Last week I participated in a writing challenge put on by Hope Writers. I stumbled upon it via Instagram on the day that it started. I reacted, and I didn’t think about it or take the time to talk myself out of participating. I just blurted out, “I’m going to do this writing challenge this week.”
My family being the amazing people they are, were very supportive. Every day they asked if I’d written for the day, they asked to read them, how writing was going, and if anyone happened into the den while I was writing, they excused themselves and graciously gave me the space I needed to write.
This challenge ended up being a fantastic experience for myself and my family. It was learning to navigate my time writing for my family, learning to give me the space to write, and participating in the process by cheering me on. For myself, it was an exercise in progress and perfection, in doing the work of writing and of sharing my words. The writing challenge was a one-week (7 days) challenge. Every day there was a one-word prompt. There were a couple of questions to use for direction (if necessary) or simply follow the inspiration of the word and where it led. I wrote essays, poems, brief thoughts, quotes, verses, and hashtags. Some I posted on Instagram, and some I saved for my blog. But I did not let a day go by without writing, without challenging myself, without sharing my words with my family, without chasing progress, without facing my fears, and in the end, it was perfect. My words weren’t perfect; one day, I didn’t even finish my writing. I got stuck. But I still did it and will share it with you unfinished. It was perfect because I completed the challenge. I wrote every day from a single word prompt. I learned and challenged myself, and I completed the challenge perfectly by chasing progress and not perfection.
You will find my thoughts and musings on these words below, and I hope you find them encouraging, inspiring, thoughtful, and they move you to ponder your ideas on these words. The prompts I wrote on are:
