A Week of Writing Challenges with Marees Books

Sometimes it can be challenging to motivate yourself to write when there is a lot going on around you, so when my dear friend and fellow writer Maree (@mareesbooks) suggested we do 5 days of writing challenges, I thought why the hell not, perhaps I’ll finally get these final chapters of my novel written. I was so surprised by how productive it made me over the week, incredibly I managed to add thousands of words to my novel. More than I’d been able to write the last few weeks combined. So what were the challenges we did exactly, and how did it go? Well keep reading to hear how both Maree and I tackled each challenge, plus the videos we made documenting the process.

The Challenge

• Complete a writing challenge a day for 5 days.
• Film the process (we decided to share our attempts on TikTok).

Day 1 – Write until your cup of tea is cold or empty

 Catherine

So, the plan was to start these challenges on a Monday and do one a day. But of course, life is messy and you can get interrupted. I started on Tuesday. I had been working on Chapter 32 of my novel recently, and it had taken me so long, with barely any words making it the page in my last few writing sessions. I sat down with my cup of celeyon tea with milk (no sugar!), opened up my manuscript and set about writing (aka word dumping) as much as possible before I either drank the tea or it went cold. And knowing myself, usually my tea goes cold before I get to drinking all of it.

Surprisingly though, I managed to drink it before it cold this time. And with that, a surprising number of words were added to my novel. So, in 27 minutes and 59 seconds I wrote 771 words. Not a bad result at all. This challenge was great to get me focused and competitive to beat the clock (and tea temperature) with as many words as possible.

@wilddinosaurr @Maree ✨️ and I tried to write for a long as possible the other day before our cup of tea was empty or cold. 771 words ain’t a bad effort in my opinion, I wonder how Maree went? #writertok #writingabook #writingchallenge #writingcommunity #writingtips ♬ Vlog – Kitty Girl

Maree

In the lead up to these challenges I had just finished doing some rewrites on my latest work in progress, and tentatively planning a new one, so my creative wells were feeling pretty dry. Still, I wanted to jump into the drafting process whilst the high of a new idea still lingered. For our tea drinking challenge, I was tackling one of a writer’s biggest foes—the blank page. But I came armed with a plan. I have the tendency to mindlessly drink whatever is in front of me when I’m swept up in thought, so I knew I would burn through my tea (and my tongue) very quickly. Perhaps this is cheating then, but I grabbed a glass of water and placed it beside my tea, where it was slightly easier to reach. For the tea, I chose my favourite green tea matcha. Then, I got to work. Overall, I managed to write for an hour and ten minutes before my tea went cold, during that time I wrote 1,732 words! Goodbye blank page!

@mareesbooks Day one of the writing challenge with @Catherine ✤ Writer & Librarian! How much can you write before your tea goes cold? #Author #authortok #authorhumor #authorsoftiktok #writer #writertok #writerhumor #writersoftiktok #book #books #foryou #fyp #foryoupage #fypage #fypシ ♬ I Hate It Here – Taylor Swift

Day 2 – Write as much as possible, for as long as possible, while resisting the pastry in front of you

Catherine

I have a raging sweet tooth so this challenge was really hard. Again the plan was to do this daily, but Wednesday was so busy I did not have the time to even buy a pastry for this challenge. Instead I shifted this to Thursday morning, and my partner went on a coffee run, bringing back my favourite pastry at our local bakery, a maple pecan plait. Truely a most delicious pastry.

I seriously did not think I’d be able to resist eating it for long, having it stare at me teasingly next to my keyboard as I wrote. But, by the power of a hearty breakfast just an hour earlier, I managed to resist it for 47 minutes and 33 seconds, which allowed me to write 1200+ words and finally, after weeks of working on this chapter, finish chapter 32! This challenge has got me one step closer to the finale of my novel!

@wilddinosaurr Challenge #2 Write for as long as you can while resisting the temptation of the pastry in front of you…boy was this hard. @Maree ✨️ attempted this one with a brownie, which sounded even more torturous. #writertok #writingabook #writingchallenge #writingcommunity #writingtips ♬ My Frequency – Rickert Ponce

Maree

This challenge was the bane of my day. For some unknown reason I came up with the horrendous idea of choosing brownie for my sweet treat. As someone who regretfully cannot consume gluten, my options for baked goods in my area are slim, but the local supermarket does offer a very yummy gluten free brownie. Which also happens to smell incredible. You see where this is going? I sat at my desk for the best part of an hour, trying my hardest to type, trying my hardest to resist that smell. But the brownie may as well have yanked my hands from the keyboard. I could not think with that smell in my face. I wrote for 40 minutes and only managed 300 words, which is abysmal compared to my usual efforts.

