In a Mirror Dimly

That’s my number. It’s not a number with a lot of cachet…but it’s mine. Let me explain. For some reason, I have been wanting to develop the discipline of writing. Yesterday, one of the writers I follow on twitter…We’ll call him Jeff.. issued a challenge to write 500 words every day for 31 days. Admittedly, when I decided to jump in without thinking it through properly, I had no idea of the commitment required to write 500 words. It wasn’t until I wrote my first post for the challenge yesterday that I was even cognizant of my word count. Actually, I didn’t even make 500 words. Trying not to be a legalist, I submitted my post anyway. The idea behind the challenge is that to develop the craft of writing you actually have to write. Seems logical. I know I always need some kind of pressure to change anything in my life. I figured if I committed to do something, maybe that would be enough reason to actually write. We’ll see about that. =) One of the first steps in the challenge was to link up my blog with the list of people doing it. That’s where the number comes in… My blog is the 1287th blog in the list. I was amazed that so many people were doing the challenge. To see more about the challenge, go here http://my500words.com/

As I was reflecting on why I feel the need to write, I came up with a few thoughts. First, it is not any desire to publish a book or even to be read. I usually don’t tell anyone I’ve written and I’m always a little surprised when anyone reads it. The best reason I can come up with for why I feel the desire to write is that I expect it to help me think. John Piper once said that he doesn’t know what he thinks until he writes. I get that. The act of writing disciplines my mind to decide what I really think. It’s all too easy for me to be lazy and not crystallize what I think. Ultimately, we act on what we think. I believe living a life of purposeful action is a good thing and I need help to do it.

One of the directives on building the habit of writing is that you are supposed to just write and not edit. That’s hard for me. I’ve noticed that when I do write, I take a lot of time to do it. Now, that’s not a bad thing in general. If you are going to take the time to say something, you ought to try to say it well. But because it takes me so long, I can use that as a reason not to write. I think just trying to get thoughts down on “paper”, without editing the heck out of it will help me. Writing every day will also make me stretch in regards to what I’m writing. I can’t wait to see what comes out when I “have to” write.