Today is the 30th day by the way.
Of two challenges that I merged into one: 30 minutes of both reading and writing per day.
Let me first tell you I am not a fan of these called challenges.
And yes, I did write often yet not daily and probably I read daily but never kept the track of it.
So how did I willingly enroll myself in this?
Well, out of curiosity regarding time, perseverance, creativity and.. myself.
I enrolled to know myself better, and to see what am I really made of.
Finally I decided to put down 15 things I learned from reading throughout the challenge:
- Discipline is required in order to prioritize reading ahead of other distractions
- Books introductions aren’t always boring
- It doesn’t matter the genre of the book, I can always learn new things
- Reading genres that I’m not familiar with stretches me in a way I adore
- I can read following more than narration itself, but observing how plots were composed and characters put together
- Long descriptive books do no longer have me as restless as they used to
- Dialogues I read give voice to the characters from my own writings
- Books are indeed mirrors in which we reflect ourselves and portals to amazing worlds
- Literally loving the words from books I specifically prefer.
- When reading rich compositions I feel my heart opening up and being flooded with creativity
- Discovering writers with utterly beautiful imagination puts my heart on fire
- Struggling to read books that are extraordinary in describing human degrading eras or happenings (like Holocaust ).
- Being an empath makes me feel at a deeper level, and guides me towards depths I refuse getting to for my own self protection.
- A library full of books is for me like a candy store for a child. The mere scent of books wins me every time.
- Reading 2 books in the same time is amazing, as long as they are completely different, otherwise they’ll really confuse one’s brain. Always daydreaming when choosing a new book from a pile of endless options.
Reading is like air when one wants to write, it’s like fueling up the engine. What I’ve learned from writing each day for 30 days?
- Blank pages are not as scary as I heard
- I always have 30 minutes to spare, but I need to choose spending them for writing
- I wrote for 18 days using both prompts and also my own ideas for the blog
- Doubted using prompts, but since I was experimenting I gave them a shot and it was a wise decision
- Surprisingly, prompts got me writing as soon as touched the keyboard.
- It’s incredible how much information it’s stored inside my brain since I wrote all these days and ideas keep on coming
- After day 18 I suddenly had an idea for a writing different from all I ever wrote before
- I am currently working on that writing ever since
- Won’t stop my daily writing now the challenge is over. I just warmed up
- Having set myself a discipline and a routine for writing was the best I could have done in this field so far
- Once I have my mind set on something I value, I have all the trust in myself not stopping until reaching my goal
- Writing is creating: the power I have with the written word is priceless
- There are no rules, but only options. I can use adverbs in a row and feel free to call it my signature
- Short sentences perhaps, but again, my limits are mine to decide upon
- Writing is a way of living
Bare in mind I only wrote in evenings, and up to one hour or more for the majority of time.
30 minutes were not enough, and I wouldn’t have know this without the challenge.
And I read afterwards, just making sure I passed the 30 minutes… always with the thirst for more, until sleep finally won me over.
At the beginning I was counting the days… but haven’t done that for some time.
Today an alarm brought the news: the challenge is over: today, the 30th day.
So, what challenge are you up to right now?
Andreea Radu 