What I’m Learning By Writing For 12 Weeks
When I made the decision to do this, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get better. I wasn’t sure if more people would begin reading. I wasn’t sure if people would start getting better themselves as a result. But if I’ve learned nothing else over the past few years, I know that ACTION is where discovery takes place. You don’t learn or find the path by sitting still. You move despite feelings. You move despite not knowing. You simply decide you will plant your flag and stake your claim to that growth space.
I’ve been writing and publishing at least 500 words a day for the last 30 days and it hasn’t been easy. There have been days where I’ve felt like I’ve gotten into a groove. But, there are days where it is hard and I have no idea what to write or do next. What do you do on those days? You write. What do you write? It doesn’t matter what. You just write. Because ultimately, this is not a journey to get more money or create more sales in my business. Those would be nice. But, this is a journey about finding my voice.
I’ve written 2 books. I’ve had a few articles published. I’ve written blogs. I’ve written songs. I’ve written poetry. I’ve written quite a bit. But, somehow, I’ve never considered myself a writer. For a while, I thought I was simply writing because I had to. Then my wife made me realize I had written so much I didn’t recognize it was taking place. One day she told me how often she would find pieces of paper or a napkin somewhere around the house with something I’d written down. It wasn’t a list or a to do item. It was an idea. It was a lyric. It was something I was pondering about and just decided to write it down. I thought about it and realized that over the years, I’d compiled quite a few notebooks of songs, thoughts, ideas, poems and scribbles. But, yet, I never considered myself a writer. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a writer was someone who wrote articles for money, published books for money, was recognized as a writer and paid as a writer. Since I wasn’t focused on it and wasn’t getting direct paid to write, I must not be a writer.
These 12 weeks are teaching me (well at least the first 30 days):
- You don’t have to be paid to be a writer. You are a writer if you do what writers do…write.
- There are language rules but the only judge stopping you from writing is yourself. You can break every rule and still be considered a writer. Go ahead. Start a sentence with And or Or. Or you could not. See? There I did it and the world is still spinning.
- Choose a consistent time to write. It trains your body, your mind and everyone else around you.
- Some articles are going to be better than others. In fact, you’ll write terrible articles more often than you’ll write really good ones.
- There is a lot of good stuff on Medium.com to inspire you.
- Find something to laugh about every day. It will inspire your writing. Search youtube…OR
- Use stumbleupon.com to help you jump across articles in different areas of interest. Read some articles in the area of humor.
- What you write doesn’t have to appeal to everybody.
- What you write should come from your heart but it isn’t always going to. Sometimes, your heart is tapped out and it needs to be rejuvenated. So, go rejuvenate it.
- Writing is harder than dieting. It’s easier for people to begin an exercise program or decide they will eat different food than it is for them to sit and be even a little bit naked on “paper.”
- Nakedness isn’t telling your deepest and darkest secrets. It may be simply doing something you are unsure of with the knowledge you won’t be able to undo it.
- Great growth happens, whether you realize it or not, when you focus on ONE THING!
I’m just past my first 30 day stretch and I feel the growth. I’m sharing and encouraging others. I know this. What I don’t know is who is reading or who is being impacted. And I can’t allow that to determine whether I move or not. Right now, what counts is simply doing what I’ve committed to doing.
I can feel the muscles stretching.
Today is Day 32 of my 12 week writing journey. Here are two other posts:
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