Sunday, November 1, 2015

Why write? Reflection on National Blog Posting Month #NaBloPoMo

What is the adage about forming a habit? Some estimate that something you do every day for as few as 21 days will become a habit.National Blog Posting Month (#NaBloPoMo) is a whole month - 30 days - focused on writing daily. It's a practice to encourage writers to write something every day.

I began November on a retreat where I met a woman who had written four lines in a diary daily since she was a fourteen year old teenager. She has begun the tedious task of transcribing those scribblings, and shared that the entries show her that the girl who wrote those lines fifty years ago isn't who she thought she was.

Daily writing piques my curiosity because, in practice, I think I default to the thinking that if we don't put words to it, it isn't real. If it isn't written down, did it happen? And how do our words enliven, or embody, the events of our lives?

So I'm going to try #NaBloPoMo and see what happens. I may only write four lines, but I want to see where my words lead. The second writing project I want to complete this month isn't online. It will require a pen, paper, envelopes and stamps. In this season of thanksgiving, I am going to write one note each day to a different person to tell them thank you for their presence. Too often I scurry from one day to the next in a blur. Perhaps this practice too will become a habit.

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