It's been a long time since my writing has been regular here. Priorities keep leaning heavier towards my nonprofit work, which is so rewarding it never feels like work. And I do my best to strike a balance between work, family, and taking good care of myself. Lately my self-care routine involves a lot of bubble baths and reading, while my writing practice has pretty much been non-existent.
But I need that to change. I want to get back into writing. I want to find my voice again.
Over the past two years I've found a way to make physical exercise part of my daily schedule. For the most part, I'd say 6 days out of the week, I find the time to fit in at least 30 minutes of exercise. The trick was to make working out a priority, and for me, to be able to check some type of box to show that I'd completed it. I took up space on our family chalkboard wall in the kitchen, and wrote out a calendar each month. Then each day I completed my workout, I'd check it off. Finding that motivation - being able to mark off a workout - worked for me. After a few months, exercising each day became second nature. Now I even crave a workout most days. It's odd how that works.
I'd like to get to that point with writing. If anyone has any tips out there, I'd love to hear them. Sometimes my brain says, "Ah, just wait for that inspiration." But when month after month passes, and inspiration hasn't hit, it's apparent that I need to find a better way.
I like prompts sometimes, but not all the time. I do like the challenge of having written every day, so maybe I'll try that and then make a commitment to myself to share at least a piece a week here on the blog.
A writing class to kick me into gear
This past weekend I attended, thanks to the persistent encouragement from a dear friend, a writing workshop by The Op-Ed Project. It was fantastic. Sure, I was overwhelmed and intimidated at times (the room was full of brilliant, accomplished, outspoken women and men), but the atmosphere bubbled with encouragement and support.
I hesitated to speak up at first, but found some confidence after the first major exercise of the day where we learned the importance of recognizing our area of expertise and how to back that up with our credentials. Sounds so obvious, but as a group it took us some time to master this simple first step. Once we were able to articulate our area of knowledge, the rest of the course flew by. We learned every facet of building our argument, how to address critics, utilizing news hooks, and pitching. Anyone with an idea to change the world needs to take this course.
I met such incredible people. Each is working to use his or her voice to change the conversation surrounding the topic they are most passionate about. The energy in the room was inspiring and motivating. We can't wait to see each other succeed.
My goal after taking this course is to pitch a piece in the next two weeks. I have more specific goals but want to keep them to myself for now. I feel confident I'll be able to do this having taken the Op-Ed "Write to Change the World" course. Now, it's a matter of carving out the time.