INTRODUCING THE DAILY DOZEN SUMMER WRITING CHALLENGE!
- Andrew Hacket
- Jun 20, 2024
- 2 min read
Welcome friends!
Summer has arrived! Cue the lazy days, long nights, sunshine, pool dips, sunscreen, vacations and now...
A BRAND NEW KIDLIT EVENT!
Summer is an amazing time full of fun and opportunity, but also loads and loads of distractions. I know that if I don't make myself a plan and a goal, fall will be here before I know it with no new writing to show for myself.
Enter the Daily Dozen Summer Writing Challenge!
The Daily Dozen is a challenge to focus a tiny bit of time on our creative endeavors this summer. The goal is to spend 12 minutes a day creating NEW MATERIAL. That's it!
We can all steal 12 minutes from somewhere. I'm looking at you social media scrolling!
The wonderful thing about this tiny time is that it is achievable. What is even more wonderful, is that when added up over the course of the summer, that tiny time grows spectacularly into over 12 hours of creating!
Just imagine how much you will write!
Who can participate?
Absolutely anyone! This is an all-ages, all-genres, all-creators event! Unagented, agented, published, pre published... if you want to commit to your craft this summer then this challenge is for you.
And while I know it is called the Writing Challenge, I want to invite all creators to feel welcome to take on this daily challenge to see what they can create in just 12 minutes a day.
I am looking at you illustrators!
So how does it work?
Check out the kickoff post on July 1 over at my blog, https://www.andrewhacket.com/blog for a little inspiration and to learn about the PRIZES!
Of course there are going to be prizes. Prizes will be randomly awarded at the end of the summer to participants. This is the honors system. You don't need to complete all 62 days to win a prize, but wouldn't it feel good if you did?!
I will share the kickoff post on Instagram, X (Twitter), and BlueSky. I am @AndrewCHacket on all socials. You can also subscribe to my website if you want it sent directly to your inbox.
Once you get the post:
Comment on the post to officially join the challenge.
Use the daily tracker to monitor your progress!
Share about your progress on your socials using #DailyDozen.
Encourage others to join the fun.
Snag the participant badge below.
My ultimate goal for this event is to help motivate creators (and myself) to create more this summer while building some camaraderie with our kidlit pals and having some fun while we are at it.
I hope you will consider joining us!
HAPPY WRITING!
Comment below with any questions.
ABOUT ANDREW HACKET
Andrew Hacket is a writer, second-grade teacher, and father of three. He is also the author of the upcoming Ollie, the Acorn, and the Mighty Idea, Curlilocks and the Three Hares, and Hope and the Sea. Andrew recognizes that being a kid is hard and he writes to create ways for kids to see themselves in stories and characters, to accept and overcome their insecurities, or to escape for just a little while through the power of their imaginations.
I really like the community aspect of this challenge: the tracker, the badge, the social sharing, and the encouragement to bring in all kinds of creators. Writers who are joining may also collect kidlit craft talks, author interviews, revision tips, and summer writing advice into a video playlist. A YouTube playlist length calculator can help estimate the total watch time so the learning does not take over the actual writing time.
This is a great reminder that creativity often starts with simply making a small window of focused time. Twelve minutes may not sound like much, but it can be enough to draft a scene, sketch an idea, revise a paragraph, or build momentum. For writers who like a quick warmup before sitting down to create, a focus game can help shift attention, and a Schulte Table works well as a simple visual scanning break.
The “12 minutes a day” idea is such a smart way to make summer writing feel manageable instead of overwhelming. I also like how the challenge reframes tiny daily sessions as something that can add up to real progress over time. For writers tracking short creative sessions, daily streaks, or total summer writing hours, a time to decimal calculator can help convert those minutes into cleaner progress notes.
Writing challenges like this can also inspire libraries, classrooms, summer camps, and kidlit groups to host extra creative sessions, check-ins, or workshops. Those programs often require staff to prepare materials, support participants, track progress, and run events outside normal hours. For educators, librarians, or workshop teams tracking additional work time, an overtime…
I love how achievable this challenge feels. Twelve minutes a day is small enough to start, but the idea that it can grow into more than 12 hours of new creative work over the summer is really motivating. For writers drafting kidlit manuscripts, poems, picture book text, or author talks, a word to time calculator can help estimate reading length, while a speaking time calculator is useful when turning a draft into a read-aloud or presentation.
I'm totally stealing 12 minutes from my social media scrolling for this! Miside Zero download isn't the only thing I need to focus on; playing miside zero online would be fun, but this Daily Dozen challenge sounds like a much-needed productivity boost for my own writing goals.