200 Days of Writing
Writing has always been the thing for me. Or at least I like to say it has, but really, it started somewhere through my 8th-grade year. And despite my contention for Mrs. Rindler, it really probably was her daily writing prompts that led me to the dreams I hold most dear.
Each morning in Language Arts, Mrs. Rindler wrote out a writing prompt for us to write to in silence for 5-15 minutes, depending on how exhausted she was from the previous class. Afterwards, we were told to share with our desk-mates and sometimes, if I was lucky we could share with the whole class.
At that time in my life, I craved attention, lusted after anyone noticing that I wasn’t okay. I carved it into my skin, I was so desperate for someone to see the pain and sadness that, to me, felt like it was dripping from my skin. As unhealthy as this desire for attention was, it was it and Mrs. Rindler’s prompts that led me to writing. And ever since then, it has been my everything.
In college, I studied creative writing. But after years of being stuck in fight or flight, I was blank to the world. I noticed nothing, and nothing noticed me. The only time I felt anything was when I was writing, but I could also see that I did not have the skills nor the conviction to create the skill needed. So I shut down more.
But something always brought me back. Every time I thought about moving down a different path, baker, librarian, teacher, I always end up sick to my stomacha nd turning back to writing. Recently, when I was speaking with a coworker I have known for nearly 8 months, I mentioned writing, and they said, “Oh, you write?”
It really was a simple question, but I realized in that moment that when people thought of me, they didn’t think of writer. Instead, I was the bread baker, the sewist, the cryer, the flighty, the librarian, the sad one, but never the writer. And it seemed about time I did something about that. Because for the past 15 years, it has always come back to this, always come back to writing.
Right now, it is writing; that draw, that dream, that purpose, and I want it to be writing. So I am starting a writing challenge on February 1st.
200 days of writing.
But not just writing. Sharing
Sharing my writing here. I’ve always known that my relationship with writing is dependent on sharing that writing. Since 8th grade in Mrs. Rindler's classroom to college coffee shop open mic nights to every attempt I have made to put my writing out there, WordPress, TikTok, Substack.
Here I am again.
Sharing it. Asking you to read it. Hoping you feel something, you see the pieces of me in it. Hoping you see those pieces of you in it.
So join me in my 200 days.
I’d like to thank the wonderful Andy J. Pizza for his inspiration with the creative pep talk podcast and his own journey with daily creation. And to all my friends whom I won’t be able to tell about this project for fear of blowing out my own steam. I hope I’ll feel comfortable sharing it with you soon.
Tomorrow, I will be back with some of the rules and practices I am thinking of for this process. And the answer to the question you may be asking, “Why February 1st?”













