Everything you need to know about our Substack 7-Day Writing Sprint
What they are, who's behind them, how to join the Writing Sprint Club and take part in the next one. On your marks, get set, GO!
A 7-Day Writing Sprint is a structured course that helps you set a writing goal and meet it in daily steps. They’re fast, fun and motivational and help you supercharge any project you might be writing - whatever stage you’re at.
You share what you’re going to write each day and check in with us once you’ve done it. We give you a few things to think about over the course of the week so you learn about your process too.
Upcoming events:
SPRINT START: Monday 2nd of December
MAKE 2025 YOUR YEAR OF WRITING: Goal setting webinar and Q&A Friday 3rd January 1pm GMT
SPRINT START: Monday 3rd February 2025
SPRINT START: Monday 3rd March 2025
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.
You can choose whether to be active in the community, but we have found that those who share their progress and support other writers get the most from the week. We’re on hand to answer any questions and to give coaching advice along the way.
Make a note of the next start date above ⬆️. You’ll need to be a paid-for subscriber to this newsletter to take part. Sprints take place most months, usually on the first full week of the month. We’ll send you an email the Friday before they start.
If you really can’t afford to pay for a subscription, just shout and we’ll comp you - no questions asked.
If you are serious about writing, I would recommend - in a proverbial heartbeat - participating in one of Bec and Chris's Sprints. They work!
- Kim
Who’s behind them?
The 7-Day Writing Sprint format has been created by us, Bec Evans and Chris Smith who are authors of Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit that Lasts and co-founders of The Written Academy where we help people improve their writing practice and overcome their blocks. We also write Breakthroughs & Blocks, the newsletter you’re reading right now. Here’s a bit more about us.
We’ve been running sprints in various incarnations for around 10 years and the original idea is based in Agile project management methodology - an approach that breaks down projects into short, repeatable phases. The process works for the development of software projects so we wondered whether it would work for writing projects too - it does!
How to take part
The sprint takes place on Substack and you’ll need a Substack account to take part.
You’ll also need to be a paid subscriber of this newsletter - this gives you access to our Writing Sprint Club. You can join annually or month by month - it’s up to you.
What to expect
Sprints are simple, fast moving and fun!
✏️ Before you start: you’ll receive a pre-race training plan to complete. This will set you up for the week and help you prepare for any obstacles.
✏️ During your race: we'll send you daily posts helping you to reflect on each writing session and plan the next day’s step.
✏️ After the race: you’ll receive a cool down exercise. This will help you consolidate what you've learned and keep going.
I've never participated in a sprint before this one. I found that it inspirational to see what other writers were working on, how they dealt with obstacles, and how they gave themselves grace when they missed on goals. I will do this again for sure.
- Lisa Phillips
5 principles of engagement
We want this to be a positive and friendly community of people who are all committed to supporting each other. To that end:
Always treat fellow sprint club members with respect, courtesy and consideration.
Embrace varied perspectives and backgrounds without judgement or prejudice.
Keep comments suitable for all ages.
Never share private or sensitive material - please consider this a public forum.
This is not the place to ask for feedback on your work. Please avoid self-promotion or irrelevant posts.
In short, let’s be nice to each other folks. Thank you. ❤️
Is there a catch?
We don’t want to bombard our lovely newsletter subscribers with more emails, so we have set up the Writing Sprint Club as a new section within Breakthroughs & Blocks and paywalled the posts to keep the community private.
The sign up process is a bit vexatious at the moment. If the instructions below are too complicated let us know - we can help.
This seven day sprint has put me back on track with my novel-in-progress. I achieved way more than I thought was possible in just a week, and saw how useful writing for just one hour a day could be. The community around the sprint was also fantastic and motivated me to keep pushing forward-thank you!
- Mel Piper
Ready to join? Here’s how to sign up for the next one
Currently, the Substack app doesn't support subscribing to individual sections of a publication - which is how our sprints are set up. This means you can only sign up to sprint via the web version of Substack. Here's how you can do it:
1. Sign into Substack
Open your browser and go to Breakthroughs & Blocks online via: breakthroughsandblocks.substack.com/
You will be prompted to sign in - see screen below. If you have an account please sign in, if you can’t remember your password, simply add your email and you will be sent a link.
If you don’t have an account, follow the instructions from Substack to create one. All you need is a name (doesn’t have to be your real name) and your email address.
2. Update your settings
Go to your profile, the icon on the top right of the screen, and a menu will pop up. Click on settings. Your account details will open on the screen.
3. Subscribe to the Writing Sprint Club
Once in settings, scroll down to ‘Subscriptions’ (past notifications and privacy). Click on Breakthroughs & Blocks. The following will open on screen.
Writing Sprint Club will be greyed out (as above). Select to subscribe and it will toggle to green (below).
That’s it - you’re subscribed!
We hope to see you on the starting line soon! 😊
Bec & Chris
Hey guys, I'll be there again! The last one was so helpful and I loved being a part of it x
Hi there! Really pumped for this sprint -- I signed up for the one in April but had unexpected travel plans. I'm hoping my spotty recovery from travel and a family emergency in April will get a super-charged recharge next week. I have been writing a novel for.... (wait for it) *years* and the 60K+ chapter outline I have, while helpful, is not the connect-the-dots guide I thought it would be. I have a new narrator, some new dates in the timeline, and a new focus on one sibling as the protagonist instead of bopping around between all three of them.
Looking forward to finally seeing a *whole lot* of words on the page that actually tell a story instead of just pieces of one.
PS the questionnaire was a great help!! Thank you!!