I logged onto WordPress’s blog today to read the challenge. Hey- excellent! Free writing exercise. Write whatever I want, huh? Just write for 20 minutes. Easy peasey, lemon squeezy.
Except, what about the quality of what I write? That seems awfully open-ended. I don’t know if I’ve ever sat down to write something and not known what I wanted to tell before I started writing.
Filed under Open Notebook
Fair warning- you won’t find a whole lot of introspection in this post. Think of this post as the harbinger of a new writing challenge- a Ghost of Posts Yet to Come. Just without the black hooded cloak and waking you from you bed at some ungodly hour.
Filed under Open Notebook
I just wrote!
Nothing dramatic- but an idea I’ve had brewing for a few weeks. And for a few weeks, I’ve been thinking about it every day then finding a boatload of excuses not to start writing.
But this morning, as I was about 20 pages deep into the history of a blog that I follow, I realized that I was just killing time instead of working on my own stuff. It’s almost 10 am and the day’s schedule is starting to intrude. Everything indicated I was on track to have yet another day that I’d look back on and think, “Well, I didn’t write today. Maybe tomorrow.”
Filed under Open Notebook
Hey- exciting development here!
In reviewing my blog stats yesterday, I noticed that a link to one of my posts, OK Dad- Live Your Convictions, was added to a blog that I was not familiar with. Curious, I went to the blog and starting reading some of the posts. I was interested right away- it’s a collection of writers and photographers challenging themselves to make the creative process a daily routine. After some email correspondence with the blog’s creator, Melissa Hassard, I am now a contributor to 20 LINES A DAY – an exercise in discipline!
This is really exciting for me. I’ve had one piece- the above linked “OK Dad…” about my 3 year old son’s predilection for “girl stuff”- that went viral and resulted in the single most read piece I’ve ever written. The vulnerability of writing pieces that are genuine and then sharing them is absolutely something that resonates with me. I’m not one for false modesty- I’m not some stoic author writing in a shack and shunning outside attention (that actually sounds like the Unabomber). I want my stuff to be read. I want to widen my audience. Being able to contribute to another blog helps me continue this process of cultivating my creativity.
So I’m thrilled to start sharing my work with new readers. I’ve still got lots to write about and plenty of work that needs to be done. I have to figure out how to best incorporate this new channel into my routine. I think some, but not all, of the pieces I’ve written will work well there.
So if you’ve been with me so far, please join me with my new friends over at 20 LINES A DAY- and thanks for coming along on the trip!
Filed under Open Notebook
Quick check in: wrote some more on Story Blue today. It sits at just under 3000 words- which is nothing spectacular but definitely a good start.
It’s going to be a challenging week coming up to stick to my 30 Days of Write challenge- I’ll be out of town for work most of the week. I’m making my list of everything I need to keep writing while traveling. Wish me luck and stay tuned!
Filed under Open Notebook
TMPinSYR 