40 minutes

10 minutes of walking

Early morning every day this week I'm feeding this lovely lady, Ghost,  for a friend who's on holiday...

...and today I decided to take a detour on the way home as the sun was out, making a change from the rain and hail that's been the norm lately. I'm glad I did because even though it's just a lane and a bit of hill over

my street it was like a little slice of the countryside.

The bluebells are coming out:

There's plenty of blossom and fresh green buds on the trees:

I wish I could capture the smell for you, especially as I turned off the lane onto the hill: Mud, grass, plants, the morning, sun.

I saw a wren, a blackbird carrying a huge bundle of moss for a nest and a regal elderly cat watching me from a sunny garage roof. Above us all was this clear sky:

It was only a short walk and the air was still very cold, but all that sunshine and busy, growing life did me a lot of good and braced me up for the hail spells during the rest of the day.

30 minutes of writing

For the past 48 days I've been writing for at least 30 minutes every day. My aims are to:

1. Get into the habit of writing regularly
2. Learn to write better by writing a lot and applying reflective learning
3. Get over the hurdle of wondering what to write by getting used to finding and developing ideas.

My rule is I can write anything other than journaling (because I do this often anyway and it serves a different purpose) as long as I write. That includes short stories, poetry, audio journeys, blogging, creative non-fiction, writing exercises and a novel. Knowing it can be anything keeps me wanting to write. It's been hard to fit in on some days and on others I've not felt like writing but done it anyway. That's been a lesson in itself, as instead of waiting to feel inspired I've found inspiration.

I've particularly enjoyed writing short stories sparked off by writing prompts, which I'd never considered writing before. I struggle to figure out how to give them satisfying endings, so that's something I want to learn. Also how to write convincing dialogue, though I think I'm improving with practice. I want to get sharper at describing places but an idea I've had when I'm stuck is to very roughly sketch the lay out of a place so I know what or who I'm placing where.

I'm glad I decided to set myself the challenge to write every day. I'm learning a lot and having fun turning ideas into words. What I've learned so far is:

1. Consistency makes a big difference. The more I write the faster I learn and the more natural and normal it feels.
2. If I wait to feel inspired or motivated I'll never write anything. Do the writing - or art, or music - regardless and motivation comes from taking action.
3. Make success about the daily act of doing, not about the end result ie. If my goal was to publish something I have limited control over that because I can't be certain I'll reach a standard fit for publishing or that any one would be interested. But I can control if I write or not, so I celebrate the daily success of actually sitting down and doing it.