I did it! Thirty-one fiction ideas in thirty-one days!

Now… in the spirit of full disclosure—I didn’t actually write down an idea every single day. But I didn’t allow myself to get more than two or three days behind before getting caught up. And it’s amazing how much easier the second or third ideas were to generate once I’d already written one down. (You know, that whole “priming the pump” thing.)

Some of the ideas are totally new and random. Some are extremely short. Some are ideas for existing secondary characters (James Ransome from Ransome’s Quest, Pax Bradley from The Art of Romance) and some are for settings/series ideas in progress (stories set during the Peace of Amiens, 1802-1803, featuring Royal Navy heroes). In the last week or so of the challenge, ideas were inspired by the book I’m currently reading (for that very reason): To Marry an English Lord. In rewriting an existing story idea (see this teaser I posted), I came up with what I’m calling my Kiwi Prairie Romance series (three story ideas right now set in New Zealand in the late 1800s).

Not only was it a fun challenge, but it also kept the need to think creatively and come up with fiction ideas near the top of my mind daily. It also helped that I intentionally set out to do this longhand, since I was without my personal computer for two weeks during July waiting for the fan to be replaced! (Thank goodness I at least had my work laptop, since I do work from home, to be able to earn my daily bread.) In fact, being without the personal computer for that long probably turned out for the best. Even though I wasn’t able to blog as regularly as I’d hoped, I was more likely to pick up the Ideas notebook and start writing something down instead of what I usually do in the evening—which is waste time online while binge-rewatching favorite TV shows on Netflix.

Tomorrow, I’ll post my challenge for August, but for now . . .

Did you have an idea-ful July? Is this a challenge you could see yourself doing in the future—even if just for a week? What’s your writing challenge for August?