Here comes November, the month when writers around the world sharpen their pencils or fire up their computers and get ready to write – a lot. So it’s time for my annual 30-day Writing with Pleasure Challenge.

You can sign up for National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, and pledge to write 50,ooo words in 30 days.  Or perhaps you'd rather hook up with one of NaNoWriMo's younger siblings, such as NaPoWriMo ("30 poems in 30 days") or AcWritMo (hashtag #acwrimo), an informal network of academic writers who adhere to these 6 rules:

1. You have to decide on a goal where you count either words, hours or projects.

2. You declare your goal by signing up on the ‘Accountability Spreadsheet’.

3. You then draft your approach to the month, making sure you have done enough preparation to write a lot.

4. You discuss your progress on social media like Twitter and Facebook.

5. You have to work really hard and not get distracted.

6. And at the end you must publicly declare your results on the spreadsheet or on social media.

If all this sounds appealing to you, then by all means go for it!  Write your entire novel or draft your PhD dissertation during a disciplined month of working "really hard" – and please don't forget to post about it on social media so that the rest of us can be reminded what lazy sluggards we are in comparison.

But if you'd prefer to take a more joyful and less punitive approach to daily writing, my free 30-day Writing with Pleasure Challenge offers a very different kind of writing challenge, prompting you to write with pleasure for at least 25 minutes a day every day for 30 days. 

If you make it through the full series of 30 daily prompts, you'll have a lot of fun along the way -- but if you miss a few days here and there, that's okay too.  This exercise is all about finding pleasure in writing, which sometimes means taking a day off from writing.

Please forward the registration link widely and encourage other writers to join the fun!  

I look forward (with pleasure!) to seeing you there.

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WriteSPACE members enjoy a complimentary subscription to Helen’s Word as part of their membership plan (USD $15/month or $150/year). Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE now and get your first 30 days free.

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At some point in your writing life, you may have been given well-meaning advice spelled out via the acronym KISS:  

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Personally, I refuse to dishonor intelligent, hardworking writers with such a mean-spirited harangue. Keep It Short and Simple – fair enough.  By why throw in that gratuitous Stupid?

As an alternative, I've come up with the formulation KISS don't TELL: 

Keep It Stylish, Sunshine!
don't
Turn Everything Long and Laborious

Earlier this week, as a writing warm-up at my weekly Virtual Writing Studio, I invited participants to spell out their own versions of KISS don't TELL – or, if they preferred, to propose creative variations. As usual, they came up with some wonderfully inventive and playful responses:

• KISS don't TELL: Keep It Sharp and Simple; don't Take Enjoyment, Let the reader Live in the writing! (Jennifer, Australia)

• KISS don't TELL: Kindle Inquiry, Suggest Satisfaction; don't Torture Everyone with Lengthy Lines (Anita, South Africa)

• CRISP don't SPELL: Create, Return, Inspire, Shape, Play; don't be Serious, Prohibit, Evaluate, Lonely, Loathe (Nina, Australia)

• KISS don't TELL: Keep It Short and Simple; don't use Tremendously Elegant Luxury Language (Hannah, UK)

• KISS don't TELL:
  
  Keep
  In mind that you are
  Smart with your genuine creativity
  Start to write anytime anywhere
  
  do not
  
  Think too much but
  Enjoy your writing with your own
  Language and make your meaningful
  Legacy on earth
  
  (Grace, Texas, USA)

Excellent advice all round! 

However, I'm well aware that Keeping It Short, Sharp, Smart, and Simple is not such a simple matter — especially when we feel pressured to impress our peers by Turning Everything Long and Laborious and Torturing Everyone with Lengthy Lines.

That's why I've devoted much of my adult life to writing books, developing online tools, and facilitating workshops, courses, and retreats for academic and professional writers who want to let the sunshine in but can't quite figure out how. If you're ready for another shot at that elusive KISS, this website offers an array of targeted resources for you to try.

Writing clear, elegant, engaging prose is a craft that anyone can learn — and I'm here to help you. You may wish to start by taking my “What’s Your Writing Roadblock?” quiz.

Keep It Stylish, Sunshine!  

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WriteSPACE members enjoy a complimentary subscription to Helen’s Word as part of their membership plan (USD $15/month or $150/year). Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE now and get your first 30 days free.

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What is that jewel-eyed bird saying to the glowing glass heart in the sky?

The answer lies inside your notebook. Unlock your own truth by picking up your favorite pen, setting a timer for ten minutes, and writing whatever words flow through your heart and hand onto the page.  

          Your title: "What the Bird Said"
          Your topic: Your writing

I tested out this prompt on the participants in two recent Virtual Writing Studio sessions. Their responses were lyrical, honest, and wise:

• The bird said: I perch in awe of the perfect writing – the heart – that stands out in the grey background, ready to take flight towards it. I prime my wings and aim toward clear, concrete, concise, and colourful writing. (Vicky, UK)
  

• I overheard the bird talking not long after I presented a conference paper titled "What can positive psychology offer to maths teaching and learning?" The bird said: "So now we are expected to be psychologists as well as maths lecturers? That bird is crazy! If I try to advise students on things beyond maths, why should they believe me?" (Anita, South Africa)
  

• I wrote about a rejection letter that I received last week. When I criticized my writing and myself, the bird reminded me that I should be more compassionate and supportive of myself. (Angelica, Texas, USA)
  

• The bird said: Perhaps try writing less and listening more. Research is a crafting art. Listen for the story in the sunrise, in the river running, in the teeth of old auntie casuarina. You worry too much about writing. Words are helpful, but they are not enough to fully express a life well-lived, or the ancient wisdom of Indigenous Songlines, or the importance of earthworm encounters. Sit with me awhile and we will listen together. (Nina, Australia)
  

• The bird said: Let your writing move like me through the blue sky … let it go anywhere; it can soar to great heights and it can swoop close to the ground. When you need to, you can take a rest on high branches; at other times, you can write with others – a murmuration of writespacers. You fly to make meaning, to come to know but most importantly, to connect your lines of flight with others. (James, UK)
  

• “Take heart,” the bird said. “As the sun burns, so does the ever-present inspiration for your writing”. How did it know that I was in the process of floundering, lost in a sea of data, demands, and deadlines? I sat back and contemplated its words, feeling for the first time in a while a sense of calm as I turned back to the screen. The words on the page suddenly seemed clearer, less imposing. The sun was in the sky, it was heart-shaped, and birds talked. Things weren’t so bad after all, and neither was my writing. (Victoria, Australia)

Creative writing prompts like this one can help you discover things about yourself that you didn't know you know. They fire our imagination and light up our words.

For more writing prompts like this one, check out the"Writing Warmups" playlist on my Helen's Word YouTube channel or visit my Live Writing Studio, where I'll invite you to get your creative juices flowing with some playful, permissive freewriting before we turn to more "serious" writing tasks. If you're not already a WriteSPACE member, you can use the discount code SNEAKPEEK for a sneaky month of free membership.

I'd love to see you there!

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Subscribe here to Helen’s Word on Substack to access the full Substack archive and receive weekly subscriber-only newsletters (USD $5/month or $50/year).

WriteSPACE members enjoy a complimentary subscription to Helen’s Word as part of their membership plan (USD $15/month or $150/year). Not a member? Join the WriteSPACE now and get your first 30 days free.

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