I’ve noticed that I haven’t been very efficient lately. In the efforts to write my first book, the one on holiness, I began finding all kinds of resources and beginning to go through them. I joined an online community of writers, discovered an entire world of resources, and learned how to launch my books.

All of that took time and I actually began to work on other projects than the holiness book. I am trying to find ways to spend time on my book but all kinds of other ideas keep popping into my head. I’ve even thought about doing online courses on the Bible and a podcast.

I would like to do those things but I really need to finish my holiness book. I have several other books in the wings as well. I don’t want to be a da Vinci, someone who doesn’t finish their projects. That man was created but he rarely finished something.

Instead, I want to be effective and efficient for God’s kingdom. He’s given me all of these ideas but I want to actually see them become reality. So in an effort to work on my holiness book and a novel I started way back when, I went out on a limb and signed up for a writing challenge.

I’ve never tried this before, but there is a challenge out there for writers called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). In the month of November, thousands of writers join this free online community and encourage each other to write 50,000 words in 30 days!

Generally, the rules are that you work on one piece and you try to produce those 50,000 words in that amount of time. It’s unprecedented! I’ve never done it before and I don’t know that I’m really ready for it now. But if it helps me finish even a chapter or two in my books, and I plan to do much more than that, it will be worth it.

So I’m working on my holiness book, currently titled “A Holy Dare: Principal Holiness for a New Generation” and also a novel I started called “Deep Despair of Darkness.” To accomplish such an enormous goal, I will have to write 1700 words per day!

But as I considered doing the challenge, I realized I needed a kick in the pants. I’m not going to get anything done of such significance by getting distracted every day. So I’m all in for this writing challenge.

I figured I’m not the only person who needs to try something new to become more effective in whatever I’m doing. What about you? Is or something out there to help you become more effective, more focused, and more productive? Leave a comment and tell me what you think you could find to become more effective in your life.