#31WriteNow Challenge

I was planning on breaking for a while. I had my hiatus blog all wrote up and scheduled. Then , I saw Luvvie's post on FB and Twitter this morning. And, just like that, I got pulled back in. I haven't consistently blogged this year. I think there have only been 2 months that I blogged daily. I'm disappointed with myself about that. Especially because I did such a great job of it last year. No worries, I am committed to this blogging challenge. There are rules. I have to post every day. I can determine the topic and length. And, if I post a link, I have to use the #31WriteNow hashtag. Simple. I do not want to blog about anything that I've already said this year, especially about one major subject. This will help. So, here I go again. Ironically, I did a similar challenge last August. I loved it. Fingers crossed for the same outcome!!! now, let me get to it #31WriteNow!!

#30in30: What I've Learned

Yesterday marked the end of the #30in30 challenge. I was so caught up in the hurricane hoopla that I forgot to speak on that. In all honesty, writing every day was no problem for me. I've been doing that for a year now. What I did challenge myself on was my content. That was a huge challenge to expand the scope of my blog. I thought long and hard about every blog. Some days I was excited about what I'd written. Other days inspiration was no where to be found. I pushed myself to open up more on certain things. It was not an easy task but I did it. I wrote about everything. Things that excited me, angered me, and scared me to death. I was determined to complete this challenge. It was important to my life as a writer. This is the thing that I feel I was called to do. This is the place where I will perfect it.

There are days where I fell back into my old habits of writing about music and politics. The difference is that I wrote about different genres of music and different aspects of politics. I stuck to my goal. The #30in30 challenge made me realize a few things about my writing style. I needed this challenge more than I knew. Writing during this last month has been the best thing for me. It got me to focus on my end goal. The blogs I am more than proud of are the ones about the left behind series, the Republican rape, and my getting to know you blogs. I feel like #30in30 was a huge success for me and my blog. I hope that my readers enjoyed this challenge as well I will continue to blog daily here. My new goal is to develop my short story fully. I'm invested in those characters. Camille and Jakob have a story to tell I am more than thankful for Aliya S. King and Erik G. Parker for this challenge. #30in30 is done. Fin.

#30in30: The Explanaton

Twitter is one of my favorite social media sites because of the way it connects us to others. One of my favorite authors, Aliya S. King, utilizes her Twitter platform. She holds weekly sessions aptly called #AskAliya. She encourages her Twitter followers to ask any and all writing questions. I love how interactive she is with all of us. Last night, she challenged her followers. It's the #30in30 blogging challenge. The goal is to write a blog per day for a month. That is the only rule to the month long challenge. Sounds right up my creative alley. 

Writing has never been hard for me. It's essentially who I am. Writing for the world to see always hinders the process for me. As a writer, sharing your words is literally laying your heart bare for others to see. That takes courage. Writers, in that sense, have to have huge balls. This challenge is about me pushing myself to the next literary level. I write to sharpen my tool. I think a writer cannot get to the quality of their work without going through the quantity. Writing everyday helps hone my skills. I become a better writer by simply writing. My blog is my continuous conversation with the world. I am writing in abundance so that my written work matches all that I read. I'm developing my voice here in this space. 

For me, this won't be a challenge. I have been blogging every day all year. But, I've decided to participate anyway. I want to put a twist on my personal challenge though. I want to blog about different topics. I'm not sure exactly what I will blog about. But, I'm totally in this. It will be great. I also think it will be fun to read some new blogs via others who will be in the #30in30. For the next month, my challenge will be to diversify the scope of my blog. That is what I will focus on. Fingers crossed and prayers sent up for writing growth during this period. August 1st was the start date for the challenge. Now, we're off and rolling. I'm wishing myself good luck.