Well friends, yesterday I wrote about why I started this writing challenge; today I will tackle the questions of  “What?” I had not planned to share this post, but decided to publish it so those of you who follow me will know what to expect and can hold me accountable (or ignore your notifications! Ha!).

My natural tendency has been to write when I happen to feel particularly inspired and actually have time to transfer that inspiration into words on a page. Unfortunately, neither of those things happen very often!  I should clarify that I write in a prayer journal almost daily. However, to me that is not really writing, but a conversation with Jesus… It is private and gut-level honest and not intended to ever be read by any other eyes except mine. In this challenge, though, I want to work on writing with the potential for an audience. That is difficult for me! 

For the sake of transparency, I must confess that I struggle with feeling it is prideful to think I have anything worth saying that matters. I know, I would find that idea ridiculous if someone else shared it with me. I would remind them that God gives us stories and wisdom so that we can share them with others! But I never want to write anything just for the sake of hearing my own voice.  My hope is that God will use whatever He is teaching me to also teach and encourage others. Writing about random things often seems just that to me- Random. I want to make sure my writing has a purpose so that it is beneficial to those who may happen to read it and not just a waste of time. I have dozens of partial blog posts in a file that have never been published because I didn’t think they were worth reading. I’m hoping that being more disciplined in my writing will also help me be more purposeful and effective.

For the sake of this writing challenge, I have a few goals on what to write. First, since it is Advent, I am trying to be intentional about keeping my heart focused on Jesus, lest I get distracted by the noise of Christmas and miss the Christ child altogether. I plan to write about some of the things I am reflecting on during this Advent season, the things I am pondering in my heart as Mary did all those years ago (Luke 2:19). I am also working on some tips and tools for our Senior Small Group girls as we prepare to launch them into college/adulthood next Fall, so I will hopefully be able to include some of those topics. I just finished reading a book by Robert Benson, Dancing on the Head of a Pen, in which he included a list of his all-time favorite books. I love that idea, so I hope to make time to comprise my own list. And finally, I really need to finish blogging about our trip out West this summer. As the months go by, it seems less and less relevant to write about, but it was a trip we often find ourselves commenting on and returning to, and I know the details can be helpful to many of my friends who want to plan a trip of their own. Thus, I need to be disciplined enough to finish what I started. It wouldn’t hurt to blog about my recent trip to New York with my girls, either!

Look at that… I am over 500 words! Not exactly exciting to read, but purposeful nonetheless. 🙂

(P.S. Part of this writing challenge is not revising and editing my thoughts before I share them. That is very difficult for me. I like to revise as I go, which is likely one of the reasons I don’t often finish. So please be gracious with me… this is a work in progress! I also get bogged down with all the other stuff that goes with a blog- photos, links, etc., so I am not worrying about any of that right now. My goal is to just write!)