Day 21: Write messily

30 days of writing with pleasure

Dear fellow writer,

Welcome to Day 21 of your 30-day Show Up and Write challenge!

Today, your challenge is to write messily. You can interpret that challenge however you wish: messy handwriting, messy structure, messy thinking. Enjoy the mess!

If you want to time your writing today, here’s a fun timer to try.

You can find a playful selection of timers on the Timed Writing (Pomodoro) playlist on my YouTube channel, and many more in the WriteSPACE membership library.

Thanks for showing up to write, and I’ll see you tomorrow. 

Ngā mihi mahana (warm greetings),

Helen

Spread the joy! Please encourage your friends, colleagues, and students to join me in the WriteSPACE, a vibrant, low-cost writing community with members in 30+ countries. As a WriteSPACE member, you’ll get premium access to resources, workshops, and tools designed to help you hone your wordcraft, sharpen your style, and coax your writing gently but firmly out the door.

Books on writing by Helen Sword

Writing with Pleasure
Princeton University Press, 2023

Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write
Harvard University Press, 2017

Stylish Academic Writing
Harvard University Press, 2012

The Writer’s Diet: A Guide to Fit Prose
University of Chicago Press, 2016