We're Going Streaking!!!
Why streaks can be so good, and also: not so good
Check out my first post here to read more about the namesake of this newsletter and make a copy of the input/output tracking sheet if you so desire.
Between 2020 and 2022, I maintained a streak of writing at least 750 words a day for 500 days. Here’s what that looked like visually on the site 750words.com by the time I decided to stop:
And here’s what I received for it:
A…little bird wearing an astronaut helmet?? 500 days in a row, a MINIMUM of 750 words a day, means I wrote more than 375,000 words to get my little bird wearing an astronaut helmet. Was it worth it?
For me, at that time, yes.
To end up at 500 consecutive days in February 2022 means that I started my streak in October 2020, wrote every single day through 2021, and only stopped in 2022 when I finally planned a trip aboard and didn’t want to think about hitting a word count goal rather than focusing on eating my body weight in Pastéis de Nata in Portugal.
And to be honest, when I finally stopped—it was a relief.
For me, streaks are a double-edged sword. During that time in the pandemic, I really needed something consistent and ritualistic to keep me grounded. And it worked—I wrote six drafts of a novel. I wrote several several new class lectures. In 2020, despite the lack of anything being funny, I actually published more humor pieces than any other year since I started writing and submitting short humor.
But in 2023? I don’t think streaks are serving me as much. I’m working across several formats and I’m less focused on generating tons of words to see where they take me. I’m leaning more into refining and precision, and that might mean that 400 tight words in a day is excellent output, rather than 1000 loose, brainstorming words. So I stopped my streaks mid-2022 and didn’t worry much about them.
But then this April (aka the month that ended yesterday), I decided I wanted some accountability and did another month-long streak on 750words.com. And I liked it! It kept me focused as I wrote toward a deadline, gave me a place and reason to journal daily, and I do just really love to see my x’s build up day after day (simple pleasures).
But after writing this very newsletter, which is my 750 words for the final day of April, I decided to take the month of May off. I want to rewrite and edit some work, not generate new material. Keeping the streak tab open on my desktop doesn’t feel like my May vibe.
This is major for me, as my last therapist could tell you. I have a tendency to get VERY DEVOTED to not breaking a streak. If I do something two days in a row, I want to do it for three. If I do it for three, why not a week? And then what is a week if not one-fourth of a month? And wow, we already did a month, should we go for a whole quarter? And so on. It’s a personality trait that some of you reading this may recognize, the desire to build upon a foundation and keep improving FOREVER.
Except, I’ve learned in recent years, that’s simply not how most people’s (mine included) minds and bodies work. We need a break now and then so we aren’t churning out garbage words, garbage miles, just straight garbage.
Nike had (perhaps still has?) a slogan that was popular when I was living in Portland, OR, home of Nike HQ: “#nodaysoff.” It referred to running every single day. Here’s another sentiment in the same vein:
“No days off” is all fun and games until someone gets an injury and simply must take time off to avoid doing terrible damage to their body. The same goes for creative work—doing something every day can be tremendously powerful, motivational, and a way to straighten your muscle over time, but eventually, you’ll start to get toward the “E” on the ol’ creativity gas tank.
I do think of streaks as being different from the oft-repeated “write every day.” That’s advice that works for some people, and there’s definitely value there. By writing every day, you don’t lose touch with the project(s) you’re working on, it’s easier to click into writing mode, and you can make incremental and/or rapid progress, depending on how much you’re writing. But for many people, myself included, if you write every day, with no end date, over time it begins to feel lackluster, compulsory, and maybe even punitive.
But streaks, if they have an end date, can be enormously helpful tools.
I’ve seen a lot of talk on the internet recently about the “75 Hard” Challenge (warning: deranged website design). The rules for the challenge are to work out twice a day for 45 minutes each, with one of those workouts being outside; drink a gallon of water a day; read 10 pages of a non-fiction book a day; follow a diet of your choosing; take a progress picture every day; and no cheat days/alcohol during the entire 75 Hard period. If you miss any step on any day, you need to start over.
Why does this model seem to motivate people? I’m not a psychologist, but knowing it’s JUST for 75 days most likely makes it easier for participants to wrap their minds around the huge lifestyle changes the challenge requires instead of someone saying, “OK, you’re now going to be doing these things every single day in perpetuity!” 75 Hard (which I have no desire to do, personally, but am intrigued by the community cropping up around it) is framed as a mental challenge more than anything else, and that rings true to me. It’s 75 days where you commit to structuring your time around movement, self-improvement, and progress. And honestly, it seems like most of the people doing it were very dehydrated ahead of time and benefit the most from the water rule.
I’m by no means telling you to do 75 Hard. But I do think the highly structured, time-bound nature of the challenge is something to consider when crafting your own streaks. Here are some examples of streaks I’ve seen other people tackle:
Draft, refine, and submit a humor piece a week for a year (goal: to move through a volume of work on a set schedule)
Come up with 10 ideas a day, for any format, for three months (goal: to increase the strength of brainstorming muscles)
Write a topical joke every single day for a month based on a news story from that morning (goal: to get faster at flipping a headline into a joke)
NaNoWriMo is of course a classic streak (goal: write an entire 50,000 word novel in the month of November)
#1000WordsofSummer is another iconic streak/challenge (goal: to come together as an online community to write 1000 words a day for two weeks straight. Creator Jami Attenberg is publishing a book out of the idea later this year!)
So after all this: are you in need of the power of a time-bound streak? Or do you need to BREAK a streak that’s no longer serving you? Only you can make the call.
After I wrote this newsletter, I refreshed 750words.com and took a screenshot:
And for now, to paraphrase the Night’s Watch, my streak has ended.
Do you have any streaks you maintain, either in the past or currently? How do they work for you?
Do me a favor—if you like these newsletters, hit the heart button! This helps more people in the Substack Network find it.
ABOUT ME: My name is Caitlin Kunkel and I’m a comedy writer, long-time teacher, and creator of The Second City’s Online Satire Writing Program. I currently teach classes and consult on gift book proposals, modern adaptation, satire, and comedic literature. I co-founded The Belladonna Comedy and the Satire and Humor Festival, and I co-wrote the satirical gift book New Erotica for Feminists: Satirical Fantasies of Love, Lust, and Equal Pay, named one of the Top 10 Comedy Books of 2018 by Vulture.
So true that sometimes streaks are helpful for me but sometimes not. And if I’m in a mode where I need to revise more than just get words down they are not.
Oh man, I love a good streak. I love doing #1000words and setting myself up for mini writing challenges. And I'm not gonna lie...the 75 Hard challenge sounds...HARD...but I kinda want to do it because I think I need something that hardcore in my life. Maybe in the fall when not drinking will be easier? I find writing streaks challenging as well because hitting a word count every day just isn't the way I tend to work, but it definitely should be sometimes.