Yesterday, while listening to the podcast ‘The Antique Shop,’ by Ghostly Thistle media, I had a great idea for a series of stories.
My plan is to draw a series of objects and then write a story about each one.
I started by practicing drawing bottles.
I don’t think anyone is reading this blog unless they happen upon it. I’m sure it’s not particularly interesting most of the time.
And I’m not sure I want to make it more interesting.
Obviously, I wouldn’t want to bore a reader on purpose but seeing as I am writing here for my own sake, as a placeholder, as a daily ritual, the reader is not the main focus of this particular type of writing.
If I were to think about potential readers, I would probably post far less frequently because ai would get too tangled up in what to say on any given day.
Instead, I am thinking more of some writing advice I read a long time ago – ‘What do you need them to know?’
I’m concerned with saying what I mean to say as clearly as I can instead of concerning myself with whether the reader likes what I am saying.
I mean, I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read anything I have written but I think it’s important for me, and for any readers, to know the whys and hows of this blog.
I’m writing to keep my gears turning, for the comfort of ritual, to make sure that my brain knows the way to the page.
On some days, the way to the page is clear and I have something specific to say.
On others, I am stumbling forward and I have to find something to say.
The posts here are about the process of thinking and posting much more than about trying to be any good.
I’ll worry about that in other contexts.
I’m teaching a workshop tomorrow afternoon and I am having the same problem that I always do with workshop prep.
I’m trying to cram too much into a short session.
I know this is a common problem when creating workshops. It’s hard to know what to include, what is ‘enough.’ You want people to understand your topic and you want them to feel like they got what they came for but you also don’t want to overwhelm them.
And I think this is exacerbated by my ADHD desire for context.
When I pull a piece of information out of my brain, it never comes alone – it drags a whole net of related ideas with it.
And the word related is covering a lot of territory here.
Related might include other facts relevant to that piece of information but it also might include details of when and where and how I learned that fact, other people who have expressed similar ideas, metaphors and analogies that are connected by a very thin string to the original topic…
You get my point here.
So, not only am I wading through stuff I *know* is useful and relevant and winnowing that down, I am also wading through all kinds of stuff that *may* be relevant and trying to decide if any of it is useful for the topic of the day.
Needless to say that process is a challenge.
I’m up for it but it is still a challenge.
I do have one important guiding principle though.
The heart of my workshop is this idea:
Writing is a tricky business and it’s ok to find it hard but if you can get comfortable with your own process, you’ll get your words on the page.
Well, I’m going to call this experiment a success.
I’ve written something in here 30 days in a row.
That’s a clear victory, habit-wise.
Sure, every entry hasn’t been a gem.
And I didn’t always have a lot to say.
But I showed up and I did the thing.
Overall, it got easier to find things to talk about.
In fact, the real challenge was when I had ideas for a post that were too big for my time or my energy level.
And that’s something I want to work on a bit – figuring out how to handle the bigger ideas without wearing myself out.
In fact, that’s something I need to consider in most areas of my work – breaking down bigger tasks and ideas into smaller ones and working on them over time.
I’m going to keep writing daily but I’m going to think of a type of post for each day of the week. – to give myself a container to fill rather than trying to develop container and contents all at once.
I’ve been writing a poem a day in April, which has been great fun and I have been really surprised to discover that I can express myself well in that genre.
(And by ‘express myself well’ I mean that I am saying what I mean to say in a way that is pleasing to me. That’s different than saying that my poems are good. Some are good and some are ok. And both are grand by me at this point.)
I’m going to take a break from daily poetry though and do a story a day in May (along with Julie and the team at, you guessed it! Storyaday.org
Will I write a perfect publishable story every day in May?
I will not.
Will I write something vaguely resembling a story every day in May?
I certainly will.
