My #100Days writing challenge

I recently started using Standard Notes as my primary notetaking app (more on this in a later post). Standard Notes has an associated blogging platform Listed, which allows you to publish your notes as blog posts. Whilst exploring Listed, I came across the 100 Day Writing Challenge by moughxyz, one of the creators of Standard Notes. The premise is very simple - sit down for 10 minutes and write for 100 consecutive days. The idea is that by simply forcing yourself to write about anything will overcome roadblocks to creativity.

I am not entirely sure that I believe that - creativity isn't something that happens spontaneously - in my experience you need to work at it. In any case, I like the idea of the #100Days challenge because I spend quite a bit of time critiquing and editing the writing of others - my students, colleagues, and collaborators - but very little time actually writing. So when I do sit down to write something, there is a huge energy barrier to overcome. I am not sure whether the #100Days Challenge will help me, but let's give it a try.

I am sure that much of what I write will be, at best, uninteresting to almost everyone and very rough around the edges. Nevertheless, I don't intend to do much (if any) polishing - I'll write for 10-20 minutes and that's it. I've started blogs before and they've all fizzled out after a few weeks or months. Hopefully, by publishing my efforts online, it will make me accountable and more likely to follow through with #100Days.

Day one of one hundred.