Telling Stories.

Deciding to do this 500 word daily writing challenge was kind of a big deal for me. I'm very "all or nothing", or at least I used to be, and the fear of trying to do something but not being able to do it "all the way" or to the very best of my ability can be pretty daunting. The last thing I wanted to do was to sign up for something, tell everyone I was going to do it, and then mess up. 

I know, I know, messing up is not that big a deal. If I missed a day, who cares, right? 

On one hand, yes, who really cares? It wouldn't be that big of a deal. I'm not under any sort of contract, it's not even like a ton of people are reading these or expecting one from me every day, but I simply detest the idea of not finishing something like this. 

One the other hand, what is the point of doing a challenge if I'm not going to take it seriously? Why  bother if I'm just okay with missing a day because it was "too hard" or "too inconvenient" to get it done? 

That's the achiever in me talking. But, the achiever is part of who I am. It's what has enabled me to do all the things I've done. I don't think many of them are worth noting individually, but overall I get a lot done because I love having gotten stuff done. And I owe it to the "random" innate personality and drive that the good Lord has given me. 

When I decided to do this challenge, I also registered on Jeff Goins' website to receive the daily emails about this challenge. They often give a little prompt to get you going or some advice on how to follow through. Today's prompt was to write a story about someone. I'm trying to figure out why that is so hard for me! 

I think it's Annie Dillard who says that you should just write the truth about people. If they weren't nice to you, then that's their problem (paraphrasing here). Don't worry about what they think! 

I don't really have stories that would be very mean to tell, maybe just a few. Probably mostly about boys in Jr High or Highschool. The thing is, I'm not sure if I can even tell stories well. I think that I'm pretty good at explaining things, coming up with good analogies, and teaching concepts, but when it comes to telling stories, I feel like I have no idea where I stand. 

Maybe part of that is because I haven't tried to write any "real" stories yet, and how can I know until I do? 

I do dream of writing some great fiction someday and I have lots of big ideas tucked away in notebooks. Maybe the reason I don't start is fear, but it's also mixed with lack of time. Well, maybe not just having the hours in the day, but it just isn't a big priority right now. I don't have a story burning in my soul that overrides homeschooling, housekeeping, and all my other endeavors. 

Maybe someday soon you'll get a short story on here. Can I even write one about 500 words long? Guess we'll just have to wait and see!