I've decided I'm going to post every day this month.
You can stop laughing now.
One of the things I learned long ago is that the more you do something the better you get at it. The more you run, the faster you go. The more you lift, the stronger you get. The more you drink, the better that guy at the end of the bar looks. The more you do something – anything – the more skilled you become at that thing. This is also known as "practice makes perfect", but let's be clear here, I'm not going for perfection … I'm not even going for close to perfection. I don't even know what perfection would be in this case … I'm just going for better.
Write better
Think better
Concentrate better
Navel-gaze better
So the rules are these
- Post every day
And I just decided that that will be the only rule. No minimum or limit on words. No topic is required or off limits. No ratio of funny posts to heartwarming posts to random observations posts. Just post. Once. Every day. This is exciting.
However.
I'm somewhat leery of this whole idea as there is no telling how mundane these posts could get when "post every day" is the only rule. I guess technically I could simply post a word – a single word – and I would be within the letter of the law. But not the spirit of it, for sure. What will that take? How much post would a non-poster post if a non-poster would post for 30 days? A sentence? Short paragraph? Single thought or observation? I'm not foolish enough to believe that anyone will want to read what I had for lunch or how I feel about random news items each day for 30 days. Maybe I could buy one of those autobiographical book things and answer those questions each day – now, why I think that would be more interesting than knowing I had fried tofu and dumplings for lunch and I wish John Kennedy wore a hat to his inauguration is beyond me.
Lord, I'm already sick of myself and it's only January 1st.
Then again, this is why I'm doing this whole thing. Not because I'm sick of myself, but to see what happens. To see what will happen when I commit to writing everyday and stick to it. Because I want to get back in the habit of it and because I want to get better at it. And truthfully, in the past, when I've challenged myself to write everyday I'm almost always amazed at what pops out and how shallowly I've buried some pretty deep emotions. What I thought was six feet under is exposed with a minor rainstorm of clicking keys. Maybe I need a little exposure.
By the way, this is not a resolution.
But this does count as my first post.
One down
30 to go.
Looking forward to reading what you come up with!
(A Twin Cities 3-Dayer)
Posted by: Kim in MN | January 02, 2009 at 08:00 AM