Day 32 - Stock Taking

Image by Joe Lanman, via Flickr

I made it through the first month, one-twelfth of my planned 365 days, without missing a day. There may have been a couple of days when I was a bit short of my goal of 500 words, but I wrote more some days, so my average is still above the target. Even more important, I have found myself able to delete unnecessary words at least some of the time.

On Day 7 I did a little stock taking through sharing what I had learned already. As a reminder, here are the three lessons I reported then:

• I was surprised how often I chose experiences from my childhood as inspiration and content.
• I realized I need to stop fearing being vulnerable when writing about my experiences.
• I need to let go of the goal of writing finished, final pieces each day.

Since Day 7, I have chosen more memories from my early life as the subjects, including one that I hesitated pressing the "Publish" button because of what I was admitting about myself. If you have been reading along as I write, can you guess which one that was?

Since Day 7, I have tried to write fictional pieces, loosely based on my own memories and experiences, but I find that is still very challenging which resulted in some of my day's work barely being completed before the stroke of midnight. So I have turned back to what is easier - first person accounts of things that really happened to me or those around me. When I write from a first person viewpoint, I have little trouble getting started and even less difficulty finishing something long before the clock-imposed deadline arrives.

Another lesson from my first month is the realization that I need to read something every day as well. Some days watching a movie or favorite TV show can provide me with enough stimulation to begin thinking about what to write about, but reading is better as I compare the great writers' ability to conjure up an image in my mind with their words to my looking at pictures to try to conjure up the words to describe them. So far I have always written something first and then looked for photos that come close to what I saw in my mind to illustrate. But I have tucked away a few photos that I hope to use to spark my thinking before I write this month.

The last lesson is that it really is getting easier each day. This one shouldn't be a surprise since it was in large part the reason I decided to set out on this path. It isn't the first time that I have realized tasks get easier with practice.

Image by jjpacres, via Flickr

For example, when I think back to my first year in Toastmasters as I set the goal of delivering (and that, of course, first meant writing) ten speeches in a year, I recall how challenging it was. It was challenging to figure out what I could talk about for 5 to 7 minutes. Then it was challenging to  determine just how that topic could be used to fit the purpose of the project. I gave myself three weeks to write and practice each of those 10 speeches. I met my goal that year and achieved the Competent Toastmaster award, the most basic of the Toastmasters educational levels. I went on to complete ten more speeches the following year and received the Advanced Communicator Bronze award. And the year after that I decided to complete a second Competent Communicator manual because I realized that the first time I had just given ten speeches, not completed the goals of developing specific skills outlined in the ten projects. By the time I had completed my second Competent Communicator award, I knew I could give a speech on the same topic, even something someone might consider trivial - I chose jigsaw puzzles - ten different ways, one for each of the projects, each time building on the skills I had worked on before.

Now, with one months' worth of my 365 Project complete, I feel I could write a speech a day. But I am thankful that I don't have to.