Wednesday, November 4, 2015

goal: write a little every day

in journalism school, i received the best advice for being a writer. i heard it over and over again: in order to become a better writer, read and write. read the work of great writers. read newspapers, books, magazines, reviews, blogs. read voraciously. and write; practice your craft. experiment. journal. write publicly and privately. work on projects large and small, professional and so personal they may never see the light of day.

somewhere in the midst of my transition from professional writer to business professional, i stopped writing. i didn't make writing a priority and so i just stopped doing it. i was burned out by the daily toil and stress of pumping out endless blog posts, so i just stopped opening my computer. but i stopped writing daily professionally five years ago. i stopped writing professionally altogether three years ago. and in the time since, i have longed to return to it, at least privately. i keep journals that i write in sporadically. and last summer i worked on a personal blog that i kept up for three months, before my full time job took over my life.

over the past year, i came up with the idea to start a new writing project. i do think that project will come to fruition, but some things going on in my personal life have caused me to push my timeline back. it's fine. i want to get to place where i long to write again, and then i want to enjoy myself. i don't ever want it to feel like its a burden again. i have loved writing since i was very young, but making it my career and livelihood took the joy out of it. i want to feel that joy again. i want my writing to be an emotional release and an artistic expression.

i want to get back into the habit of writing often. i want to exercise a muscle that has atrophied. so, i'm setting a new goal for myself: write a little every day. it can be one or two lines or thousands of words if i'm feeling ambitious. it can be written publicly in this forum or somewhere else. or it can be privately, for my eyes only. it can be about something interesting or serious or totally fluffy and superfluous. i just want to do it and make it consistent.

so, here i go.


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