a great day to begin.We are here for you too! Don’t miss our workshop on Wednesday 9 October to reflect back and plan ahead. Free to Breakthroughs & Blocks members - find out more and register here.
And if you need some extra support you can book a free no obligation coaching call with us, you’ll be surprised what we can cover in 20 minutes.
Best laid plans: how to beat the planning fallacy and meet your writing deadlines by Bec Evans, 4 June 2018 - originally on Prolifiko
Five Years of 100 Days by Michael Bierut in ‘The Design Observer’, 10 February 2011.
Working on something regularly can build momentum to power long-term behaviour change. Research varies on how long it takes to form a habit - it all depends on how hard the task is. For designers who take Bierut’s assignment and work on a self-directed, chosen project within their range of skills, it looks like 30-40 days is the sweet spot for turning a task into a habit.
Some of Bierut’s students have had great success with their projects, such a Ely Kim’s daily dance, Rachel Berger’s paint chip poems. Others are just fun and creative - smashing up a small toy each day or doing something different with a folding chair. Again, you can read about them in Five Years of 100 Days by Michael Bierut.
#100DaysOfWriting – the gentle approach to writing productivity by Jenn Ashworth on Prolifiko, 17 January 2018.
This could be useful if I use it to see if I can enter the Mslexia Poetry Competition. That won't be quite the 100 days and I also have the novel manuscript to get ready for mentor review and submission. Would be a great structure though because it'll allow me to be disciplined and we all love a bit of discipline!🤭🤭
I wasn't going to do it because I rarely stick through this kind of "challenge " and I end up being disappointed in myself. But I'm tempted. I have signed up for the LWS workshop and I'll decide after that.
Quick question Bec, have you done it every year since 2018 ?