5.04.2006

A Writer's Challenge

I'm inspired by Bobby's latest post to give all you writers a challenge.

For the next month, write something, anything, EVERY DAY. Write two lines of dialogue you overheard in the grocery store. Write a question and its answer. Write two or ten haikus, one after another. Anything at all. Feel uninspired? Write about how uninspired you are. Some of my most satisfying poems have been about how I don't feel like writing poems. Overwhelmed by impending tests or papers or a deadline? Dash off a few quick lines about how your hands shake when you feel frantic and overwhelmed. ANYTHING.

Why? Here's why:

"To think how to express some passion properly is the only way to be possessed by it, for unformed feelings lack impact, just as unfelt ideas lose weight. So walk around unrewritten, if you like. Live on broken phrases and syllable gristle, telegraphese and film reviews. No one will suspect…until you speak, and your soul falls out of your mouth like a can of corn from the shelf."
-- William Gass

"Make my life a prayer to you
I want to do what you want me to
No empty words and no white lies
No token prayers, no compromise."
--Keith Green

"Whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God. Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord."
--Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17, and Colossians 3:23