Wing It Sometimes

Lesson 3 of 10 from the 200 Words-a-Day Challenge

In July 2023, I embarked on a challenge of writing—and sharing—at least 200 words a day. Word count wasn’t the point; attempting to break through my resistance to sharing my writing was.

This small daily task taught me a lot about myself, my creativity, and my writing practice. So I decided to also share my top ten lessons learned from the challenge in the hopes they’ll support you and your practice as well.

Following the pattern and the practice of the month-long challenge, I’m delivering these 10 lessons learned as micro-essays of at least 200 words.

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Wing It Sometimes

When

☕ KimBoo York

issued the 200-words challenge to me, I took it on, made Women Writing for Change (WWfC) members a part of it by sharing in the group but really had no plans beyond that. I had no idea how it would play out and I decided to be fine with that.

Please understand, such an approach is very much against my usual mode of operation. I typically (over)plan and (over)strategize; I’m a master at leading myself into inelegant periods of analysis-paralysis. But this time, I promised myself I’d release that pattern. I would allow myself to figure it out as I went.

One critical priority: I wanted it to be fun.

A few days after inviting the WWfC members to play along, I took a deep breath and leaned into the point of the challenge. Remember, the challenge wasn’t about the writing … the point was the sharing of the writing. So, I leapt and added Substack as a second home for my short essays and prompts.

That decision to begin my Substack publication is one of the biggest gifts from the challenge. I’m somewhat projecting into the future about Substack’s role in my writing practice, but it’s been so darn easy to set up and start, and I’ve already connected with many wonderful people here, writers and readers alike.

Writing and sharing on Substack calmed the perfectionist, analytical, over-thinker in me and, most importantly, made the challenge feel like play.

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Lesson #3 of 10

Sometimes experimentation (and play) without a plan is okay (and fun). It just might bring new things into your life that you didn’t anticipate.