Want to jumpstart your writing?
Sign up for a FREE 30-day writing challenge, hosted on Discord, with SBWN!
It’s Novel and Poetry Writing Month in November!
Starting on 1 November, join us in our virtual winter lodge themed semi-guided challenge to help you complete a writing goal of your choosing before the end of the year. Inside the challenge, you’ll get writing prompts, weekly write-ins and resources throughout the month to keep the campfire glowing!
Bonus
Join us for Preptober
October 1 to 31
We’re kicking off prep season for the challenge starting 1 October so you can have the full month to prepare to help you work on your project in November so you can achieve your goal by 30 November. We’ll have prep work sessions, a workbook you can use to help you plan, and resources to make the most of your 30 days.
Explore the challenge: Why Join? | Is this for me? | Itinerary | Team Captains | FAQ
How the challenge works
Fill out our short Tally form to sign up.
This is where you can share your challenge intention or goal.
Join our Discord server.
Participate in our write-ins.
Start writing!
Share your daily updates.
Why join the challenge
Get progress badges as you move through the challenge
Check in daily for a chance to be entered in for a prize
Get to know and build connections with writers in your cabins
Track your progress on our leaderboard
Get a dedicated newsletter so you always stay in the loop.
Kind words from past participants
“I found it [the challenge] especially helpful with sparking new ideas based on the writing prompts. I feel as though getting into the daily practice of writing has helped me to improve so much.”
– an anonymous participant
Après-ski loot
We are doing a giveaway for 2 prizes!
2 successful winners will each receive a £50 National Book Token so you can treat yourself to a new book!
Challenge Itinerary
We’ll be hosting the following events including weekly weekend write-ins to help you throughout the challenge:
Dates coming soon
Grab a warm drink if you are a...
…BPOC writer in Scotland at any stage of your journey, from beginners to people who have been writing for a long time.
The prompts are simple and designed to get you writing ASAP.
If you’ve struggled with writing regularly (whatever ‘regularly’ means to you), these daily prompts, as well as being in a community with writers working on the same challenge, might help you build a routine for the future and strengthen your writing habits.
Meet your team captains
While the challenge is partially self-directed, you’ll have support from our team of captains to help guide you through the challenge!
Debbie
Currently working through: A murder mystery first draft.
Challenge specialty: Technical stuff and research
Nailah – Team Novel
Currently working through: Outlining an analog christmas horror draft
Challenge specialty: Fast drafting
Titi – Team Poetry
Currently working through: coming soon
Challenge specialty: coming soon
Kelly – Team Experimental
Currently working through: A creative nonfiction essay series about the Punisher
Challenge specialty: Comics, games, the difficult-to-categorise
FAQs
No problem! Life happens and we expect that you may need to dip in and out as you need to. There is no pressure from us to tap in daily if life becomes too busy or circumstances have changed. You can return to camp when you’re ready to continue!
Nope. Your challenge, your intention. We encourage writing down your goals because you’re 42% more likely to achieve them when you do1. This could look like writing 50K words in 31 days. Or this could look like creating a new plot outline, writing a new poem, building your series bible, editing a passage or even a whole manuscript, or simply writing for 31 days for any amount of time. What you choose to accomplish in 31 days is up to you.
No worries. You’re always welcome to use our writing sprint channel and write on your own, or better yet gather peers in your cabin to write together!
The campfire stays on for whenever you need to enjoy its warmth!
That’s the plan. Sign up to our newsletter to stay tuned.
Shop craft books
The links included in this blog use our Bookshop.org affiliate link. As a bookshop.org affiliate, we earn 10% on sales. By using our affiliate link to buy any books you help support us and all funds earned go towards supporting our mission.
You can also check out De-Canon: Writers of Color Discussing Craft – An Invisible Archive for more writing on craft from BIPOC writers.