My 750 Words for Tuesday November 13, 2012

Off the top of my head 750 number 1.

Well, here I sit in my undies wondering what to write about. It has been awhile since I've written on a regular basis and I miss it. I miss it and I don't miss it.

I set a goal, or rather a New Years resolution a couple of years ago, of writing a daily devotional. During that year I put out two hundred and twelve. That was impressive for me.

I remember years ago I wrote in my scribble pad, "I want to write a message a day for five days!" And I did. I thought that THAT was sensational! So, you can imagine how IMPRESSED I was with two hundred and twelve devos.

My goal that year was three hundred and sixty five. So, I actually fell short of my goal by a long shot. Cutting myself some slack. As I so often like to do, I realize that 212 wasn't a bad effort.

However, since that year I have never gotten back on the writing trial. I believe that I want to write. I think that I need to write. I even consider myself a writer. I just lack the discipline to sit down and do what I am doing right now. Write.

So, how can I break out of this dreadful habit. I can hear the shouts down the corridors of time, "Write stupid write!"

Simple answer. Simple solution. but so seemingly hard to do.

Why? Why is it hard to sit down and tap out a few lines? I remember thinking years ago, "If I had a computer I would write!" I have one and I don't.

It was an excuse. I was looking for somewhere to dump my excuse for not writing and no computer was that cart.

I never had considered myself a writer. I had always doodled in scrapbooks. I had saved some of my crud and look at it now as junk. But it was special junk to me because it was the germinal stages of what I could be as a writer.

Now, mind you I am no Hemingway! I'm still alive! I don't want to be a him.

I want to be me. But it is so fun to be recognized. Speaking of being recognized. It was when I wrote one of my weekly prayer updates back in 2002 that I got my first recognition. I had seen this guy walking down the street scoop up a handful of water and gulp it down.

That water was the subject of my first editorial jaunt. I wrote it as it came to me. That soul's desperation struck. That guy must have been parched to drink the sludge that was trickling down the side of the road!

Donna Alexander caught a glimpse of my post and commented on it. THAT inspired me! That was my first indication that I might have a talent as yet undiscovered.

Donna's comment instigated me to write more down-to-earth weekly updates. It was her encouragement that spurred me to eventually dedicate myself to write 212 devotional thoughts during 2010. Note the time span of eight years! I am not quick to act.

I admire people who write daily for a living. I think it amazing. I cannot imagine the pressure.

Maybe it is that pressure that helps them to keep at it. It is like going to work. You have to punch in every morning at 6:00 am so you go. Some mornings you hate it. Other mornings you look forward to it. However, it is how you make your "bread and butter" so you do it.

Can it be that you even get used to it? Can it be that you get into a groove or a rut? How can a person write daily for years and years and still put out important stuff? How can they still be effective, useful or enchanting after years?

Maybe they are not always as wonderful as we imagine. Maybe, just maybe, we don't even read them everyday for years and years. Maybe we aren't as faithful to those authors as we should be. Maybe we elevate them to a level of authorial idolatry that they don't even deserve.

Even so, they continue to write and continue to get paid for their effort. So, someone is reading them. Someone sees the value of what they are doing.

Can it be that within me there is this little "talent" just waiting to be pressured into a constant output? Could it be that a real author is trying to escape these surly bonds. He had better hurry! I might not have much time left!

You know what I want to do? I want to write something everyday for one year. Three hundred and sixty five articles would be SO cool. It would be a good start.

So, I am going to start now. To give myself a forty-eight day cushion. I might just need to take a few days off to kick my writers block you know!