The 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge: The Good, Bad and the Ugly

Well, I am close to finishing the 30 hubs in 30 days challenge here at the Hubpages Writing Platform. In case you haven't heard of it, this is a challenge where hubbers, as they are called, make a commitment to write 30 hubs in 30 days.

I am going to share some of the advantages and disadvantages that I have found in the challenge so far. Presently, I am on Day #28, and this is my 27th hub. I have two and a half days left to complete three more hubs (after this one.)

Writing 30 Hubs in 30 Days might not sound that difficult but it is a challenge. You see, hubs are often more involved in just a plain article: with pictures, sometimes videos and other multimedia elements. Of course, to the more experienced writer, it might be a cinch, but it sure has been a real challenge to me!

I have tried to take the challenge two times before but have never finished. This is the closest I have ever come to finishing, and I intend to finish no matter what. Other times, it seemed that life just went crazy the months that I had planned to do the challenge and I did not have the heart to continue on with it.

What is different this time? Well, life has still had its very crazy moments this month, but I am very determined to finish this challenge for my own sake. It is a personal accomplishment for me, and I am not willing to give it up. My family knows I am doing it, too, and I am very focused on this challenge right now.

For this hub, I will focus on the good things, the bad things and the "ugly" things about my challenge journey. For my last hub of the 30/30 writing challenge, I will sum up all of the hubs I have written for the journey and what my final conclusions are.

First of all, the good. Here is a list of the good things that have come out of doing this hubchallenge. I am pleasantly surprised by these outcomes and will write even more about some of them in my final summation hub. Here they are:

• I have learned to write faster. I am a notoriously slow writer but necessity has forced me to find ways to get faster and more efficient in what I do. I also did research and was able to find some good resources to help me out in this regard.
• I am discovering my niches. By forcing myself to write more regularly, I am starting to see what subjects I find easier to write about, and which ones give me more trouble.
• I have gained confidence as a writer. Having a concrete goal has helped me to build confidence as a writer. I know that I can write, even when I don't feel like it or when am tired or bored. Writing regularly has helped me overcome some of the mental barriers I have had to writing.
• My followers have increased. My prolific input has accelerated my fan base and my acquaintance with some great hubbers, and this has been fantastic!
• My traffic has increased. Producing so many hubs in one month has definitely boosted my traffic significantly.
• My income has increased. I have definitely seen an increase in my income. With an increase in traffic comes an increase in income. Doing 30 hubs in such a short time gives a very big boost to income and the income possibility in the future!
• I am gaining confidence in myself overall. This challenge is giving me more confidence overall to keep pursuing my personal goals.
• I have gained a commitment to writing as a career. Doing this challenge has helped me to gain a commitment to writing as a career right now. I am presently involved in part-time tutoring and part-time writing. I plan to continue in this path and make it work. I am not looking at other jobs and wondering if it is the right thing. Since making the commitment, have been pursuing several opportunities and feel much more confident in my choice.
• I cleaned out many of my drafts. I had over 30 ideas sitting in my drafts folder and I got rid of many of them by either writing the hub already, or by getting rid of it. I started to get more realistic about which hubs I would actually do and which ones were good ideas at the time but better left to someone else. One hub that I just recently finished was one about planning my wedding. It was the second hub I ever started!

The 30/30 Hub Challenge has been a very positive experience overall but there are a couple of things that have not been that good. Here is the list of the disadvantages of the 30 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge:

• I have less time to keep up on comment replies. I always respond to every person's comment on my hubs and I have less time to do that, because I am so focused on getting the challenge done.
• I have had less time to read other people's hubs. I usually try to read a hub from every person that makes a comment on my hub but during this challenge, I am not always able to do this.
• I have less time to promote my hubs. I have a pattern that I usually spend about 2/3 of my time writing and about 1/3 of my time promoting my writing. With the writing of more hubs in a shorter time, I find I have less time to do bookmarking and other promoting. I have done some, but not nearly as much.
• I have less time to tweak my hubs. I like to tweak hubs, and add a lot of extra components that will benefit the reader, such as related links, and other capsules. I have less time to do these kinds of things and I have to be sometimes satisfied with less in the hubs. Next month, I plan on catching up on the tweaking and the promoting.
• People find it harder to read my work when I produce so much at once. I think this is the biggest disadvantage of the challenge. If you are publishing two or three hubs a week, it is easier for your followers to keep up with many of your hubs. However, with me doing 2-3 hubs a day to catch up, I know that my normal followers cannot keep up with my hubs. That is something that I don't think can be helped.

The hardest part about doing the thirty hubs in thirty days challenge is fitting it into your life. I do feel that other parts of my life suffered. Here's how:

• My housework got behind.
• My cats got mad at me. Yes, they felt I was not giving them enough attention.
• Other people got less attention. Pursuing this goal seemed to put other things on hold, and I am grateful to my husband for being understanding.

Well, that is a quick sum up of the good, the bad and the ugly regarding the Hubpages Challenge. If you plan to do the challenge sometime, I hope it has helped to give you some idea of what you might expect. Of course, your experience will vary according to your skill level and lifestyle but some of these may apply. Happy Hubbing!