After a long period of not posting to my blog or Medium.com, I was inspired to write again by stumbling across a website called 200 Words a Day. I actually would have preferred stumbling across a website called “50 Words a Day,” but I’ll take inspiration where I find it.
Much like Medium, the site makes it easy to write two hundred words online. There is a counter which tells you how many more words you have to go to hit two hundred, and then one has the option of posting whatever one has written. Here is what I wrote:
200 Words, God willing
How hard could it be to write 200 words a day? I want to say, “It depends upon the day” but I’d like an answer that is more concrete and less whimsical than that. Part of writing two hundred words a day is to set the bar so low that it would be just as easy to do the thing as to not do it. Perhaps that’s not possible. What is possible is to focus on the moment, to focus on today, to focus on the here and now. I am writing now, and that is enough. Perhaps I will write tomorrow. I hope I will write tomorrow, but I don’t even know if God wills that I be alive this time tomorrow. There are certain promises we make that have to be conditional. This is why I like to append the phrase, “God willing,” or even, “Insha’Allah” so as to not tempt fate with the hubris that I know what is going to happen five minutes from now, let alone tomorrow. Still, two hundred words a day is a noble goal. It shouldn’t take too much effort to achieve. I think, if I can get myself to the website on a daily basis, the only problem I will have is getting myself to stop.
Jon Carl Lewis, first posted at 200 Words a Day on Thursday, 05 September 2019.
Not a bad start.
The site keeps track of how many days you write, which I imagine will be good inspiration and motivation to keep going. Also, there is a weekly writing prompt. I wish there were a daily writing prompt, but if I can’t think of anything to write, I have purchased a stack of cards, the Wordsmith Deck from BestSelf.co. It contains one hundred writing prompts, one to a card to get the juices flowing on those days when nothing comes to mind.
Wish me luck! I think this is going to be a fun adventure. Should you find yourself experimenting with either of these tools, post your experience in the comments and let’s compare notes.
