30 Days of Writing

The idea behind March Madness: Try to eat right and exercise for 30 days, with the notion that anything can be done in 30 days (it's not THAT long) and by doing something for 30 days straight, it eventually becomes a habit and continues on and on.

It is now June 1 and March Madness still is going strong. Sure I am not as strict as I was on Day one, but I am feeling healthier and my pants are looser and I've stopped the sweet addiction and I must say that taking care of my body has made me feel stronger in a physical and especially in a mental sense.

And with that strong foundation, I am now focusing on the second part of my evolution, my writing. In the same strategy, I have decided to make a commitment, starting today June 1, to write every day for thirty days. The goal is a minimum 30-60 minutes daily and this writing time does not include emailing or blogging. It's strictly time set aside for my creative writing, whatever that may be. While I have started doing some memoir writing for the last few months, lately I have been more excited about some fiction ideas that have been tumbling in my head, and so that is what I spent doing today and an hour later, and I feel great.

While daily may seem like a lot, I think I am coming to realize that writing a few days a week does not work for me, and nearly every writing book/expert advice I have read--Stephen King, Anne Lamott, Steve Pressfield--all say the same thing: write every day.

I feel that I am finally ready to do this now because my fear of not ever writing anything is finally starting to outweigh my fear of writing and failing at it. And second, while I am pretty content with everything in my life right now--I often go to bed with this emptiness inside of me, this void that something is missing. And I think it's about creating something that makes my life more meaningful than just going to work and paying the bills and lifting dumbbells at the gym.

I talked to Adam a lot about writing last night at pierogi party (He writes screenplays and is directing his own movie), and I was a little drunk so I don't remember every detail about our conversation, but he did say something about "writing the story that you would love to read yourself" and that's what this fiction story in my head is all about and I am ready to do it and write something just for me.

I am also going to take some advice from Stephen King and start reading more. He reads like two books a week--and that's a little too much for me--but my goal is just to be reading something always and reading a little every day. I tend to do that anyways, but I just want to be even more diligent about it.

Wish me luck!