THIRTY DAYS HAS SEPTEMBER
a writing challenge by @rheostatic & @pinescrow
GUIDELINES
The goal of The Thirty Days Has September Challenge is to write[1] at least 100 words every day, irrespective of format (i.e.: the piece in question may be prose, poetry, part of a script etc.) for thirty (30) days.The writing does not have to be one continuous piece (though it absolutely can be)! It can be a scene that starts in medias res, rough drafts filled with grammar issues and typos, incomplete pieces that end suddenly, or even just be a bunch of thoughts plastered to a page for you to work on later—the focus isn't on the quality or even the quantity of the writing, but rather on making a habit of finding time in your day to write.While the aim is to write everyday, this challenge is not supposed to make you feel guilty for not "completing" it. Any day count above zero should be applauded! That is one more day you wrote than you would have otherwise! Ultimately, go for the highest amount of days that you can, rather than worrying about the days that you missed! Feel free to make-up days if the muse strikes you or even prep days in advance if your schedule will conflict!
[1] Note: AI Prompts or AI assisted pieces are not writing and will not be considered acceptable for this challenge. AI "writing" is a machine doing the work for you--regardless of how much you edit or what you put in for the prompt. AI "writing" actively harms the writing community by reducing the number of jobs we can obtain and hurts the soul of art and creation by reducing it to data for a computer to spit out.
WHERE TO SHARE YOUR WRITING!
Posting the work itself is optional, but encouraged[2]. If you don't feel comfortable sharing the piece itself, just post progress of what day you're on and what word count that day you've reached!This year we are hosted on Bluesky, Tumblr, GaiaOnline, and Archive of Our Own! "Hosted" means these are the places we have an active presence and take steps to share your work with others participating writers! You are free to post on other sites as well.When posting to Bluesky and Tumblr please use #30dhs & #30dhs2k26 so others can see your work! If you want the work to be reblogged/reposted by the 30dhs official Bluesky or Tumblr, please put the #quoteworthy tag in your post!We have a collection on AO3 this year! Instructions on how to add your work to our collection are found here. The collection itself if located here.If you happen to be the other few people that still are on GaiaOnline (yes it still exists) you can also share your work in the master thread here.
[2] Reminder: These pieces are posted as proof of progress, not for critique. Unless an author specifically mentions they are looking for critique, please do not post feedback about the contents of the post itself!
SEE WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING!
Use #30dhs & 30dhs2k26 when posting to socials!
ARCHIVE OF PAST EVENTS
First Thirty Days Has September Writing Challenge (Sept 2024):Hosted on Twitter and Tumblr (on personal accounts). Twitter was deleted due to AI and user safety concerns.Second Annual Thirty Days Has September Writing Challenge (Sept 2025):Hosted on Bluesky, Tumblr, and GaiaOnline.
HOW TO UPLOAD YOUR FIC TO OUR A03 COLLECTION
This is simplified information from the AO3 Collection FAQ!Firstly, please do not upload bookmarks to the collection, they will be removed! Please only upload your own work!When creating or on the edit page of your created work, go to "Associations" section. There you will see "Post to Collections / Challenges"! Type in "Thirty_Days_Has_September_2026" (it may autofill as you go). Then scroll to the bottom and select "Post" or "Update". Your work will be automatically added to the collection!You can find the collection here!