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Spark Challenge #1: Writing

I sit here thinking about what to write about a challenge on writing. Nothing is coming to me. I was just about to start putting the words on the screen about how to start and how to keep going but nothing came.In the back of my mind I know the solution is to just start. Ready. Fire. Aim.And then… here comes the lizard.Like so many other things in life, there is absolutely no way to think through each piece. It’s impossible to see something perfect in your mind, put it on paper and be done. There will always be revisions, rewrites, filled recycle baskets (not sure how when so much is digital these days…the digital recycle bin?).I think of all the things I’ve learned over the years and not one thing has come in one fell swoop. I’ve learned a bit, played with it, tested it, got the basics down. Then when I’m ready to move on, I learn some more. Those next stages of learning can’t come first. There is always the basics, the fundamentals, the newbie stuff, to go through first.With what you learn in the first stages of something, you can start to take in more advanced things. You have the basics now and that is used as a base for more complicated things. There is nothing like realizing you’ve moved the next stage. It feels good to level up. But you get nowhere without starting.That’s where the Spark Challenges come in. There’s a certain lure to challenging yourself with things you’ve never done before. That’s what I plan to do with these challenges. Things I’ve always wanted to learn, or just simply to get better at, will be my focus. I’ll assign a challenge for 30 days. And then every single day during that month, I’ll work on that challenge. Rain or shine, through thick and thin, I’ll be working on that challenge.Part of the wonders of challenges like this is that it’s every day. There is no time to forget what you learned the last time you did it. You learn something every day and you can apply it the very next day. There is no week, month or year in between to forget. Do, learn, do, learn, do learn.WritingWriting is going to be the first challenge.I’ve always been an ok writer. I’m definitely not the next Hemingway and that’s not what I aspire to be after this challenge. I do want to be a better writer though. It’s always fascinated me when something I’ve read gives me goose bumps, or inspired me to do something or just feels good to read. I want to be able to do that. And this Spark Challenge is going to get me closer to doing that.For the month of October, I’ll be writing at least 500 words a day. All those words are going to be scattered around. Some of them are going to end up here as articles, or PureOutside, or Aviawest, or even my journal. Chat messages and emails don’t count. That’s cheating. Those are just like talking through a keyboard. I want to use the words in this challenge to motivate people to live better lives and get outside and do amazing things. That, in essence is what these challenges are about; finding the fastest ways to learn new things to enrich my life and others. Isn’t that what life is about?I’ll do a couple of updates along the way, either as entire posts or tidbits tacked on to the end of other stuff this month. At the end I’ll do an update about this challenge and announce the next.Let me know what you think. Have you done anything like this before? How did it go? What did you like? What sucked about it?I may need some suggestions for new challenges as well. Post your ideas and your challenges!