Completed My 100 Day Writing Challenge
Imperfectly, But Completed
I did it! Not perfectly, but perfection is overrated (and often unattainable) anyway. It was not exactly 100 words for 100 days, some days it was more, some days it was less. A few days were skipped altogether due to illness and travel and because of life, but I didn’t let a missed day or two stop me. I kept showing up to write. I have even been accepted into a few publications here on Medium along the way. I didn’t give up because it wasn’t perfect, I kept going, and I did it. Good enough!
A few things I have learned:
1) I have written over 10,000 words since I started! That feels amazing and like I have really accomplished something. (Even in its imperfection!)
2) I have noticed some reoccurring themes in my writing that are important to me. Also, that I have been sick a lot. Perhaps because I began this challenge around cold/flu season. Perhaps it is something I will monitor.
3) I am not proud of all of my pieces, but I am not sad I out them out there either. It’s just that some of them are not as flushed out as I would like them to be. Some pieces I want to sit with for longer to get to a good enough place, rather than just a here-this-is place. Some days here-this-is, was all I had in me.
4) I am extremely proud of some of my pieces that have come from this challenge! I am grateful to have them in typed form, easy to find and reference. Some that are the most important to me are the least read, liked, or clapped for. And that’s okay. This challenge was always for me to push myself to share more. To push myself to be allowed to be seen. Also, for the most part, those who find me through medium are supportive. They are other writers who have meaningful things to say.
I know I will keep writing and I will keep sharing here, but perhaps not every day. Not from that place of pressure or have to, but from the place where I really want to. What this challenge has done for me is to help me get over myself and just share. A great writer and mentor, Samantha Wallen, said “Sharing is the validation, the validation doesn’t come from the response” I feel like this challenge has helped me live into and truly feel what that means.
It feels like I have reached one rainbow, and am on the journey for the next.
Writer gotta write to be nourished and so I write, and I write, and I write…
