Julie Duffy's Blog
October 3, 2025
StoryADay…November?
If your year started in a blaze of good intentions, and you find yourself here, facing the last quarter, thinking, oh no, I haven’t written nearly as much as I meant to…fear not.
This year, I’m re-running the StoryADay challenge during November.
And you’re invited.
Remember, you make your own rules!
Don’t want to write and finish a story every day? Fine!
You decide what ‘story’ means to you, and your own definition of ‘a day’.
The point is to write more than you would otherwise, and to use the energy of the challenge—and the community—to help you do that.
How it works:CommitDecide on your rulesUse the daily writing prompts (or don’t) to help you write more than you would otherwise.Stop by the blog to leave a comment and let us know how’re getting on each day. #OldSchoolThis year’s prompts included a peek inside these authors’ heads (and more)
P. Djèlí Clark, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Wiswell, Lori Ostlund, Kim Coleman Foote, Sasha Brown, R. S. A Garcia, Jennifer Hudak, Tim Waggoner, Rachel Bolton, Julia Elliot, Kai Lovelace, Anglea Sylvaine, Rich Larson, F. E. Choe, Emma Burnett , Patricia A. Jackson, Allegra Hyde, and more
Throughout this month I’ll be bringing you warm-up tasks—tiny tasks—that will help you prepare for a successful challenge. Sign up and I’ll even send them to your inbox every week.
Here’s the first week’s worth of warm-up tasks.
Go at your own pace, but do go!
Tiny TasksImagine Your Way To SuccessMaking The Challenge Work For You
Writing Matters
Keep writing,
Julie
September 30, 2025
SWAGr for October 2025
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Leave a comment telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
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Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Finish first draft of story and write 3 articles for my school paper. – CourtneyWrite on seven days this month – ClareExtend my reading and to read with a ‘writers eye’- Wendywrite 10,000 words – Mary LouSo, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
September 20, 2025
Why Writer’s Block is Real (& Don’t Write Alone!)
Listen to the Audio
Watch nowWatch the video
Writer’s block isn’t laziness — it’s the reality of creating something from nothing.People dismiss it by saying “there’s no such thing as bricklayer’s block.” But imagine if the bricklayer had to invent the bricks, build the kiln, and mix the mortar before they could even start. That’s the creative work writers face every day.
In this episode of The StoryADay Podcast, I share why writing is hard (and why that’s normal), and why we don’t have to do it alone. From my years of running the StoryADay community, I’ve learned that the real secret to consistency and confidence as a writer isn’t willpower — it’s community.
If you’ve been struggling with writing in isolation, this conversation will give you both perspective and practical next steps.
What You’ll Learn:
Why writer’s block is real (and why it’s not your fault).How writing alone sets us up for insecurity and burnout.Why community is the fastest way to grow as a writer.The power of writing sprints, critique groups, and peer accountability.How the StoryADay Superstars group supports writers year-round.Resources & Next Steps:
Explore more writing challenges: https://storyaday.org
Join the Superstars Group: Join the StoryADay Superstars for year-round support
September 12, 2025
Writing To Entertain
I recently caught an old interview (from 1974) with Harold Robbins. Apparently at the time he was the world’s best-paid novelist. You’d think that would cause the man to be self-important and precious, but when asked by the interviewer “Why do you think your books sell so well,” he answered, simply:
“A novel is primarily an entertainment. And if the novelist forgets that, he’s lost.”
Write To EngageEvery month at StoryADay.org I set a theme for the articles and activities. Each one supports a part of the writing life, so that we can continue to build a satisfying writing practice, month after month, without becoming overwhelmed by trying to do everything–learn everything, master everything–at once.
This months’ theme is ‘Engage’, and I think that’s why I found Robbins’s elegant formula for writing success so appealing.
He never forgot that his job was to engage with the reader.
Who Do You Write For?When we first answer the call to write, we tend to say we’re writing for ourselves. Some of us continue in that vein forever, and that’s absolutely fine.
Writing for pleasure, for mental health, to quiet the voices in our heads, or because it makes us easier to live with…these are all valid reasons for writing, and you’ll never hear me say you ‘ought’ to be doing it for any other reason or outcome.
But when people become serious about writing, and aspire to be published, there’s a trap waiting, and it’s this:
When we become serious about our writing, there is a temptation to plunge into all the courses and classes and critique groups, where other writers are trying to figure out what makes it all work.
There’s a danger, in trying to figure out if we’re using all five senses, and creating tension, and making our characters’s dialogue sound real, whether we’re showing not telling, and avoiding headhopping…that we forget job 1: to engage the reader and entertain them.
I’ve read lots of manuscripts that contained technically beautiful writing and bored me to tears.
How To Engage Readers“If you start with people that are valid, if you start with people that are exciting, people that mean things to the reader…you find that people identify with the character.”
Harold Robbins, Parkinson (BBC TV 1974)
Making sure that our writing, first and foremost, is engaging for a reader is absolutely key.
