Shut Up and Write, Already | BEDA Day 1
I’ve been thinking about identities a lot recently.
DON’T CLICK AWAY YET. This won’t take long.
I, like many others, kind of define myself by what I do. Vlogger, performer, assistant, traveler, they’re all hats I’ve worn over the years. One title I’ve felt particularly distant from recently is one of the one’s I’ve held the longest - writer. I talk so much about writing and wanting to write and other people’s writing...and yet I’m not actually writing all that often.
Part of it is the job. I work 50 hours a week, 90% of which is spent in front of a computer. It’s pretty difficult to motivate yourself to sit in front of a screen and churn out words after doing so for 10 hours straight. Of course, plenty of writers can make it work. I just haven’t quite gotten to that point yet.
Another part of it is that I’ve started writing for other people - and getting paid for it. Which is great! Side hustles are super-important in this economy. However, I’ve found it hard to motivate myself to work on my own stuff when I can whip up a post for a client and make a few bucks. This all sounds more like a #humblebrag than a complaint, but it’s something I’m feeling. I only have so much creative energy to give.
It’s time to put those excuses aside.
For this month at least. In an attempt to get back in the swing of things, I’m taking part in BEDA - Blog Every Day in April. I have attempted these “create something every day” challenges before to varying degrees of success (High Point - completing Vlog Every Day in August in 2011, Low Point - giving up on VEDA after 3 days in 2012). The key to these challenges I’ve found is two-fold:
Preparation - I’m writing some of these posts ahead of time. This might go against the rules in some writers’ minds, but I take “Blog Every Day in April” to mean “Post on your Blog Every Day in April.” And it’s my blog so I make the rules, punk.
Being Okay with Imperfection - When you’re posting something new every day, sometimes it’s more important to just get something online than to make sure it’s the best thing you’ve ever written. Not everything I post this month is going to be great. It probably won’t even be that good. But it’ll be there.
So here we go. 30 posts in 30 days. Will it actually happen? We’ll see. But it doesn’t hurt to try. And I’m trusting y’all to keep me accountable. Comment, share with your friends, nag me on Twitter, whatever you feel like doing. I’m looking forward to this month, y’all. Here we go.