Do you have 15 minutes?
You could write a blog post!
Even when you are short on time, you can write!
All it takes is
- 1. The Intention
- 2. The Tools
- 3. The Topic.
With these three things, you can sit down and hammer out a blog post before that monstrous inner critic raises her/his/their ugly little head.
Let’s give it a go.
I’ve set the intention to write every day - 80% of the time - and never miss two days in a row. I can make up for a day off - hey, shit happens, right?- by writing a little extra, or I can succeed by writing even a small amount - 15 minutes? Sure! 1000 words? That’d be awesome! Can I text myself a couple of blog post ideas and a screenshot of a writing prompt? Done! Since I set the rules, I also get to clarify and delineate what success looks like, and for me, it is consistency and getting out of my own way - writing even when it is messy and not very good. What if I wrote the worst blog post ever written? I’d be 1000 times braver publishing something - anything! - than eternally polishing the almost-perfect draft. So - I am choosing to write, and write right now!
Intention achieved!
What are your intentions around writing? Do you have specific goals - word or page counts - or is it all about utilizing available time? Or something else entirely?
The tools. Currently, I am at my desk, with my laptop clicking away, but I am also staring at a lined notebook half full of ideas that I would like to transcribe and a pile of loose-leaf pages that really need digitizing. I can write on almost anything, almost anywhere, but I am also a “chronic starter but not finisher.” I am working on the discipline of writing until something is complete - a new and novel challenge (no pun intended). So when I set my intention for this writing block (or writer’s date, as I like to call it), I also picked my tools and set my task to complete one post. It may be short, it may be rudimentary, but by golly, it is going to be DONE!
So, I picked my laptop to have a digital copy that I could copy and paste into my blog, add some pictures, and publish. This was very deliberate.
What will you consider when you pick your writing tools?
The Topic - I have 15 minutes to write a blog post - go! Did I sit down with this topic in my mind? Nope. I have more than 62 pages of blog topics in a list directly below this post draft! I could have taken a moment and picked one at random; I could have read through them and hoped to get inspired, but instead, I went with my gut - with this very real, very “Regina” topic - an authentic glimpse into my rushing mind. Sometimes, my brain drowns in inspiration; other times, it whips between ideas like a Pickleball; other times, still, it is a barren landscape devoid of life, hope or words. Today - I wanted to write about writing - because it is everything and nothing and the only way I know how to feel truly fulfilled.
So - I opened my laptop. I set the intention (and a 15-minute timer) to write, and I have now banged out this draft blog post in the requisite 15 min. Success can look many different ways. Today, it looks like this.
What can you do in 15 minutes?
With Love