Monday, October 22, 2012

Writing with a purpose

Today I decided that I am going to try and write at least 1,000 words of something. I am not sure what I am going to write about, but at least it is worth a try to see how much 1,000 words actually works out to be.

Setting goals. I think it's great when people have goals that they have set for themselves, and they can achieve them. I think I need a goal for my writing so that I can ensure that I actually get some writing done most days. I have read a few blogs, and they have mentioned that to ensure they get writing done each day they have set a goal of 1,000 words each day.

In my previous blog I was mentioning that for me, I always find a reason not to sit and write instead of trying to get into a habit of sitting down each day and working on something for a little while. One thing, I have come to realize is that I need to set aside some time each day no matter what. Yes, I have a busy schedule, but I need to ensure that I have taken some time to work on the various blogs and articles that I want to complete.

The actual habit of writing each day is something that I am finding so hard to do, and I know that once I make it a habit, it will be so much easier for me to do. Even yesterday, after writing the blog about the challenges of writing, I found that I came up with a lot of different reasons why I couldn't continue to write. So here I am sitting in front of my computer today, determined that I am going to at least spend some time working on my writing instead of checking out the various websites and blogs that I easily distract me from what I originally sat down to do.

Why is it that so many of us have such a hard time writing, but we have lots of ideas running around in our head that we want to get out onto paper. I know I have a habit of writing down all the little ideas that I have that I want to expand on, but it's the expansion of these various ideas that I find so challenging. In some cases, I find that I can write at various events that I go to even if there is a presentation going on in front of me. Yes, I go to events and try to listen to presentations, but if the topic isn't of interest to me, I can block it out and actually get some writing done. In some cases, I am writing down ideas and in other cases I can complete an entire blog entry or article while at the event. In some cases, I think it's because I don't have all the other things around me distracting me, and I can focus on a task at hand.

Where I can write. Some of my longer writing has been done when we are taking an escape from our normal schedule, and I am relaxing. I know that I have been able to write for a few hours at a time during this time, and it is so rewarding when I come away from an escape with articles and blog entries that I am very happy with. For me, I love to be able to sit and look out at different scenery, and it seems to help me focus on different ideas. Some of the blog entries refer to a sound I have heard or something I can see, and other times the blog entries have nothing to do with where I am.

Now, I am feeling a lot better about my time today because I am actually seeing that I can sit and work on a subject for a while and actually see results. Lots of ideas have come into my head while I have been writing this blog entry, and I know that I am going to continue working on the ideas. One thing that I have fighting is the feeling of checking different things on the internet instead of continuing my writing. So you can see that it is possible to focus on writing if you really want to and get something down instead of finding a million reasons why you can't find the time to write.

I am going to continue working on my writing and I know that some days I may not be able to write 1,000 words and other days, I know that I am going to be able to write a lot more than that. The other big thing is finding a tool that shows you how many words you have written instead of trying to guess. If I can continue to write each day and see that I am achieving my goal, I think I am going to feel a lot better about my writing. I am going to track how many words I write each day for a while because it's important to see days that are very good and days that aren't so good.

Not everyone can write easily, and I understand that. For me, I want to express some of the ideas and feelings that I have, so my writing is how I can do it. Some people can draw their ideas and others can vocalize their ideas; I can write them. So here I am knowing that I can actually write 1,000 words and have to admit that it hasn't really been that hard to do.

So, thanks for reading this entry, I know it is a lot longer than a lot of my other entries, but I really wanted to see if I could do it. The word count of this document is now 990 words, so I can safely say I have written my 1,000 words.

Bye for now.

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