On My Writing

So at the beginning of 2018 I signed up for this writing challenge, to write 500 words a day every day. Every day there'd be a new writing prompt in my inbox to inspire me.

Even though this is day 36 of the new year, I'm not even halfway finished with the challenge because I've used other prompts from link-ups and I've not written every day. Today's prompt is to evaluate my writing.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to write. I express myself better with the written word because I can hide and not feel awkward... unless someone is reading what I've written in front of me. I finally accepted that imperfect or not, I am a writer, and it needs to be something on which I continue to focus in the coming year. I have lofty goals, and I don't know that I'll ever accomplish these, but I also know that I'll never get anywhere without trying.

Am I a great writer? I definitely don't think I'm there yet. I do know that often people relate to the words I spill out... my brain dumps and my venting sessions and my preaching to myself sermons.

This challenge has made me more aware of my words and how they present themselves. It's made me appreciate the difficulty it sometimes takes to string 500 words together, and appreciate brevity. It has also made me think of where I want to go from here...

do I have what it takes to write a book? It's one of my greatest dreams.

I just don't know what it would be about.

We're often told to write what we know and so often I feel like I know so little. I'm learning to be comfortable in my own skin, though, and admit that I don't have all the answers.

That might be my theme book... the title would be something like "Me and My Big Fat Mess of a Life" or "Trying to Hold it all Together with Duct Tape".

I have thought about writing a devotional book...

Or a book with funny stories, but many of those would revolve around Caleb and I'm not sure he'd give me permission to share.

I'd like to do a travel book... something with each county in Ky, except it might take me a while to visit all of them (I'm saving my current map because who knows what it'll be like when they all consolidate...)

And I've always been a lover of fiction, so there's that.

I just know that one book I will never write will be a recipe book =)

In this season of my life, I'll admit that sometimes the best I can do is hammer out 500 words in this space here. A book seems near impossible when I think of all I have to do...

but in the meantime, I'll just keep showing up. I'll learn everything I can about my craft by reading memoirs and self-help books, and when the time is right, my fingers will do the talking.