May #5: The Final Stretch
And some info on next month's challenge
It’s the last week of the May Writing Challenge, and it looks like there are still a few folks who have a perfect record of writing every single day this month. (Not me, but I’ve only missed one day, so it still feels great).
The May Challenge Leaderboard
Next Monday I’ll share a form that anyone can fill out with your monthly stats, and from there I’ll post a leaderboard for our May Writing Challenge participants. Obviously, winning isn’t the important part. But hey, it’s fun to have some competition and a little extra motivation for anyone who could use it.
As the person who is running this thing, I clearly love it, but I’m curious what you all think. Have these check-ins helped you dust off an old project that you’ve been neglecting? Has the accountability helped you find a little extra time in your day for yourself?
We’re still testing out the format, how it all works with our discord, what tools on Substack to use, etc, so I’d love to hear any suggestions for ways to make the June writing challenge even better for you. Do you like sharing on Discord, or would you rather use the Substack chat feature? I’ve been trying not to stretch people too thin between platforms, but we have time to test out different versions and see what works best for June and beyond.
Speaking of the June Writing Challenge
If you haven’t joining in yet, June 1st is less than a week away and we’ll start up a new round that anyone can join.
I’m putting together an updated writing tracker for June (and I’ll include the rest of the year so you can keep everything in one doc), which I’ll send out over the weekend so you can have it ready to go on the 1st (Sunday).
Will you join?
Chris Amick is a Film and TV Writer/Producer in Los Angeles with credits including Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Die Hart 2, Kung Fu Panda: the Dragon Knight, Final Space, and more. His latest project is as Executive Producer on the existential thriller IT ENDS, which premiered at SXSW 2025. He teaches writing classes here.
I LOVE the challenge tracker. I'm someone who does really well with deadlines, but when I don't have a hard deadline (like with a spec feature) I have a harder time motivating myself. The accountability has been next level helpful for me.