14. Check in: Week 2
Only 7 days to go before this is an official habit.
I’ve written everyday for the past 14 days now. Last week I did Check in: Week 1 . This week I’ll skip the explanation and just get to it. (If you have no idea wtf I’m talking about, go here.)
#RealTalk
How to do a check in with a project:
“Yo trick, whatchu thank?” — Me
“Shit was maaaaad chill, but coulda been chiller” — Me
Just kidding…But this is where you get to be brutally honest with yourself about why your project is or isn’t “successful”.
- What were my goals (how do I define success)?
To write everyday. - Did I meet them?
Yes. - What are some challenges I faced in meeting them?
I’m still waiting until the end of the day to write which means I’m rushing them occasionally. Also this week I noticed myself resisting a few times. I did’t want to take the time to write the ideas I had previously thought of but I couldn’t think of anything better. I also almost forgot two nights. - What can I do differently to ensure the goal is met next time / make it easier?
This week I tried to start a couple pieces that I would edit throughout the week. They are both still in the editing process which actually takes longer than I thought. So far everything has been written and published in the same day. I’m going to keep trying the long draft though. I’ve also started a list of future posts so I can turn to it when I don’t have anything to write about. I think I also might start doing a theme for a week, where maybe its just a week of short stories, or poems, or movie reviews, etc or I might actually do a week where I plan a post ahead of time each day. I’m not ready to commit to that idea yet though. - How did it feel?
Easier and harder this week. When I start to write the flow is much better, but figuring out what to write about is becoming harder. It’s interesting to watch how my mind works during this. I have a huge list of things I want to write about, but then when I look at the list I often don’t want to write about them right now. I think this may be one of the most revealing things about my default settings. My mind really wants to continually throw up obstacles for why I shouldn’t / won’t do something. I am excited it to keep exploring this and to keep quieting the noise. - Am I happy with the results?
Still effing pumped on this project. I love it and I hate it. But it still really excites me. I’m becoming both more and less attached to my work. I now have a desire that I don’t think I had last week for my pieces to be really special — to be spoken with a unique voice. I read so many articles and my biggest fear right now is that all of my pieces just sound like everyone else’s. I also want to write with more feeling. I used to when I was younger but I think I haven’t been taking that route because I haven’t been inspired by other emotional writing. This weekend that changed. I was gifted Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed and dang. It has got me inspired!!! I cried while I was editing one of the pieces thats still in the editing stage, hopefully that means I’m on track… - General observations:
This now just feels like part of my daily routine. It’s gotten me to read more. As I tell people about my new fun experiment so many people have shared awesome resources with me, opened up about their writing, gifted / recommended work I should read for its awesome writing. I love bonding with people of the written word. I would like more people to be reading my work. Right now I have two posts that have gotten 80 + views (awesome, how do I make this happen more??). The rest average between 10–20 (I’ll take it but could be bettah!). I have been toying with the idea of entering an essay contest or submitting to a publication, and by toying I mean just thinking…I have NO idea how to even go about this… - What have I learned from this?
Keep going. In one of the essays in Tiny Beautiful Things, Sugar gives the advice “write like a motherfucker”. I’m trying, Sugar. I’m trying to write like a motherfucker one day at a time.
