Dear Friends,

Remember back on October 5th when I told you I’d taken up the 31 Day Writing Challenge- write and post on my blog every day for the month of October? Well, today is the last day of the month and I have written 20 times. Not 31 times, but certainly more often than I’ve ever written before. If I did the math right, which is never a sure thing, I wrote 65% of the challenge. Perhaps 2016’s challenge will bring 31 posts, but for my first try I’m pretty proud of myself. And I actually learned some things this month.

• The discipline of writing is hard. Really hard. I think all the thoughts all the time and have some decent ideas, but it is hard to get them onto the paper.
• Writing helps me process stuff that I am thinking about, dealing with, or internalizing. Kind of like therapy.
• I have found an incredible online community of bloggers and writers that I have connection with.Two weeks ago at the Allume conference, I got the chance to meet a couple of my virtual friends in person, face to face. That was really fun! Julie Steck, who blogs at http://www.juliesteck.com, is as delightful in person as she is online. You’ll enjoy adding her to your reading list. And Jenn Giles Kemper’s Sacred Ordinary Days Planner has the potential to make my 2016 pretty intentional. I connected with Jenn online a few weeks ago and when I found out she was coming to Allume, we got a chance to meet and share some conversation face to face. You can find Jenn here:   http://jenngileskemper.com/
• I love connecting with you through this blog. Your comments and support of my writing challenge has been encouraging and helpful. You’ve inspired me and made me think about some things differently. Thank you for not letting me wear out my welcome this month!

I’m going to keep writing. Not every day, but hopefully two to three times a week. I’d love to hear from you. Comment any time and sign up to receive my posts as an email if you’d like.

Happy get an extra hour of sleep Saturday! Favorite day of the year for me.

With kindness,

Melody