Spring is here in this “real time” and place of Cologne, Germany in April, 2025 and it’s time for me to take on another creative writing challenge!
Also want to accomplish something artistic this month? There are a lot of ways to make the process fun with support and accountability from others, and here I’m sharing how I’ll be doing so this season (and how I keep my writing practices going on all year).
Writing Challenge Journey
Here’s the current state of my collected stories: I know I have a lot of hand-written tales (mostly true, some fictional) in my archived notebooks, and when I return to Cologne in May, I would like to do more “research” into my own notes and journals.
In the meantime I am so lucky as to have the opportunity to be traveling to the places of my birth (Portland, Oregon, where I also spent some years as an adult) and growing up (Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i) and will have the chance to reflect and talk story with family and dear friends and come up with new ideas for stories and rough drafts.
In recent years I’ve been working on my creative writing for personal and professional purposes, and the more I am able to practice, the better and more complete, more articulate it will become.
Pre-2019
Journaling, essay-writing, poems, the fanciful stories of childhood, the drama of my adolescence and early adulthood, academia, artistic creations were captured, more-or-less consistently in notebooks. My archives will serve to provide source material and inspiration along with dreams, philosophy and studies, and new inputs.
2019
In 2019 I wrote poetry and fiction, participating in my first and only National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo in November. I went on to write about that experience on the blog in 2023, when introducing that year’s challenge.
2020
In August of 2020 I sent my first weekly Email Newsletter and September I started posting articles (14 in the first year) to the blog here at ablythecoach.com. Those creations, as well as podcasting and sharing videos on YouTube became my focus that year.
2021
In 2021 I embarked on a daily haiku-writing challenge and focused for the year on poetry along with the projects I started the previous year (45 blog articles) and dancing, of course!
2022
This year included a lot of Bullet Journaling, consistent Email Newsletters, and publishing 28 articles to the blog.
2023
In July of 2023, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo, which the objective of working on true, Memoir-type stories that illuminate my lessons and teaching, the beauty of the human experience.
For this, I wrote 5 short stories (2,602 words), came up with 38 ideas of stories I’d like to work on from life, and published 2 of that year’s 14 articles, “Let’s Write! Camp NaNoWriMo & Creative Structure” and “Writing True Stories to Reflect & Connect.” Journaling and Email Newsletters were also going strong.
2024
In 2024 I participated in Camp NaNo again in July, writing 1 story (1,188 words) and that year I also published 30 articles and regular weekly emails.
2025 Goals
This month’s writing challenge is connected to my larger artistic goals for the year as well, which I wrote about in the Twenty 25s in 2025 article.
In fact, targets #2-7 are all writing-related: Blog Articles about dance, mindful movement, creativity, lifelong learning, coaching, and joyful living, Email Newsletters sharing my latest creations and offerings and valuable resources from other creators, Poems, Letters, Daily Logs, and Morning Pages being key to all of my creative and connective processes.
April 2025 Writing Targets
Unfortunately, this year I hesitate to participate officially in National Novel Writing Month, Camp NaNoWriMo in April, July, or otherwise, due to grave issues that nonprofit organization has had. YouTube is full of videos from authors about why they are no longer affiliated or participating in NaNo, such as Jenna the Soul Writer who posted this video recently, “Yet Writers Keep on Writing Onward (No Mo NaNoWriMo),” citing Sarra Cannon among others.
It is unfortunate that NaNoWriMo no longer seems to be a good option, since so many writers have gotten their start with such programs and types of support. But thankfully, there are still such structures and communities available, a couple of which share below under Writing Tools.
As with previous writing challenges, I intend to use the month of inspiration and accountability as an opportunity to both study and practice storytelling technique.
Here are my goals for April, developing habits that will continue to enrich my creative practice and life:
- Daily Story Ideas or “Acorns” (30), collect them in the spreadsheet I created last year
- Weekly Short Story Rough Drafts (4), amounting to over 2,025 Words
- Share about it on the Blog & Social Media @ablythecoach
Writing Tools
While brainstorming and writing my own creative true stories last July, I recorded this video about storytelling tools & resources that might support you in writing your own stories:
Books
Go old school and get inspiration from one or more of the many books on writing, such as:
- No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks
- Writing the Life Poetic by Sage Cohen
Community Writing Challenges
Being in community with other writers, whether sharing drafts, participating in writing sprints or concentrated challenges and other collaboration can be what makes the difference between aspiring and doing the thing!
I’ve personally found signing up for free challenges that take place over a week or a month’s time and build a creative network to be incredibly valuable, so I’ll keep joining in when I can, this month and possibly again this year and in the future.
Heart Breathings Rough Draft Challenge
Sarra Cannon’s Heart Breathings Rough Draft Challenge in April, for which you can set your own writing goal along with the Heart Breathings community is one alternative to NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNo/Memoir, with a simple tracking website which participants may use to record goals and share progress on projects.
there are various tiers based on desired word count, and I’m opting in for “Diamond” or choose-your-own challenge (can be words, hours, minutes, etc.).
Rough Draft Month
While looking into the Rough Draft Challenge above, I also stumbled into Rough Draft Month, who seem to have a very nice website, and state: “Rough Draft is a 30-Day Creative Challenge That Fits Your Unique Project. Join Us for the Next #RDMO in June, 2025.” Perhaps I will, though typically July works a bit better due to Summer holidays…
Questions for Reflection
- How do you collect your stories, personal or fictional?
- Which of your stories will you tell first?
- In what format and to what audience (if any) do you wish to share your creation?
- Will you join me in writing a story, poem, or other draft this month?
- What resources of support do you have access to?
- How can I help you take this creative leap?
Resources for Further Exploration
- Writing True Stories to Reflect and Connect – Camp NaNoWriMo Recap
- Let’s Write! Camp NaNoWriMo and Creative Structure
- Twenty 25s in 2025
- Charming Chosen Challenges – creative ways to try out or jumpstart a habit
- My Creative Morning Ritual
- Ignite the Spark of Creativity – 6 Ways to Be Inspired
- Haiku Poetry Challenge 2021- What I learned writing 365 Poems in a year
- Journaling & Reflective Practice
- Why Bother Distinguishing Your Why? 5 Tips for Purposeful Living, Inspiration, Meaning & Motivation
- Getting Out of Ruts & Into Action
Thank you for reading, for being, and for dancing with me, in spirit or in fact!
Take care of yourself and keep moving mindfully, let me know how if I can be of service, would love to see you in my email newsletter or on social media as well.
Blythe Stephens, MFA & Bliss Catalyst
they/them or she/her
Creator of A Blythe Coach @ablythecoach
helping multi-passionate creatives dance through their difficulties,
taking leaps of faith into fulfillment through coaching, yoga & dance education