Your Turn Challenge - What I do well

Day 4: Teach us something that you do well.

Ok ok ok... If I've learned one thing today it's that I procrastinate well. But I don't have to teach you how to do that, do I?

I do NOT enjoy claiming to do things well. I feel like when I do that I open myself up to looking like a royal jackass.

 But... posting for Your Turn Challenge is important to me... and because I recognize that and because I want to honor my truth and my desire, and because I know that Seth is right and if I don't post I've already failed... and because yesterday I told you that failing by NOT taking a risk is worse than taking a risk and failing... I post today.

If there's one thing I do well, it's call myself onto the carpet when it really matters. And this matters. Having a voice, not letting anyone silence us, much less letting the voices in our head have control and tell us we're worthless... it matters.

And so this is what I teach you today, writers. Even when it hurts, write. Especially when it hurts, write. What you get from those sessions, what you give to the world, is a truly great gift.

Now I just hope I can follow my own example.

Day 3 - Your Turn Challenge - The How

Day 3: Tell us about something that you think should be improved.

The first two days of the Your Turn Challenge were simple for me. I was excited and motivated to write, to share my thoughts again, to be part of a conversation.

Day three is somewhat more of a challenge. I think what can be improved ... is my own willingness to take risks, to fail grandly and greatly by doing. And so this post is for me first. If it speaks to you, as well, then I am glad.

In the Your Turn Challenge, you can fail by NOT doing. If you don't post, you fail. But something about that seems so sad and counter-productive. Not posting, not acting, not speaking, these things are easy and safe. But in order to succeed, we must actively fail, we must choose a path and be wrong sometimes.

This is true for any writer who wants to share her thoughts with the world. You fail most when you fail to act. Someone will always be around to tell you that you "did it wrong," or that your idea is flawed, or that you used "your" incorrectly. Even worse, people will outright disagree with you and may even prove you made a mistake.

To be a writer means to take that risk, to put yourself out into the world, to choose to have a voice, even if you may have to admit you're wrong later, or put out a revised version of your manuscript that cleans up spelling errors and takes into account new information you hadn't considered before you published.

Will you fail or will you succeed? You won't know until you try.