@mareesbooks This did not go as planned. Writing challenge day two with @Catherine ✤ Writer & Librarian #author #authortok #authorhumor #authorsoftiktok #writer #writertok #writerhumor #writersoftiktok #book #books #foryou #fyp #foryoupage #fypage #fypシ ♬ Down Bad – Taylor Swift

Day 3 – Give each other 5 words to include in the piece of writing we’re working on

Catherine

Given I was a few days behind schedule with the plan to do these challenges, I decided to do this the same day as the pastry challenge, but in the afternoon. Maree challenged me to include the following words in my next piece of writing:

• serpentine
• unease
• craving
• hallowed
• “No!”

Now, I know she gave me these to be somewhat aligned with what I was planning to write, but that was for chapter 32 which I’d finished earlier that morning. So instead I had to figure out how to include these in chapter 33, which had far less action and sinister feeling. Maree… this was so hard. After an 1 hour and 19 minutes, I’d only managed to sneak in the first three words, serpentine, unease and craving, before my brain desperately needed a break.

Even though I didn’t get all the words in, I still managed to add 2000+ words to my manuscript! So I paused my timer, saved my word doc, and stepped away from it for a little bit. I came back to it the next morning, and managed to write for another 20 or so minutes, adding another 350 words to my document and the final challenge words from Maree. Talk about stretching your creative muscles, this exercise was a doozy!

@wilddinosaurr Time to see how we did with our 3rd writing challenge! Don’t forget to see how @Maree ✨️ did over on her page! #writertok #writingabook #writingchallenge #writingcommunity #writingtips #writer #writing #writingprompts ♬ Shake Bink Shake (Live) – Piece Music

Maree

When Catherine and I exchanged words, I was planning to begin a rewrite of another project I want to edit. I told Catherine that the scene would be a way for us to experience and understand the magic system for the first time. So, the words she gave me (quite appropriately) were:

• Shimmering
• Unusual
• Desperate
• Heaving
• “Seriously?”

I then decided to swap books and write the new project because apparently, I am mean to myself. This scene was to take place as my main character purchased some equipment from a trading stall before departing on her journey. I really couldn’t have picked more of a contrasting scene if I had planned to. But there are few things I like more than a challenge. Most of the words I ended up using in small descriptions of nearby characters and scenery. So, all in all, it took me about ten minutes, and I wrote less than 100 words. Some snippets of these sentences:

…the water, shimmering in the light of the harvest moon… playing an unusual stringed instrument…some desperateanimal off in the distance…heaving a bag of rice into his cart… “Seriously?” I quirked a brow.

I have to say, this task was probably my favourite.

@mareesbooks Day three of writing challenges with @Catherine ✤ Writer & Librarian today we gave each other five words to include in our scene! I loved this one! #Author #authortok #authorhumor #authorsoftiktok #writer #writertok #writerhumor #writersoftiktok #book #books #foryou #fyp #foryoupage #fypage #fypシ ♬ trees and flowers by strawberry switchblade – Eissej

Looking to participate yourself? Try incorporating these words into your next piece of writing: unhurried, languid, shaking, flinch, and courage. 

Day 4 – Give each other a YouTube video soundtrack to write to

Catherine

This was a really fun challenge! Maree and I decided we’d have to give each other a video to soundtrack our writing for the day. Being kind, we did ask each other what vibe the piece of writing was going to be so the soundtrack wasn’t completely unrelated. Given I was writing the final confrontation scene with my characters and the villain, it was very fitting that she gave me this video to write to:

Also great was that it was an hour long, so it was a bit of a time challenge too. By the end of it I’d written one of the harder moments I’ve put my characters through, and I am 1200 words close to finishing this book. I’d call that a certified writing win.

