Joining #SOLSC 2017! - #SOL 2/21/17

I love March, when during the Slice of Life Challenge, I recommit to writing on a daily basis. It's fun during 31 days of posts to watch the ebb and flow of my writing. Some days I'll be incredibly pleased with how a post turned out; other days I'll just be glad I posted anything at all. A huge thanks to the gang at Two Writing Teachers for hosting, curating, and commenting on this ginormous event each year. I appreciate the community of writers you encourage the entire month of March, and all the Tuesdays the rest of the year. Thank you, thank you.

I am excited to be joining the 2017 Slice of Life Story Challenge beginning Wednesday, March 1!!

As writers, we all come into SOLSC with different game plans to help us reach our goal of writing for 31 consecutive days, but the one that works the best for me is pre-planning. Waking up each morning and finding inspiration isn't always doable for me. So, I begin planning ahead of time for possible topics that might be good on those days I feel stuck.

Having this organization ahead of time also helps me solve this other problem that happens more and more frequently: I think of a great idea, don't write it down, and then it's gone - poof! I can't remember what I wanted to write.

So here are some of the pre-planning solutions that have worked for me in the past, and I plan on using again this year:

• I begin stockpiling ideas for "slices" about 2 weeks out. I dust off my Slice of Life notebook, and start brainstorming some small moments of significance for me that might develop into written pieces.
• I begin to carry this notebook with me at all times so I can capture inspiration when it occurs. It is with me constantly, either in my purse or my teacher's bag.
• In addition, I like to add pictures when appropriate, so my phone is used often to capture pictures that complement these small moments.
• If one of those captured ideas really floats my boat, as soon as possible, I go to my blogger dashboard, and begin typing in the bare bones of the piece as a draft. Fleshing it out a bit allows me to be more focused when I come back to further develop it.

I wish I could give credit to the #SOLSC participant who made me think about this starting a few years ago (my apologies for not being able to name you here), but I love the idea of having all my posts for the entire month center around a theme of some sort.

Last year, I tried to stay within my "writing territories" - family, friends, work, travel.

This year, I want to try to write around my #OLW for 2017 - savor. In my posts during this challenge, I want to "savor" the good, the bad, the endings, the new beginnings, and everything in between.

I look forward to finding out who else is taking this journey as well! Happy writing to all!