“The Home Stretch” - #Blog365 Day 301

Today marks the three hundredth day of my #Blog365 initiative. This post will come up as the post for Day 301, but I’m really writing it on Day 300. One of my learnings? Always blog one day ahead in case something comes up that prevents me from blogging on any given day. In this way, I don’t get backlogged.

So far, I’ve written three hundred blog posts ranging from one paragraph to one page, with the average amount of time taken to write each post at roughly fifteen minutes. So, so far, I’ve written for roughly 4500 minutes (or roughly 75 hours). I’ve also written over 105,000 words.

When we think about the need to practice what we want to get good at, we sometimes don’t at first think about things like reading or writing. For most of us, these skills have been ingrained in us for as long as we can remember. And, whether we struggled with reading or writing as a kid (I still remember worrying in Kindergarten that I would never learn to read), for many of us, we’ve moved beyond those struggles (or found ways to address them).

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about my growth as a writer, and how this regular reflection has helped me to think and write differently. In most cases (hopefully) this regular practice has strengthened my writing. In other examples, it may have caused some of my writing mistakes to persist. In both cases, it has certainly helped me to be more cognizant of my need to reflect, and write, regularly, and, just as importantly, to allow myself the time to do so.

One of my biggest realizations so far is that it is rare for me not to have quite a bit to say. This is both my strength and my weakness. I need to remember that it isn’t always about my story. At the same time, I do have a story to tell, and one to reflect upon. I should be able to do both. It’s tough to tell where the final two months of this experience will take me, but I’m excited to continue moving forward.