@wilddinosaurr Writing challenge 4: Writing to music with @Maree ✨️ #writertok #writingabook #writingchallenge #writingcommunity #writingtips ♬ BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S – Cavendish

Maree

I feel like I’m divulging too much when I say I am one of those strange people who likes writing in complete silence. I know, I know, it’s weird, I’m weird, everything is weird. On occasion, I’ll put an ambient video on, or play an orchestral soundtrack, but for the most part, I sit there with my noise cancelling headphones and listen to absolutely nothing.

The noise cancelling headphones make it weirder, don’t they?

Originally, I asked Catherine for a soundtrack for the scene I mentioned earlier, about discovering the magic system, but upon switching projects, I went for a soundtrack to an indoor meeting place with the vibe of a tavern at 2pm on a Monday afternoon. Catherine chose a perfect piece, so I pressed play and tried to let the sounds of chairs scraping on floorboards, and clinking glasses whisk me away.

I ended up writing for the full hour, with varying degrees of sensory sensitivity throughout, and I managed around 1000 words.

Looking to participate yourself? Why not write to the video below: 

Day 5 – Write a poem about the scene you plan to work on today

Catherine

I love writing poetry but some days it can be a serious challenge. I have my last chapter left to go, so I wrote my poem based on my plans for that. To be upfront about it, I wrote my poem very quickly, in about 15 minutes, with zero editing. The poem after all, really isn’t the point, but to get your brain moving creatively before diving into your writing project. It was a fun exercise, so with that said, here is the poem:

Blood born, blood lost, blood changed

Entered and exited altered

Nevermore their bond the same

Danger, death, death, disaster

Do they run? Could they? Will they?

Bandaged and patched together

Fates knotted with the fate of a throne

 

Two lovers on the edge of a promise

To keep? To Break? To remake?

Darkness stalks both hearts, hungry

But glimmers of light, of tomorrow, fight it

Together then, day by precious day

But a misstep, a fall, will come

How will they face each other then?

 

The long journey is just beginning

Once four strangers, now firm family

Yet the horrors endured pale to those coming

To the sea they flee and wait

For the King? For Death? For Freedom? 

But dark magic has tainted the tapestry

And it will not wash away easily

@wilddinosaurr Its our last writing challenge and today was a poetry writing challenge! @Maree ✨️ and I have had a great time doing these challenges this week. I’ll be posting a full blog about the week tomorrow x #writertok #writingabook #writingchallenge #writingcommunity #writingtips #writer ♬ Finitude – Gabriel Albuquerqüe

Maree

I am going to be frank here, I am no poet. I suggested this challenge because I know how much Catherine enjoys writing poetry. I forgot that I was also partaking in said challenge. Which is great. Yay me. The scene I was working on here takes place in an enchanted forest, as two characters who have only just met begin a journey that will change their lives forever.

I ended up writing fragments of a poem lost to time, which serves as a warning to anyone entering the forest, hoping to find the best path through.

The path beneath my fingers

Weaving fickle in the dark

And nary ever leading any-

Where inside my heart

The path beside my arteries,

A path alone and cold,

It takes the footsteps back and forth,

In journeys yet untold.

The path between the bending trees,

Where shelter is desired,

But midnight strikes in clicking locks,

Turn back if wary eyed.

A path not trodden, growing wild,

A path not known to all,

A path that’s all encompassing,

A promise to enthral.

Chose a path or not a path,

One rule mist be obeyed,

No odds will ever conquer odds,

So one must be betrayed.

 

Following this, I wrote for about an hour and managed 1200 words for my new forest scene!

@mareesbooks Day five of writing challenges with @Catherine ✤ Writer & Librarian. Not gonna lie, this was my least fav haha #writing ♬ Snow on the Beach – siti maesaroh

And that rounds out this 5 day writing challenges. Were we successful in managing to do one a day? No. But we did attempt them all roughly within a week, which given how chaotic both our lives can be is quite the achievement! We had so much fun doing this, messaging each other throughout about how we were going, how hard things were or funny things we wrote.

And better still it made us productive! I am still in awe that I wrote as much as I did through these challenges. I’ll certainly be giving a few of them ago again in future, as I’m sure Maree will too. After all, every writer needs tools and tricks to get their manuscript done. Perhaps one of these will help you reach your writing goal too.

Good luck and happy writing, 

Catherine & Maree 

Don’t forget to check out Maree’s YouTube Channel, she did an amazing vlog of the whole week of writing challenges: