The One With A Hesitant Start #sol15

Every Tuesday, I participate in the Slice of Life challenge at Two Writing Teachers. If you want to participate, you can link up at their Slice of Life Story Post on Tuesdays or you can just head on over there to check out other people's stories. For more information on what a Slice of Life post is about, you can go here. 

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I want to believe those words. I want to believe in pushing my own limits, in taking risks, in putting myself out there. But it's not always easy. Sometimes, it is. Other times, it's not. I'm excited for the March Slice of Life Challenge, where so many of us are making the commitment to write every single day for all of March. I've done it once before. I was optimistic before...but now I know what this challenge is about and this year I have a purpose. And that makes it super scary.

Can I really keep up with writing/posting everyday?

The main kind of scary I'm feeling has to do with not being able to post everyday. I really want to get into the habit of writing daily again, I really want to tell the story that's begging to be told right now, but I know how hard it was last time. It's hard to write something everyday that feels ready to share here on my blog. I love to free write - but if I share something here, I want it to be more polished than a free write. And that means time...which I don't have a lot of these days. But I'm hoping that if I plan a bit and find a few spaces to write, that I can carve out the time to write something meaningful and polish it up before posting.

Can I find enough things to write about for a whole month?

Another kind of scary I'm feeling is that I might not have enough to say. Last time it was so so so so hard to find enough topics to write about. By the end of the month I was cranky and was writing about the most random things...but I did it so I'm sure I can do it again. Maybe I'll capture smaller moments this time and maybe there won't be so much of a moral to every post. I did sit down and free write all the topics I might write about and I have more than enough. It feels a little better knowing that I already came up with some topics so hopefully I can bring them to life.

Am I brave enough to share stories I haven't told before?

The last kind of scary I'm feeling all comes down to being unsure of the stories I want to tell. I've been thinking a lot about the We Need Diverse Books campaign. As I revise my first novel and have started drafting my second, I've thought a lot about my characters and how much my view of the world factors into their outlook on life. I hope to tell some of my own story through them but I'm realizing I have a lot of unpacking to do of my story. And that's scary. I'm honest here but I'm thinking of sharing some really raw feelings and never-been-told before stories that I've never thought of sharing before. And that's mega scary. 

But last week, I presented at Bartlett High School Writers Week and I started with the picture of Peanut above. Look at that guy. This was taken a couple years ago. He looks so little but he was also so carefree and I love it. The title of my presentation was Dream Big. I'm going to listen to my own advice and to dream big this month. I've thought about the Slice of Life Challenge a lot and if it wasn't important, I wouldn't be stressing out so much. But it is important to me so I'm going to do it. My dreams are big, my scared feelings are pretty big, too...but I'm going to do it anyway! We'll see how it goes!