Climbing This Hill – Writing 101 – Day 50

I didn’t realize it until I put the title up there. Today is a momentous day. Today is the day I reached the halfway point of the Writing 101 project. There is nothing special about today. It is a Monday at the end of November. Nothing really auspicious going on. I am sure it is somebody’s birthday. It is a fact that it is somebody’s wedding day. There are 8 billion people on this planet, and it is most assuredly a special day for a great many of them. That in itself makes it an unassuming day. It’s very specialness to some, makes it normal. This is just any ordinary day, the day I finally made it half through the project I set for myself nearly 3 years ago.

It almost didn’t happen today. I almost didn’t write a blog post. I sat to write some more fiction, and after writing for awhile, I thought to myself, “why don’t I add a blog post today.” I am tired and have been sick off and on for weeks. I wanted to skip it. But I thought, “why not?” and when I did, I realized that I had reached post number 50. What a nice surprise.

Of course, my math fans out there know this is not really the halfway point. That will be somewhere in the middle of the next post. The completist in me won’t be satisfied until I write that post too. Of course, by then, I will be over halfway, on the downhill slope, picking up speed. Now, now I am nearing the top. Right there, pausing at the summit, taking in the view.

It is good to enjoy the winds of chance. I am not posting today because I forced myself, but because I indulged a whim. Too often we fight ourselves, trying to force something we are not yet ready for, or avoid something we are. We put off doing that thing that scares us, because it scares us. And then, when we finally face it, we see it was not nearly the beast that we thought it was. That spectre in the night was just a sheet on the clothesline, blowing in the breeze.

There is so much wrong with that metaphor. Most people that read this have probably never dried clothes on a line. It is not nearly as common as it once was. Also, if you left your sheet out overnight, there is a good chance it will be damp in the morning, or ruined by critters, or blown off all together and in the neighbor’s yard. Don’t leave your sheet out overnight. Always get your sheet done before the night falls.

Come to think of it, that is a good motto. Follow the winds of chance, indulge your whims, but always get your sheet done before the night falls. I wanted to write a bit more, but really, that about sums it up doesn’t it?

So, what winds will you chase? What whims will you indulge? What sheet can you get done?

Me? I’ve got a story to write.