Free Writing Challenge
500 Words of Summer!
Memoir & Creative Nonfiction Writing | June 1 - July 31, 2025
Long to write your life stories but have trouble finding the time or motivation? The 500 Words of Summer challenge might be just what you need to finally make the time and commit to your projects. Imagine seeing real results in just 1-2 hours a day! 500 words a day, 5 days a week for 2 months = 80 pages! This is the summer to kick off your book project, or dust off one, or work on a collection of essays. Make real headway in a fun challenge environment with the Wildfire community.
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✏️ Commitment!
The “500 words of summer” idea is simple: write 500 words each day, 5 days a week on your memoir project (book, essays, poetry, etc) — cancery or not. But the goal is completely customizable to you. The main thing is to make a commitment and then honor it, be it 7 days a week or 2, be it 500 words or 1000 or 200. Just commit & show up for your project!
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✏️ Catalyst!
Participating in a group challenge means having the strength of a community behind you. Feel inspired by other’s momentum and get tips, resources, and help along the way to light your fire from April Stearns, founder of the Wildfire writing community and fellow challenge participant.
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✏️ Community!
The challenge takes place within WhatsApp. Check in daily with your fellow writers, get a gentle nudge when you need it, celebrate along the way, and stay accountable by posting your word count. Check out and join the sub-groups in the app and introduce yourself in the Introductions group - who are you and what are you planning to focus on for this challenge.
Let’s Write!
The challenge runs from June 1st to July 31st.
Join anytime by clicking the link below to request the WhatsApp link.
If you have trouble with the button, you can email editor@wildfirecommunity.org to ask for the link instead.
About Your Challenge Host
Hi! I’m April Stearns, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wildfire Journal & Writing Community.
A lifelong writer, I landed my first memoir-based magazine cover story at just 16. From there, I worked for my college newspaper (“City on the Hill” at the University of California at Santa Cruz) and then went on to work for my local newspaper (The Sentinel, Santa Cruz, CA) following graduation. I loved the smell of the printing press and the excitement of the reporters’ bullpen! But, before long, I was lured to other writing jobs “over the hill” from Santa Cruz in Silicon Valley during the tech boom of the early 2000s.
However, in 2012, in the midst of this budding career, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at age 35. Four years later, while struggling to “go back to normal” and find others in similar circumstances, I took a leap of faith and launched Wildfire Journal as a way for younger people to tell and read breast cancer stories.
Since 2016, I’ve had the privilege of guiding hundreds of writers through the Wildfire writing workshops — from the fun, free monthly pop-up to the heartfelt, expressive writing-focused Sparks series to the rich memoir incubator Fire Starters — and published more than 50 issues of Wildfire Journal.
I believe strongly that helping others tell their stories has the dramatic effect of turning a traumatic cancer experience into an empowering one — and uncovering a life full of meaning. I live with my husband and teen daughter in Santa Cruz. Although I love town life after growing up on an apple orchard, I also like to get away from all the hustle and bustle whenever I can to hike in the woods with my 10-year-old border/aussie, Skye, but writing memoir remains my purest, most beloved escape.
Gloria Steinem
