Having committed to Reverb10 with hundreds of others (including bloggers I consider to be mentors and friends) I’m writing for 31 days straight… the entire month of December. We’re reflecting on 2010 and what we’d like to manifest in 2011…


Today’s Prompt: Writing. What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing -- and can you eliminate it?
Honestly, everything I do doesn’t contribute to my writing. And conversely, everything I do contributes to it.
I started my blog as a space to be really, truly myself. My intention was to be entirely transparent and authentic. I aim for that in each post… to speak from the heart and tell my truth in all its hideous, gorgeous, painful, glittery detail.

So naturally, I avoid writing. It’s scary to be that honest with myself, not mention anyone who reads it.
I am master procrastinator… I’ll write lesson plans, cook a ridiculously intensive meal, open an extraordinary bottle of wine, go to yoga, read a crappy mystery, take a bath, open a bottle of not-so-extraordinary wine, walk my roommate’s dog… you get the idea, all in avoidance.
And I can’t eliminate it. I’m pretty sure I don’t even want to. While I sit in avoidance I’m really processing what it is I need to say.
But when I sit down to write I pour my heart into it. I don’t over edit- in fact I barely edit at all. I write in a stream of consciousness and work at not censoring my thoughts, my feelings or myself. Sometimes I’m too honest. I wrote a soul-baring post last year and then felt really funny about who might read it. (It’s still up... in some way it was better once it was on the internets and out of my head and hands.)
Prior to the reverb challenge I wrote only when I really needed to. I wrote only when I felt moved to speak or share what I was experiencing. This commitment, to write everyday, is an opportunity for me to be transparent on a daily basis.
Whether I like it… or not.
And that is a gift that I couldn’t give myself until now.