Set Free By Demands?!

I am realizing that the March Challenge is freeing.

What?! Kristi, are you crazy? How can having to write, and post, every day be freeing?

So glad you asked. Let me explain my recent revelation. 

In March, because you have to write and post every day, you are forced to really pay attention to life with a writer's eye. You are observing the world in which you live for something to write about. Some days you are struggling to notice anything that might begin to spark the words. Other days there are so many ideas you have to choose the moment you want to spend your words on. There is freedom in the notion that what you write one day might be 'bleh' because in the midst of life most of us aren't going to find/make the time to truly craft our slice every single day. There will be days that the writing comes close to being something special and maybe even occasions of writing of which you are proud, but the necessity of getting something on the blog each and every day allows for the freedom of 'first draft writing' (as Stacey once called it).

In the non-March times I have an entire week to observe. With an entire week I should be able to come up with something profound for each Slice. I should have grand inspirations. My writing should be elevated to a higher level than what I post in March, and yet...

And yet life still happens at a rapid pace. I do not live with the same writing discipline that I thrust myself into during March. Sure, I have moments that I think, "Wow! This is a sliver of life that should be explored." With more days there is more time. I should spend some of that time to see how I can share this moment in words. I could write it like this, or perhaps this way, or throw it all out and look at it from another viewpoint.

But I don't. I find Tuesdays coming to a close and I have nothing on the page. I remember that Tuesdays are my longest, most demanding days and that they are also the day for SOLSC. I berate myself for not taking time on Monday, my least crazy day, to plan for Tuesday - to spend some time putting words down and then revisiting those words to try and craft something worthy of sharing with the world. And the moments slip away and I choose sleep over posting and another week has gone by without a Slice.

Yes, it is May and I am ready for the freedom of March and having to post every day.