I woke up a couple of days ago with this thought: I should challenge myself to write a blog post every day during 2015.
I dismissed this thought right away because such a huge commitment seems like setting myself up for failure. Why not just commit to writing a post a day for the month of January? I asked myself. And if that works out, then do it for another month.
But the more I thought about the year-long challenge, the more it excited me. First of all, I know that some of my best ideas arrive just when I wake up. Sleeping allows my conscious mind to pull what it needs out of the chaos of the unconscious. I’ve learned to trust these awakening thoughts, just as I’ve learned to trust my intuition. Second, setting this goal certainly aligns with my recent decision to focus on my own writing. Finally, this challenge would allow me to distribute content across my three blogs:
- Change of Perspective, which focuses on psychology, writing, and life stories
- Notes in the Margin, which focuses on literature and reading
- Retreading for Retirement, which focuses on retirement and adjusting to life in a new city
On the day when I woke up with this thought, I looked throughout the day for ideas to write about. I was surprised and encouraged at how many opportunities I found.
I should emphasize that I don’t intend to write a post a day on each blog, just a post a day for any one of them.
Therefore, I’ve decided to go for it and challenge myself to write a blog post a day in 2015. I could just make a secret pact with myself to try to accomplish this, but I’m formalizing the challenge here to create accountability. I’ll be much less likely to let myself slide if I’ve made a public announcement.
Meeting this challenge will offer a lot of benefits for me right now:
- A writer is someone who writes, and this challenge will force me to actually write instead of just thinking about writing.
- Looking for something to write about each day will make me more aware of what I’m doing and of what’s happening in the world around me.
- Looking all around me for topics will help me distribute content among all three blogs; I’ve been neglecting my personal blog, and it therefore now badly needs some refreshing.
- I know from experience that the more I write, the easier writing becomes.
- Completing this challenge will demonstrate that I can write every day, not just when I’m in the mood or have nothing else to do instead.
- Keeping up with this challenge will help me to practice, practice, practice my writing.
I will allow myself this condition up front: I know there will be times when I can’t publish a post every day, either because I won’t have internet access or I won’t want to announce publicly that I’m not at home. My commitment is to write a post every day, even if I have to publish it, backdated, later.
So, who’s in with me?
Who will accept the challenge of a blog post a day in 2015?
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