When was the last time you challenged yourself?

It's time for...

Question of the Day!

When was the last time you challenged yourself to push it to the limits?

That's about to happen in my life as I start off the summer with a Query Challenge competition. Members of FreelanceSuccess.com take on this challenge every summer--and sometimes a few other times during the year. It's where we break up into groups of 10 or more writers and commit to writing as many pitches as possible during the eight weeks that the contest lasts.

We get points for pitching (introducing ourselves and/or submitting ideas to editors) and points for scoring assignments. It's a lot of fun, can be a lot of pressure (especially for the newbies), and it's very high energy. I'm co-captain of my team (QC5) and will be spearheading the motivation. My team consists of some international journalists, one who lives in India and one who lives in Tokyo. I find that very interesting. It's the first time I've ever been on a team where there was global participation. Cool!

We begin on Monday, ending the first week in August. I'm hoping to get out 20 pitches a week. One writer wants to double her totals every week throughout the entire competition, which I think is amazing, considering that she wants to begin with 20. Yikes! Typically, you can maintain a fair amount of work if you engage in sending out five pitches a week on a regular basis. Of course, they have to be targeted pitches. So, 20 to me is a rather high number in and of itself. Going any higher is astronomical. But, the end result from this competition is that the writers get work. They really do. And that's what it's all about--marketing.

So I'm looking forward to what's ahead.

How about you? What are you challenging yourself to do--or do more of--this summer?