On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

Writing sprints. Ever take part in them? There are some different ways to do them. They can be fun AND productive!

I’ve broken them down into three types: Active Sprints, Inactive Sprints, and Marathon Sprints.

Active Sprints

Active Sprints are when you’re with a group, either in person or online (it’s usually online), and someone will set the timer for 15-30 minutes and everyone furiously writes until the timer goes off.

Then everyone shares how many words they wrote.

These kinds of sprints can be repeated right away, or they can be just that one sprint. The goal is to get something written quickly and to be encouraged to keep going.

Inactive Sprints

Inactive Sprints are when your group leader gives you a set time to write once a day. One of my small groups is doing this right now. The goal is to write for 15 minutes every day. If you can’t do every day, then try to get in three times a week. We have a list of dates on our FB group page, and when we get our 15 minutes completed, we write DONE in the comments. I often write for longer than the 15 minutes once I get going.

Marathon Sprints

Marathon Sprints are something I do once a week with a different small group. I host it on Zoom every Tuesday night from 7pm to 10pm. We greet each other, tell each other what we’re working on, then we mute and write. We keep our videos on and minimize our screen so we can still see each other. If anyone has a question or needs help, we unmute and help them. But mostly, we write. I call it my dedicated, set aside, sacred writing time (yeah, I like my descriptive words. Ha Ha!) And normally I get more writing done on Tuesday nights than I do all week.

Of course, there’s NaNoWriMo, but that’s a totally different “sprint.” That thing is like an Iron Man. Ha Ha!

You can do your own Sprint, but it works best with at least one other person. Timing your own Sprint is kinda like a self-imposed deadline. It doesn’t usually work well.

Write2Ignite’s own “Time2Write” is an Active Sprint/Marathan Sprint combination. Held the first Thursday of each month, the evening begins with a welcome and prayer. Then, participants go straight to three 30-minute independent writing sprints, with five-minute check-ins between each. There’s no formal program, no instruction, no pressure to share your work with others, and no cost. These sessions are open to everyone interested in writing Christian literature for children and young adults.

So, find at least one writing friend and try a Sprint! You’ll be surprised and pleased at how much you can get written once you get into it.

Pam Halter is a former home-schooling mom, has been a children’s book author since 1995, a freelance children’s book editor since 2006, and was the children’s book editor for Fruitbearer Publishing until January 2023. She’s the author of Fairyeater, a YA fantasy, and the Willoughby and Friends picture book series (available on her website.) Pam has also published short stories in Ye Olde Dragon Books , the Whitstead Anthologies and Renewed Christmas Blessings. Her first short story won Readers Choice in Realmscapes.  

Pam lives in Southern New Jersey with her husband, Daryl, special needs adult daughter, Anna, and four cats. When she’s not writing, Pam enjoys spending time with her grands, reading, quilting, gardening, cooking, playing the piano, Bible study, and walking long country roads where she discovers fairy homes, emerging dragons, and trees eating wood gnomes.