28 days kick off, 2 days late…

Well, I’m already late to this particular blogging party, kicked off by my mate and NoTosh creative-meister, Tom Barrett. Three days in and it’s in full swing. Half the food has gone from the buffet and someone’s already dancing in the garden.

The challenge: to write every day throughout February. Possibly also completing in 28 minutes each time.

I might need to do a couple of catch up posts to make up time. Others are sprinting up the tracks ahead of me and leaving me for dust (yes you, folks in this impressively long list of bloggers. 75+ and rising..)

Cod-psychology confession alert

I find this kind of challenge particularly tough – which is why it’s probably very good for me. The writing equivalent of eating spinach. The recent surge in appreciation for a ‘growth mindset’ or ‘prototyping disposition’ all align beautifully with ideas around development, inquiry, self-managing learning. No arguments from me there.

But for a perfectionist like me who can’t bear to see a blog post leave the fold without half a dozen academic references, a week or two to mull it over and a brisk spellcheck, writing briefly and without the recourse to others’ research feels worryingly spare.

My god. I might actually have to write just what I think.

Even now, half way down and with nearly a third of my time gone [20′ 57″ left, if you’re interested], I’m already thinking that this isn’t really going to be up to scratch, compared to previous/others’ posts.

And yet – I love to write, to craft a solidly sparkly sentence, and my blog and I have been trucking along together for nearly eight years. We see each other every now and then, but never as often as I would like, partly held back by the pesky perfectionism in the previous para. I have a long list of possible topics, few ever breaking past an opening sentence or bulleted list.

A chip in the brain

I recall thinking one morning as I went for an early run, “How great would it be to have a chip in my brain so I could run and write at the same time?” Thinking is often done best while gently scaling a few Wellington hills, don’t you find?

Intervention

What I need, clearly, is an Intervention. Something to snap me out of the rut and break the desire to publish only pieces that I think will stand up to scrutiny.

So, my personal challenge for this month:

• create smaller abstracts for longer blog posts
• build on others’ conversations with response (or retort)
• review a few good reads and resources that might be of use to others
• tell stories.

You might actually hear what I’m thinking in all its raw and unvarnished glory, so you have been warned. Equally, I might actually rediscover the pleasure of writing and the place it holds in the development of ideas, evolution of concepts and good ol’ reflective practice.

Bring it.

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Image source: Carl Guderian – 007 Pen dancing with quill CC BY-NC-SA 2.0