Yesterday, I decided that today I’d start a 30-day blogging challenge.

So today, of course, I tried to convince myself that I’d probably be better off starting tomorrow. That it’s far too late to write today. That maybe this is a stupid idea and I should reconsider. That no one wants to read this, anyway.

But I reminded myself that, first and foremost, I’m actually writing for myself here. (Which is not to say that I don’t love to have readers, of course.)

So here I am.

I’m even skipping the Google Doc and writing directly into the WordPress editor. For someone who writes and then edits and then edits and then gives up and then deletes and then fishes out of Trash and then edits before she posts, this is a Big Deal, please understand.

30 days is a long time. If I can write and post a blog every day for 30 days, I will be posting on Christmas. I will be posting on my birthday. And I will be posting every day on my road trip as I travel with my Mum from Adelaide to Brisbane from the 10th of next month.

I will also (likely) be achieving a wonderful goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year: to post more than I had last year, where I posted four times (blame: the aforementioned extensive editing/self doubt). So far, 2024 has hosted a grand total of two posts on frometoyou.

So, the 30-day challenge.

I’m allowing myself to post what I would say are ‘unpolished’ posts, musing and such that don’t cleverly package a profound message into a few hundred words. But that’s okay; my goal isn’t to write something good, rather: to write something.

I’ve written about unrealistic goal setting before, so I am going to be mindful to be kind to myself in the very likely event I miss a day or two; because, especially when it comes to writing, perfection isn’t the goal. Even Duolingo, with its passive-aggressive posse, grants plenty of ‘Streak Freezes’ to help keep your running total of consecutive daily practises from resetting.

I want to practise writing, posting and realising that the world doesn’t end when whatever I’ve released into the ether is actually kind of boring, not exceptionally written, riddled with mistakes, or all of the above.

I’m mostly keen to see how I feel about writing after doing it more often with less pressure and criticism.

If anyone else would like to join me in trying to show up every day for a little while for something they’re keen to do more of, please do.

Wish me luck, and good luck to you too, friend.

E. xx