Let the Sunday Night Challenge Begin!
Over the past two years, I have participated in two WordPress Challenges — Post A Day and Post A Week.
I found that posting daily was a little too much for me because I was pressured to write something every day – not necessarily writing ‘good’ stuff — just writing. It became increasingly difficult to WANT to write – it became a chore and I no longer looked forward to writing. The good part of Post A Day? I learned to write about ANYTHING – junk mail, weird words, quotations, silly situations — anything that worked for that day. The bad part? I learned to write about ANYTHING – which has its downside because you write about stuff you really don’t care about. Lesson learned? Writing daily made me stretch my skills but I felt like I was writing about all the wrong stuff.
So the next year I thought it would be better to try Post A Week. This gave me the freedom to write at least once a week – and possibly more if the mood hit me. I didn’t feel pressured to produce pieces that I really didn’t want to write. I started to want to write again. I thought more carefully about what I was writing – and if it was really worth putting down on paper. I did fairly well the first part of the year – posting at least once a week — sometimes even more! I was jazzed! I was excited! And then – I became LAZY! It was no longer that big a deal – it wasn’t that I was pressured – in fact, it was the opposite – why bother if I could write a couple in the next week or over the next month – and my average was once a week (sometimes it doesn’t help to be a mathematician – we tend to think in terms of overall numbers). The good part of Post A Week? I started writing more about want was important to me and not just about anything. The bad part? I seemed to lose my focus. Lesson learned? I need a little pressure in my life in order to accomplish things. That’s probably true for a lot more of us than we are willing to admit. Pressure to perform is not a bad thing — it can help keep us honest and excel in what we do.
Which brings us to this year. I needed to find a challenge which allows me to be true to myself with my writing so I don’t start writing about lost socks or something equally insane (although that might not be a bad post — I’ll have to think about that one) – but also gives me a little nudge to perform. With that in mind, I’ve decided to try my own Challenge this year — I will post something every Sunday night. I’m not going to put a specific time on my goal — because life gets in the way — but I WILL publish something every Sunday night – which means before midnight – and this is my first post.
Let’s see how this year goes with the Sunday Night Challenge!
Discipline does help with writing. Good luck. Even if what you are writing does not seem entirely profound (though I would love to hear about those lost socks), it all becomes practice to shape you as a writer.
–JW