Remember that magazine from when you were a kid, “Highlights: Fun with a Purpose”. My kids still get that magazine, and my daughter is just about old enough to enjoy it herself. When I was little I always thought it actually read “Fun with a Porpoise”, and wondered repeatedly, with every issue, if it was about porpoises, where were all the dolphins?
My world of bad spelling continues to this day, but my love of porpoise has passed down to my daughter.
Anyway, back to purpose. I sketched myself out a little schedule last week, putting in a Hello Kitty notebook (where else, really?) a little calendar with categories marked out on every other day. (Keeping to this alternating day posting is still working for me.) Each category appears every two weeks, and I think that keeps a good bit of air so the topics don’t get overbearing.
But now, today, my “whatever” day, I’m struggling! There’s no real topic for today, and I thought that would be good, because then I could write about whatever I wanted and not feel confined, but I want to feel confined! With a topic, a subject, I could find something to write about, but with nothing, I’m like…what? What is interesting? What’s worth dancing on the keyboard about?
So, I tell you about purpose. Having purpose gets me motivated. Having a goal, like 50,000 words in 30 days with thousands of other people, gets me to write a novel. Joining up for a project, like blogging about every letter of the alphabet during the month of april, gets me writing short stories. These two examples are external forces, and while the calendar is internal (in that I assigned it to myself) and I love it, it is clearly outgunned by the external.
I have two choices.
I can run out there and search for more external motivation. I can hunt for more projects that tickle my fancy, and get me all worked up and make my fingers dance.
Or.
What I really need to do.
Is I can go out there and make more motivation. Make goals and projects for myself that I need to complete. Make what I need to get publishable material with regularity.
Purpose. Not porpoise.
