Thursday, February 4, 2016

Not Positive About the Negatives

We begin.  Our fingers twitching in anticipation.  Heart trying to escape from our chests.  Each step forward brings in rolling waves of self-doubt.  Why are we doing this?  Why are we attempting something we're almost positive will fail? 

It could be the journey.  After all, we may be starting something the world has never seen.
It could be to stretch ourselves.  We may have never done anything like this before.
We could be masochists, our return of investment limited to nonexistent.

The spark of excitement, of passion, ignites in us the will to begin.  The ember of hope (such a small thing, really) holds the heat when the hearth grows cold.  We are, or at least we would all like to be, creatures of living optimism.  Even if we are almost positive what we attempt will end in failure, we are compelled to try it anyway, just to see.  And thank the gods for that, for new inventions and new words... new ideas and new stories...

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I'm thinking about doing the A-Z Challenge this April.  But I'm scared of beginning.  What if there is nothing to gain from this?  What if I use time and effort that would be more useful put towards something else?

I'm thinking about starting a new blog for disabled writers.  What if I have as much trouble, or more, getting followers for that blog than I've had with this one?  What if one of my goals is a flop? 

I don't know...
But I'm not positive about the negatives, I'm not sure I will fail.  If only I could quell the fear enough to try.

Are you thinking of taking a big step?  What factors are holding you back?  

10 comments:

  1. I'm participating in A to Z for the third time this year. I've really enjoyed it all three times: the writing as much as the social aspects. I like choosing a theme that feels like playtime to me and writing all these short pieces. Since I normally write novels, they feel like a break. Do you have a theme in mind?

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    1. I was thinking about writing poems in certain forms, each form beginning with that day's letter. But I think that would be too boring for people.
      And then I thought about writing a poem or story twenty-six words or less where each title began with the day's letter. But ultra-short things aren't very engaging for most...

      So, no idea beyond that.

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  2. Writing 26 poems in order to participate might be a pretty high expectation for yourself. Are you that prolific? I'm certainly not when it comes to poetry. You also have to consider what you'll do for the tricky letters like Q and X. I didn't do it yet, but a theme I thought about related to poetry one year was just poets and poems I admire. Where I'd post A poem and talk about why I like it.

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    1. There are enough poetic forms to make it all the way through, but I'm not familiar with them all so my attempts may stink.
      I want to try and relate my theme to my blog, though my blog has "me" as a theme so... that's out.

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  3. Begin! You wouldn't believe how many people drop out along the way. So don't feel that if you start you can't stop--you absolutely can. They'll just remove you from the list once one of the volunteers sees you haven't posted for three or four days. No biggie. Plus, don't forget...your posts are daily but they're supposed to be short. You can even write 100 words for each one and that's fine. The goal is to meet new people and make new friends, as well as to just have fun!!!

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    1. I find new blogs every challenge without participating.
      If I start, I want to finish. April coincides with a Poem-A-Day Challenge I always complete, so that's why I'm trying to figure things out soon.

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  4. I think the blogging community is growing slower than it did when I first started but it's still pretty healthy. The first few years I did A to Z, I roped in a lot of new followers but not so many last year. But I've always felt it is worth it.

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    1. Maybe as a self-discipline exercise it helps. Or for shaking up routine.
      I don't get new followers often, so I can't say anything as to the growth or lack thereof when it comes to community.

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  5. I just can't decide if I want to do the challenge this year. It has become such a big event and I put so much work into my writing for it everyday. I just can't decide!

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    1. I found your blog through last year's challenge... I think it was last year's...
      I read a lot of posts even when I don't participate.

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