I have reached 45 days of writing in my 90 day writing challenge, which started on December 1, 2011. Keep in mind this isn’t consecutive days, as I have fallen off track a few times. Consecutive days of posts was my original intention, but life happens and some of my writings, I felt, were not good enough to publish.
That said, I am proud I made it this far despite whatever setbacks I have had. So far I have written 47,497 words over 45 posts, with an average of 1,055 words per post. I don’t count this post as part of the 90-day writing challenge.
If you’ve missed any, here are the 10 most popular posts during this period (December 1, 2011 to January 25, 2012):
1. Why I don’t compete with other women
2. Weekend tidbit 8: Homemade pizza
3. 7 steps to developing womanly self-confidence (Part 1)
4. 7 steps to developing womanly self-confidence (Part 2)
5. 101 ways to discover yourself – I actually wrote this one years ago, so it is not part of this challenge, but it remains a favorite, apparently!
6. How to move to a new place with no job (and proving silly naysayers wrong)
7. Hurricanes for Dummies (who don’t understand meteorological terminology and don’t want to) and how it somehow relates to negative emotional states and… laughing(?) – Another oldie, but it keeps getting clicked on from the search engines. I’m sure I’ve disappointed a lot of people looking for real hurricane preparation advice (lol), but I hope I put a smile on their face at least. Or not. My bad! : P
8. Do women need to take more responsibility for their sexuality?
9. Weekend tidbit 4: Happy Holidays!
10. 10 unique reasons why I love being a woman
I’m slightly surprised that so many of my “woman” posts made it into the top 10, but in hindsight I shouldn’t be because they were some of my most well thought out posts. It also makes me wonder what this says about my readers and the types of readers that come here. Finally I wonder if I am actually helping and providing new insights or if I’m simply preaching to the choir.
Out of all the posts, the pizza post was the most fun to write. I enjoy learning and talking about the science behind food rather than just giving out a recipe. I think when you get that, food becomes more fun and creative.
What have I learned so far? The biggest thing is to get back up no matter how many times I’ve failed — especially not to feel guilty about it. Guilt actually makes it worse and makes me want to quit even more. But when I don’t let the guilt of “failing” get in the way, the writing has become more more enjoyable and lighthearted for me. I do feel myself letting my hair down a bit more and I can’t wait to see what I come up with for the next 45 post.
If you have any comments or suggestions about anything in particular or any requests for something specific you want me to write about, feel free to let me know! : )
Related posts:
- Finish Line: Completion of the 90-day writing challenge!
- Fall down? Get back up and keep pushing! (And why I love writing)
- Traveling and don’t speak the language? No big deal! [Updated 3/31/12]
- Weekend tidbit 5: The great German Stollen
- Rabid rantings of a frustrated writer (and challenges most writers will probably face)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Val, I say definitely let your hair down and write freely. If I were to request writings from you, I’d say the following are interesting to me:
* More cooking
* Your experiences with guys
* Your confidence and power as a woman
Keep it up, love that you are doing this.
Thanks for your suggestions, Jeremy. They are actually pretty good, and I can think of some that are good for Love month in Feb..
As for cooking, I’ll definitely post some more about that; I really had fun with the pizza post. : )