It explains why books like Fifty Shades of Grey do so well.
Everyone who knows anying about what makes ‘good writing’, agrees that they are ‘terribly badly written’, and yet somehow millions of copies sold to people who were thoroughly engaged in the story of characters who are written in a way that’s never going to win any literary prizes.
So what? It’s engaging!
Your personal tolerance for a mix of ‘page-turner’ to ‘literary language’ in your own writing will be just that: highly personal.
But I certainly find it encouraging to think that in 1974, the highest-paid novelist in the world was willing to share the secret of his success and it was simply this: write about characters who feel real, in a way that readers can identify with.
No more. No less.
Makes it feel a bit more manageable, doesn’t it?
Join The DiscussionWhat about you? Do you obsess over perfect grammar and beautiful imagery, or do you skew towards creating entertaining romps? And are you–as I am–convinced that the best stories have a bit of each? Leave a comment.
Ready to turn those sparks of wonder into finished stories?
Take the 3-Day Challenge and write three short stories this weekend!
find out moreTake the 3-Day Challenge — a short-story writing course you can finish this weekend. Go from “idea” to “The End” in three days, and give yourself the gift of an achievement you can celebrate.
August 31, 2025
SWAGr for September 2025
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Leave a comment telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
****
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Finish first draft of story and write 3 articles for my school paper. – CourtneyWrite on seven days this month – ClareExtend my reading and to read with a ‘writers eye’- Wendywrite 10,000 words – Mary LouSo, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
August 15, 2025
Reconnect With Wonder
This time last year I was able to travel to Scotland for a very happy reason — to party with my my parents on their 60th wedding anniversary.
The journey didn’t exactly go smoothly, but travel always offers the opportunity to see things in a new light: for example our inexplicably cancelled connecting flight from London to Glasgow turned into an impromptu train journey up the west coast of the UK, past Industrial-Revolution-era factory towns1, old canals, rolling hills, fantasy-inspiring forests, and seas of purple heather.
I couldn’t stop looking out the window.
The locals? They were watching The Matrix on their phones2.
It’s hard to maintain a sense of wonder in your everyday environment. But not impossible…
And that very sense of “wow” is what fuels our writing.
Why Wonder Matters for WritersWhen we’re focused on creating the finished product — a story for a market, a novel in a particular genre — it’s easy to become anchored by expectations. That, in turn, kills our curiosity, our willingness to take risks, our sense of having fun.
And it defers all the opportunities to feel accomplished until “The Project Is Over”.
What a drag.
Cultivating a sense of Wonder brings back the fun.
It awakens your curiosity.
It keeps possibility alive.
PLUS behavioral scientists assure us that celebrating those little sparks of joy is what help you stay motivated for the long haul.
Practice Off the PageAthletes don’t just show up for the game — they drill, train, and practice behind the scenes.
Writers need “practice time” too.
Think of some things you can do this week, away from the page, to exercise your Wonder muscles:
This “non-product-related” time feeds your creative brain.
Ways to Find Wonder
(Without Buying a Plane Train Ticket)
At StoryADay, Triumph means celebrating every tiny win. Spotting wonder counts. So does jotting down a phrase, or noticing a Story Spark like: the exact way you could represent the rhythm of rain on the roof.
Small celebrations keep you energized, curious, and writing.
Your assignment this week
Go somewhere new (or look at somewhere familiar in a new way) and find one small thing worth noticing. Write a few sentences about it — just for you.
Ready to turn those sparks of wonder into finished stories?Take the 3-Day Challenge and write three short stories this weekend!
find out moreTake the 3-Day Challenge — a short-story writing course you can finish this weekend. Go from “idea” to “The End” in three days, and give yourself the gift of an achievement you can celebrate.
Join the discussion:
Where did you find wonder this week? What tiny moment felt worth celebrating?
︎Woah! ︎
August 8, 2025
Creativity: Bringing People Together
Last night I got to be part of the audience, doing something like this
Jacob Collier is an extraordinary musician who does not do what he is told, or what others before him have done1.
A few years ago he started experimenting with asking his audience to sing a note, then conducting them in a multi-part harmony, just by pointing at them. It’s quite something2.
Bringing People TogetherWhen so much about our public life is awful, and terrifying, and despair-inducing, it can be tempting to think that taking time out for moments of joy is somehow trivial or disrespectful.
It’s not. It’s essential.
Bringing people from all walks of life together to experience something—collectively, as at a concert or asynchronously, as with reading a good story—is important work.
It’s important that you write your stories.
It’s important that you make them good enough to share.
Because sometimes, when people come together and share a moment of joy—singing in unexpected harmony or sharing their love of a sarcastic security cyborg—it reminds them of how alike we all are.
Bad actors try to assemble their followers into a scared, exclusionary huddle.
It only takes one courageous person’s vision to bring people together for good.
Art matters.
Stories matter.
Your voice matters.
