Sharing others

by Sharon O | Jun 19, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day ten of our writers challenge the word for us to think about is ‘share’.
He said ‘great writers share.’
They share their own writing and knowledge of different topics as well as the writings of others giving the the proper credit to them.
He said to share someone else’s story so that you are promoting them and making them ‘the hero’.
He said to do it quietly and in secret.
Not bringing attention to ourselves in the process.
He said to be generous and share with others.
I am not sure if he meant share a favorite blog of theirs or just share some of the teachings they have taught us and how we have grown by reading their writings.
Some of my favorite blogs and writers are below.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/
http://www.jumpingtandem.com/
http://www.laurabogges.com/
http://www.(In)courage.com/
http://www.cookingupfaith.com/
http://www.theromanticvineyard.com/
There are more who can I recommend.
More who I read daily.
Sharing others is easy.
Much easier than sharing myself.
Our writers challenge is to share.
So today share someone with someone else.
Let’s encourage each other in this journey.

Learn to connect

by Sharon O | Jun 16, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day nine of our writers challenge the word is connect.
He said ‘great writers connect with other writers’.
I am not totally comfortable with the ‘great’ concept but I understand what he is telling us to do.
When my blog began it was all new territory and I had no idea what I was doing.
There were blogs I enjoyed and after reading them I would place a comment because I knew each blog took  time and effort and even a small word to someone was better than none.
Sometimes the writers would comment back to me, sometimes they wouldn’t.
Some of them have become good friends of mine even though we have never met.
He said for us to find friends, then fans, then patrons.
Friends are those doing the same journey we are doing.
Fans are those who comment on your blog and give positive affirmation.
(don’t you just wonder why they comment or what keeps bringing them back to your blog?)
Patrons are those who are in the writing industry with you and who can give good feedback and help you grow. They go before you and challenge you in the journey.
Part of this assignment is learning to reach out and ask for what you need as a writer.
The assignment or challenge is to find a friend, fan and patron (one of each) and ask nothing of them but their time.
Make an invite for them to meet you for coffee or whatever and do it as soon as possible.
Then come back to the challenge and let others know how it went for you.
The whole process of writing is learning how to connect.

Begin to build

by Sharon O | Jun 15, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day eight of the writers challenge the word is build.
In dictionary.com it says: to establish, increase or strengthen.
to construct by joining parts or materials.
to increase or develop towards an intensity.
to prepare in stages.
Creating a blog is hard. 
It is taking thoughts and putting them into readable form then taking a risk when actually sharing those thoughts.
My original blog purpose was not to build a platform for readers.
It was personal shared only with a few who I trusted.
Yes I know having a blog requires one to build a reader list.
He said in his challenge today starting one is not the same as building one.
He said building your writing skill is hard.
It takes effort and work.
In the blogging world small bloggers are not as ‘noticed’ as large ones.
Being small is acceptable.
Staying small might not be depending on what the original purpose was when it was created.
The first thing he recommends is to make the effort.
The hard work of writing is just like anything else. 
It takes time and lot’s of practice to do a good job.
In other words, “get up and get to work”.
It is a job that requires your presence.
Create for yourself a day in and day out form of discipline.
Just like jogging is for the runner training for a marathon.
Writing every day is the beginning discipline for anyone who wants to go further in the process.
He said sometimes creativity doesn’t happen until one sits down and puts the thoughts into a form.
He also told us to take our writing seriously.
If we don’t no one else will. 
Our work deserves a start and finish timeline.
He challenged us to create something new then finish it.
Then he said to find a small hand full of faithful readers or friends who will be our core group.
Their purpose will be to give ideas on how to launch a book, a project, an article or series of articles.
They can stretch us in conversation over coffee or iced tea or even by email.
They need to challenge our weak places and strengthen our strong ones.
They need to be trusting enough that we can learn from them.
For instance I have posted a blog writing and then asked my husband later his opinion.
He will say “he liked it” or he will say “it wasn’t the best… you have done better”.
Having someone to help is critical to our development as a writer.
It is not enough to just write.
We need to begin to build our experience into something more than just a desire.
The question is how do we know when we are ready?

Start writing

by Sharon O | Jun 13, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day seven of our writers challenge the word is Start.
Basically what he is saying
most first attempts at writing are generally messy and not readable.
His challenge is for us to not be afraid of ugly writing.
He said before it can be beautiful it needs to be thrown together and chaotic.
Write the hard bad things first.
Beginning something is better than not beginning at all.
If you want to become a writer don’t just dream it.
Do it.
He said no painter paints a beautiful picture the first time.
No musician plays a symphony while learning the notes.
No author writes a book the first time.
When we first begin it is often ugly and hard to understand.
With a lot of practice and sharing with others the ‘ugly’ can be restored to something beautiful and powerful.
That is when we will learn to create and become skilled in the process of writing.
He said for us to share our beginning writing with someone
then be open to their thoughts and feedback.
He said we won’t grow until we begin.
The first thing for us to do is to Start writing.

