I’ve tried this publicly before and failed. This time…it’s personal! Join me in my epic adventure as I try to write 1.000 words every single day in September 2015.

Since my latest article was such an unexpected smash (currently at over 100 upvotes on Inbound.org and 50+ shares), I wanted to capitalize on that and make even more of my process public. So I’ll be attempting to write one new article every day for the next 30 days. And that article has to be at least 1.000 words. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

I have 4 things already in place: MOTIVATION, RULES, PREDICTIONS and ARTICLE TOPICS.

Let’s start off with my MOTIVATION:

I need to prove to myself that this isn’t just a phase. That writing has really gotten a hold of me. And since I already have my next article topics in my sights, it would be a great waste not to pursue those desires further. I’ve been writing and producing content since I was in school, so looking back I was always serious about this craft. I just couldn’t admit it to myself.

A writer writes. Too often I’ve heard people moan about their lack of time or motivation for not writing or expressing themselves. At the same time they were smoking, drinking coffee or talking about how much fun they had at that party last night. Writing takes a lot out of you – it should. Otherwise, it’s just a hobby. I want to prove to myself that that isn’t the case for me.

Quantity still (sometimes) beats quality. I’d love to only write one article a week or month, but alas, that is not really an option for me. Digital marketing moves at a blinding speed and if I can’t keep up with it, I’ll be an internet outcast. Not knowing what the latest smart hearing aid app is (hearables are coming, just you wait!). As of this moment, there are only 5 articles on the blog, with tens of articles still in the Draft phase. I want the first impression of a visitor to be: “Whoah, that’s a lot of content”, not “Is that it? I could’ve written this in a weekend”.

Did someone say RULES? Sure, we have those too:

• Reduce the fluff. Lists and top 10s are great, but I want to focus on the writing process and analysis, not gathering information and repurposing. So I’ll try to drastically reduce the number of fluff pieces.
• Each article should have a clear purpose. Whether it’s a review, a study or a story, the article must provide value and spark a conversation.
• Writing more than 1.000 words per day is allowed and recommended. There will probably be days when I don’t feel like writing for this blog, so I’ll allow myself to write more some days and relax others. In this instance, I’m more interested in the larger objective of 30.000 words than the individual tiny steps of writing 1.000 words each day.
• Quotes don’t count as words. See RULE #1. This month, I’m not allowed to just pull a list of the best 100 quotes about content marketing, add some nice graphics and call that a valuable article (although it might spark a conversation).
• No ghostwriters whatsoever. Since I’m making this whole challenge public, it would be easy for me to find someone to write for me, to avoid the shame of not meeting my objective. I’m not going to do that. But then again, how would you know…

Next, let’s see some PREDICTIONS:

1. The first week will be the easiest. Since I’m off from work, the day really starts at 08:00 AM and ends at around 2 or 3 in the morning. The next weeks will be a whole different scenario – I’ll only have around 4 hours of actual writing time, so there’s that challenge.
2. Around day 10 I’ll crack and want to quit – but I won’t. I’ve been running as a way to get fitter and I’ve found that it wasn’t my body that was getting tired, it was my psyche. Around day 10 I’ll probably wonder why I’m doing all of this and want to quit, somehow. Then I’ll get back to this post and regain focus.
3. At least one of these 30 days will hit it big again. Whether it’s comments, shares or emails, I feel like at least one of these has the potential to really be something great. And 1/30? I’m fine with those odds.
4. I’ll get a minimum of 5 questions about my reasons. When I was doing the 30 Tiny Projects experiment, the question I got the most was: “Why are you doing this?”
5. By day 20 I’ll think about turning this experience into a book. Since Content Repurposing is one of my 30 TOPICS, so I’ll probably be thinking about putting 2 and 2 together and going full blast with National Novel Writing Month.

I’m really into making things free and open.

So let’s take a look at the ARTICLE TOPICS I will be writing about during these 30 days:

1. (Better) Alternatives to Word – DONE
2. Growth Hacking a Facebook Group – DONE
3. Launch a Blogpost Checklist – Email Octopus Review
4. Make Your Titles Better
5. Content Repurposing
6. Content Marketing GIFs – 5×5: My Content Marketing Framework – DONE
7. Guest Post Opportunities –  How I Got Started With Content Marketing – DONE
8. Challenge Intro (this article) – DONE
9. Challenge Outro (on September 30th)
10. Common Misconceptions About Blogging – DONE
11. Build An App Without Coding
12. Atomic Writer Review – DONE
13. Visual Apps On Android
14. (5) Types Of Shareable Content
15. How I Learned SEO – DONE
16. Porn Marketing
17. Hotjar Review
18. Raindrop Review – DONE
19. Venngage Review
20. Process Street Review
21. 7 Better Than 6 – Part 2
22. Podcasts To Follow
23. How I Got Into Podcasting – DONE
24. Real-Life SEO: Conferences
25. Books On Content Marketing
26. Get Started With Guest Posts
27. Metrics In Content Marketing – DONE
28. Chrome Extensions For Content Marketing
29. (7) Alternatives To Sendy – How To Be Nice To Companies And Get Free SWAG
30. Get Started With Online Courses – DONE

I’m not sure about exact titles yet, since those really do take a while to figure out. I’m also publishing the list to hopefully give you ideas to write about, if you feel you’re stuck.

These topics might change and evolve, if I feel a better subject pops up or an article deserves more than 1 part. Also, I’ll probably not write the articles in this order. Knowing me, I’ll start with the easiest ones.