As I opened my blog today and looked back at the last post, I was both surprised and sad to see that the last post was almost a year ago. It seems hard to believe it’s been that long. I have written other things in the past year, but I really haven’t done as much as I had planned for my book. That brings us to today.
A few days ago, I noticed a post by Jeff Goins, who is one of the authors I follow. Jeff issued a challenge to all writers that this be the year we make a solid commitment. His challenge started with us signing up for a commitment to write 500 words a day, every single day, for 31 days. As I read his post, I found myself thinking this could be just the challenge I needed to restart my writing and finish my book. In 31 days, you can develop a habit. Making that commitment could be just what I needed. And so, I signed up.
I had just made my commitment to my 3 words for the year, words that will be my North Star for 2014. This year, my three words are: Gratitude, Opportunity, and Inspire. All of those things fit with this challenge. I am grateful for something that will challenge me to commit to this process and make it happen. It’s a great opportunity to actually finish my book and be able to say it’s done. I believe it will inspire others to really stop and take a new look at how they can claim the promises in the Bible in their life today.
In the four days since staring this process, I find that, even when I don’t feel I am in the mindset to write, it is becoming easier to simply sit down and do it. In his blog post about this process, Jeff says, “This is all writing really is: showing up. Not worrying about the outcome, just honoring the process.” And so, every single day for 31 days, I will show up! Some days, it will be a post here on my blog. Some days it will be working on that book to get it to completion. In the end, all of it will be about developing that habit to put words on paper.
As my book develops, I would love to hear from you if you’re interested in reviewing chapters along the way. They are short and won’t take much of your time. I would love the feedback. If you are interested in being one of the reviewers, please email me and we’ll set something up.
Have you had something that you really needed to get started? I know many of my friends are also writers. I would love to see you take on this 31 day challenge as well. What new thing will you do for the new year? It is, after all, about showing up! I would love you to share your thoughts in comments below. If you are so inclined, take a minute and share the post with your friends using the share bar on the left as well.
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