Sifting content

by Sharon O | Jun 13, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day six of our writers challenge the word is to steal.
He said that often times our content comes from others,
“Your genius is hiding in someone else’s idea”.
We may read a story or hear a sermon or read a blog then we create it differently to become ours.
Then he quoted Picasso: “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.”
That means a good writer will listen or read something then recreate it for their own purposes.
To tell you the truth this is a hard concept for me.
My intention has never been to copy others.
Whenever I sit down to write a blog generally it takes two to six hours to formulate the thoughts then preview them at minimum five to eight times before I hit the publish button.
I read it out loud.
I study and listen to the word flow.
I search out the content and try very hard to make it simple and also deep or worthy of someones time and interest.
Stealing from another is easy and it feels wrong.
In trying to understand his concept I suppose that could look like when we are at church and the pastor is doing his sermon I take notes. Then later on when I am preparing for a new blog concept I will look at my notes and then recreate what he said to tell the story.
That could be considered stealing.
Using his content or idea to create a new ‘blog’ post for the week.
If someone wasn’t at our church it could look like my own thought or ‘idea’.
I would not purposely steal from anyone.
When it is a sermon often times I will add ‘pastor said’ then continue with the writing.
The challenge is to find a quote or form of inspiration and give credit to the original author
then recreate it for our purpose or intent.
He said to give it ‘your originality’ personality or flair.
He said a good writer curates.
The meaning from dictionary.com is to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation.
When a topic comes to me or a sermon is heard I am very careful to sift the content 
and give credit to the original place it came from.
There is such a fine line for me in this topic.
It would be better for me to quit writing if stealing was the acceptable way to write.
He said professionals do it all the time. They embrace the concept.
Perhaps that is why I am not one.

Prepare to be challenged

by Sharon O | Jun 12, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day five of our writers challenge the word is prepare.
He said there is work to create and we must prepare in order to get it done.
In dictionary.com the definition is: to put in proper condition or readiness. to lead up to. to get ready. to make ready for a particular purpose.
In order to be a writer one has to prepare for it.
That might mean to create a quiet space just for writing in.
If the goal is writing a book make the effort to find out how to pursue that goal.
He said we are to push forward and do something.
He said: Some movement is better than none.
He also said often we procrastinate because we feel we need more experience or a more perfect writing style.
Telling ourselves we are not good enough defeats the purpose of our intention.
Real preparation is when we are moving in a steady momentum.
He tells us there is a difference between putting things off and preparing.
One is a negative one is not.
Procrastination will kill our deepest dreams and dull our true vision for ourselves.
Putting off today so we can do it tomorrow is never a good choice.
There will always be other things to do.
If our dream is to be a writer then we must sit down and do it.
The other part of the challenge is to tell someone when we do write something and then allow them to give us feedback with an honest critique.
He tells us to do this as often as we need until our confidence is stronger.
Inspiration comes from our ‘willingness’ to put our writings out there and encouragement comes from the readers who are reading it.
Prepare to be challenged. 
Then move into a mindset to become the writer
God has prepared us to be.

A new habit

by Sharon O | Jun 8, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day four the new word for our writers challenge is practice.
If you want to be good at something it takes practice.
The definition in dictionary.com is: repeated performance or systematic exercise
for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency.
He said it won’t make you perfect but it will create discipline.
To have discipline we have to show up.
It has to be a mindset to prioritize your writing.
It is easy to make excuses.
We all have homes that need attention.
We all need to walk, weed, dust or vacuum but even in saying all that to have a nice home it takes effort and energy to get it done.
Writing is the same.
He challenged us to sit down and do it.
In all honesty a year or so ago I did initiate contact with a few others and did guest posts for them and also did a small writing on 5 minutes for faith sharing my testimony.
It takes effort even if you don’t fully believe in yourself. 
It was hard for me to reach out and be challenged to write only 500 words or less with a deadline for submitting the writing.
Then hoping and praying it will be good enough for at least one nice comment.
When an occasional good comment would come in my hope increased and my vision became more clear for the purpose of this blog.
He challenged us to submit an article for a magazine.
It is practicing what you desire to become.
If someone wants to become a good runner they do not sit on the couch and watch other runners on a dvd.
They purchase shoes and good running pants and they discipline themselves to go to the track or path and start running. They begin small and slowly stretch and they loosen up and then they are able to run with great abandon so long as they are trained properly first.
Writing is just like that. 
If we want to accomplish our goal we have to be active and show up at the key board.
He challenged us to make the time to get it done.
He said we might fail in the effort but at least the effort was made and we learned something in the failed process.
If we don’t try we won’t know if it is good or not.
He says writing is an active process and we need an engaged mind to present our thoughts and feelings to the reader.
So learn to write when you are able to think clearly and form thoughts easier.
For some that might be early in the morning.
For others might be in the dark of the night.
Whenever it is let us be challenged to practice more and begin a new habit of writing.

Begin today

by Sharon O | Jun 7, 2012 | Uncategorized

On day three of the writers challenge our word is initiate.
The definition in dictionary.com: to begin. to introduce into the knowledge of a subject. teach. instruct. indoctrinate. train.
He said our challenge is to ‘choose ourselves’.
Sharing the story of when we were in school and others were picking people for teams.
They would say “I pick you and you and you.”
Just as they were picking for their teams we must pick for our ‘team’ too.
He said to look in the mirror and say “you…I pick you.”
If you have favorite writers add your name to the list.
We need to build confidence and also build belief in ourselves.
Then he challenged us to place in a secret place the words
 “I am a ____”.
That might mean for some of us an ‘author’ or a ‘novelist’ or a ‘storyteller’… whatever we think we want to become we are to write it down and keep it in a safe place to come back to later on in this writers challenge.
He said we are to continue to practice writing.
To make it a priority.
To make the time to do it and do it well.
Any writing is better than none.
He ended by saying “Give yourself grace, but also hold yourself accountable”.
Begin today the journey of who you are becoming.
No one gets where they want to be without practice and discipline.
Begin today.