As I have mentioned before, I am a very slow writer. A careful writer. There is a reason for this: In my former life as an editor, it was my job to find the errors. That means I can seldom just let something go. I am an eternal "word fixer." There is always a better turn of phrase, additional alliteration or a more succinct way of stringing together my thoughts. This writing challenge has turned out to be just what I needed.
I discovered the idea on Marie's blog, Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer, and made a comment on her Day 2 post that I wanted to join in but was afraid I wouldn't have time to post every day. I decided to make the time. I quickly wrote the first two posts to catch up with Marie. And Jan at Mourning Has Broken. Then Yvonne at Time to Consider the Lilies joined in. It's been a blast seeing different takes on the same writing prompts.
I figured this challenge simply had to make me a faster writer. It had to loosen up some brain cells and allow me to write more stream-of-consciously (which turned out to be my Day 12 prompt — unbeknownst to me). And it has!
Normally, I sit in my home office with my cup of coffee and make notes to myself about future blog posts in my drafts folder. Then I sit down and begin to craft one. I step away for a few hours (or a day), and come back to it. And repeat. That is partly why I only blog once or twice a week. It takes me a long time. I also am afraid to bore you, dear reader!Sometimes a blog title will come to me first, but more often than not, it is the very last thing I write before I hit the "publish" button.
I'm still not sold on daily blogging (for me), but this exercise has taught me that I can punch out a post that is short, in a short period of time. And sometimes that's all you (or I) need.
i am so in your corner on this one!!! The daily blogging is really tough for me because it doesn't give me enough time to be indecisive, go back and change everything ... even the title. I still cannot punch out a short post in a short period of time. I need to start making notes in a draft folder.
ReplyDeleteWe're halfway there!!!
I so relate, Renn! Like you, before this exercise I only blogged once or twice a week because my mind couldn't work fast enough to come up with fresh ideas. The fear that readers would be bored (or read the same thing in another post) haunted me, too. But here we are, the four of us in our breast cancer blogosphere, doing it, egging each other on, persevering. As Yvonne says, we're halfway there. And thanks for the nod to my blog in your post. Keep up the excellent work! xx
ReplyDeleteI just can't keep up with daily blogging, but I do it once a year for NaBloPoMo in November. I do enjoy the challenge, but I could never keep it up year round!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Lemon Drop Pie and making a comment! :D
@Yvonne: Yes we're halfway there, and I bet at the end you will be punching shorter too!
ReplyDelete@Jan: I have the opposite problem: too many ideas and not enough time or patience to flesh them out into posts! That's why this challenge we're on is so cool. It forces us out of our comfort zones. (I just hope it's not too "insider-y" for non participants!)
@ Ginny: Maybe I'll participate in a NaBloPoMo challenge later this year as well! Thanks for the head's up!