April blogging challenge – Join me?
I was just reminded by Imperfect's latest post that Inkhaven is a thing. It's a 30-day residency in which residents hone their writing by way of blogging.
It's cool in the way that bougie is cool. I can admit there's a bit of envy on my part—how romantic it would be to leave my current life for a month to focus on creativity!—but I'm not convinced that a person's craft is improved by being in a particular geographic location. I get the concept: being around like-minded folks is a boon for enthusiasm and generating ideas. However, I'm not economically positioned to afford such an opportunity. I doubt I'm alone in feeling all this.
So! As a proverbial tossing of a message in a bottle, I'm wondering if anyone on this platform would like to pursue a low-key variant of Inkhaven. Sorry, I can't offer posh accommodations or meal plans or mentorship or workshops or blackjack or hookers. What I can offer is accountability, feedback, and peer support.
On my end, my goals are to:
- Write an April's worth of daily posts, each with least 500 words
- Clear some of my backlogged ideas/outlines (e.g., those that require light edits or thoughtful consolidation or dedicated elaboration)
- Clarify what a routine approach to writing looks like in this era of my life (this is where I'd require accountability and support from others, as it's a form of individualized problem-solving that benefits from trading notes with others)
Caveats, because I'd like to set expectations up front:
- Each writer (myself or partner) shall write no more than five meta-blog posts. I refer to the tried (and tired) writing about blogging. I can appreciate that blogging about blogging stems from enthusiasm for the activity, but my interest is to then go somewhere with the medium. This constraint also applies to encouraging others to blog. I'm serious about blogging to solve concrete problems—those that are unique to the writer. Meta-blogging is shallow and there's enough out there. Let's take the time to stare into our personal abysses, shall we?
- I'm located in the Mountain timezone and will strive to publish by 6pm my time. This gives me some time in the evening to read posts by my writing partner(s) to provide feedback.
- Since I mean to provide feedback (either technical for writing, and/or substantive in terms of introspective content), I'd appreciate if my writing partner(s) committed to the same; this is how we can emulate the social aspects of a residency program.
- No more than four partner(s). To keep things cozy and tidy, a small group is my preference. This could be a way to meet a long-term friend from Bearblog.
- Writing partner(s) use either Discord or email to stay in contact. Discord is preferred because we can track word count and progress along the way, but I respect those conscious of privacy and anonymity to use email.
- Zero AI. It pains me to have to include this, but in the spirit of challenge, there's no room for AI tools. The common goal is to improve one's capacity to communicate ideas, not one's capacity to form prompts.
Interested? Email me at poeticknight@pm.me and I'll start coordinating. If you come across this post after March 31 and would like to join, I welcome late correspondence (say, until the end of this upcoming Sunday). Don't let missing a few days derail you from what could be a meaningful month!