One of the immediate thoughts I had after setting a goal of writing 100 words a day over 100 days was that this would make a great method for completing two non-fiction books I’ve had on the backburner for a few years.
On my previous blog I started writing 100 Crazy Ideas to Fix the Economy. I stalled after 30 posts, not because I was out of ideas – I had almost 100 crazy ideas written down, but because I didn’t know how to tackle some of the most controversial issues I posted about. When I got bad feedback – I mean, really bad feedback – I ended up abandoning the blog completely. For over two years!
I still intend to complete 100 Crazy Ideas. I still need to work out how controversial I want to be. I still need to decide how to go about releasing it… How to market it…
But, I’m fairly sure that what I need to do next is finish the book. Complete what I want to say before I make any other decisions. Once I have a full and complete first draft, then I can decide what and whether to edit and make decisions about publishing (for free on this blog and for sale elsewhere) and marketing.
It occurred to me that I need to have each chapter sharp and snappy. committing to a 100 word chapter may help me find that focus. 100 X 100 words is 10,000 words. Not a great length for a book, but maybe a very easy read. Something that anyone can quickly get through. Of course, looking at my word count for this post I’m already up to 250 words… Can I and should I limit myself to only 100 words a day for my challenge?
More about that tomorrow…
I have this very same issue: how controversial do I want to be? But in my case, it’s about religion. I’m not sure I want to get into controversy. In the same time, I want to express myself. It’s difficult to find a balance. Or to find a way to express yourself that doesn’t stir up controversy.
It’s very difficult. In some ways I wonder if it’s all about religion: the underlying world views that are sometimes poles apart. About what we are worshipping, whether we consider it worship or not. At times I want to stir up controversy, yet I’m conscious that it won’t just be me affected by the consequences.