Keep writing,
Julie
P. S. It can be hard to gather the motivation to do the work in the face of, well, everything. Here’s a brand-new workbook to help you reconnect to your practice or your project. Download it now, as a thank you for following along on this writing journey with me!
Which doesn’t mean he’s a contrarian. His commitment to doing what he does, how he likes it, has led him to friendship with Quincy Jones, and a deal with Martin guitars where they produced a 5-string guitar for him, because he thought ‘why does a guitar have to have six strings?”︎I’ve been in choirs where we could not sing acapella and stay in tune. Last night, he led thousands of people through a long improvised harmonic thing and then brought back in an actual orchestra…and we were still on pitch! ︎
August 1, 2025
Who’s On Your Internal Coaching Team?
Remember the ancient times of last summer, during the Olympic games in Paris, when the media was flooding us with feel-good stories about quirky folks who had dedicated their life to pursuing excellence in one, extremely niche activity…and everyone thought it was cool?
Good times.
One story that stood out to me was the US Gymnastics team’s commentary on how much happier they were now that they had new coaches—coaches who motivated them with praise and love, rather than fear and shame.
Oh, and they still somehow managed to win the gold medal.
Who are your internal coaches modeled on?When you’re trying to motivate yourself to write, do you have:
A big, scary guy with a megaphone, barking at you and shaming you for not being perfect?An indulgent hippy mom who says ‘that’s ok, whatever you feel like doing is fine’—even if that ‘whatever’ isn’t helping you reach your goals OR feel fine?Or have you worked to install a positive, loving voice that tells you to set tiny goals that you can exceed and who encourages you to celebrate like mad when you reach or exceed them.Guess which voice I’m going to recommend recruiting to your internal coaching team…
Celebrate Success, Every DayHabit experts, like BJ Fogg, tell us that outsized celebrations for achievable goals are key to maintaining a new habit.
Lay down those dopamine pathways in the brain by getting up and punching the air every time you meet your new wordcount! (It feels silly, but it helps your brain associate ‘writing time’ with ‘feel-good time’.)
Productivity experts, like Adam Grant, tell us that striving for perfection is a fool’s errand.
Instead, of aiming for ‘perfect’, try to make your work ‘perfectly acceptable’—that’s what experts and high-performing professionals do!
Cal Newport tells us it’s OK to slow down, to take one task at a time and do it as well as we can, today.
Performance experts, like Jim Murphy, tell us that “judgement and curiosity cannot co-exist. When we judge someone or something, curiosity goes out the window, and with it, creativity.”
Is It Time To Fire Your Inner Coach?If the voice in your head is an old-school, 1970s-style gym teacher, screaming in your face every time you perform less than perfectly, perhaps it’s time to consider firing your inner coach.
Instead, invite in a more modern approach, like those used by high-performance athletes, executives, and, yes, writers, today.
Voices that say“
It’s ok to take your time; just keep movingIt’s good to rest; just make a plan for when you’ll start up againDon’t judge; instead, be curiousDon’t try to be perfect; just try to trend upwardsDon’t compare yourself to anyone except you: yesterday, a year ago, ten years ago. Remember how far you’ve comeBe inspired by other people’s success, not envious or threatened; they’re raising the standards and giving you a reason to strive to be betterCelebrate every tiny triumph along the way; got to your desk? Punch the air! Opened your manuscript? Pat yourself on the back. Met your word count for today? Dance party in the kitchen!Fear, shame, and bullying can get results for coaches, but not for long.
And you’re in this for the long haul, right?
Start cultivating modern, fair-but-firm internal coaching voices, that encourage you to live up to what you know you’re capable of, and who also remind you that one bad day is not the end of the world.
Join the discussion: What do your internal voices sound like? Where do you think they came from? What might a more-positive, productive voice say, instead?
July 31, 2025
SWAGr for August 2025
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Leave a comment telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
****
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Finish first draft of story and write 3 articles for my school paper. – CourtneyWrite on seven days this month – ClareExtend my reading and to read with a ‘writers eye’- Wendywrite 10,000 words – Mary LouSo, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
June 30, 2025
SWAGr for July 2025
Welcome to the Serious Writers’ Accountability Group!
Leave a comment telling us how you got on last month, and what you plan to do next month, then check back in on the first of each month, to see how everyone’s doing.
(It doesn’t have to be fiction. Feel free to use this group to push you in whatever creative direction you need.)
Did you live up to your commitment from last month? Don’t remember what you promised to do? Check out the comments from last month.
And don’t forget to celebrate with/encourage your fellow SWAGr-ers on their progress!
Download your SWAGr Tracking Sheet now, to keep track of your commitments this month
****
Examples of Goals Set By SWAGr-ers in previous months
Finish first draft of story and write 3 articles for my school paper. – CourtneyWrite on seven days this month – ClareExtend my reading and to read with a ‘writers eye’- Wendywrite 10,000 words – Mary LouSo, what will you accomplish this month? Leave your comment below
(Next check-in, 1st of the month. Tell your friends!)
