Welcome to today's post, I am taking part in a 31 day blog challenge where I post everyday in October. I love creating challenges for myself and joining ones by others. My challenge for the rest of the month is to reflect on some of the series I created for myself and inspiration that I have taken away.
Listen to the PodcastToday I am going to be talking about Part 2 of my writing challenge Part 2 – Welcome back to the Blog post
Yesterday I shared about having an idea to do a writing challenge, it was a way to take a step without having to commit to writing say a book without having done one before and I looked for ways that I could start small making the outcome something that was achievable for a newbie like me. Even before I started I realized that if I was going to make it a more pleasant ride I would have to have a few things in place that would keep me going when the 'going got tough'!
Journal in the Making
I actually do write all the time, for my journal and blog - but that is different, I make loads of lists, things that I want to try out or create, but that doesn't make you a 'real writer' does it! I looked though my journal supplies to find something that I would like to write in as that makes a big difference and I came across a list that I had done in a notebook and had just left for the ‘One day I will get to it pile’.
What had happened was many years ago I had toyed with the idea of illustrating my own children’s stories but as I say just toyed with the idea. I hadn’t written any stories but I thought that if I came up with the titles then I could write the stories when I had the time. On each page of the notebook I had written the title of potential story, I had about 30 in total come to mind that I would later try and work on. I then put the book away and thought nothing of it for a good while (years).
So further down the line when I was looking for a note book to do my challenge in I stumbled across the book with all the titles, and they then became my spring board for the 100 word challenge. I could write a story or a poem from the title, just write one of the hardest parts had been done. There were some days were I found it painful, I couldn’t think of what to write but I had a routine, before I was going to do anything else I had to do the 100 word challenge, so I sat there and remembered just how little 100 words was and willed myself to squeeze them out, they came and I breathed a sigh as the challenge for that day had been completed.
What really surprised me was that there were other days where I wrote and didn’t want to stop, it was like there was an imaginary word fountain coming out of the pen and it just moved effortlessly across the page, I ended up some days with 2000 words and more. I was amazed and appreciated that I had shown myself another thing that I could do if I set my mind to it.
I felt relieved!
In all I wrote 14 short stories and several poems with a total of 17,177 words, I thought of what I could do if I upped my minimum word count. Three of the stories I really love and have been planning to revisit the illustration idea when I have some more time. In the past I felt insecure about my writing but I there are so many different and unique styles of writing and someone out there will find my words inspiring, and the words will speak to them as if it is written with them in mind, unique.
I don’t have to be an acclaimed writer to take out my pen and write or have a best seller to publish a book. We all have something in us that will inspire another person. There is room for us all and so I write, I paint, photograph, share - I create.
I didn’t know that I had it in me and the proof for me was in the word count. Think about the amazing things you do when put your mind to it. I think I need to create a new challenge for myself and get each of the stories complete – who is for maybe trying to get a book self-published by the end of the year?
What about you, what are you thinking of trying that will take you to another level an out of your comfort zone, I would love to hear about it.
Tomorrow I will share the Yet another spontaneous challenge called - Clearing the Clutter Challenge. I hope during this month you find some time to challenge, be creative and stretch yourself. Why not join me each day for the rest of October as we dive into to some exciting challenges and look at ways in which they can impact on your own life.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, it is never too late to start! The main thing is to take one step at a time and do something that you find interesting.
Stay blessed and be a blessing.
Ps: If you are on a budget and would like to check out some supplies/books at a discounted price, check out one of the links below:
