I’m halfway done with this writing challenge, having written 9 posts in 16 days, including this one,–about one post every two days. Not bad, considering that I wrote only 2 posts in all of 2014.

It’s been an interesting journey, forcing me to come up with topics that I actually want to write about. I’ve found that it is much more tedious to write about things that don’t excite me. I’m pretty sure the lack of excitement would transfer into the writing, so that readers would also find such a piece quite unexciting.

It’s been fun to reminisce about my childhood and realize how far back my love for words goes! I doubt my Dad was trying to make a writer out of me, even though he did name me after one of his favorite writers. Crazy how things turn out, eh? What’s in a name, indeed!

The good thing about forcing myself to write on days when I didn’t feel like it was that I ended up building a momentum. Once I found something I was excited to write about and got going, it wasn’t so hard to see it through to the end and polish it a little bit, before releasing it to the world.

One of the hard things about writing so frequently is just how time-consuming it is. It takes me an average of two hours of active writing (not counting the idea formulation stage) to put together a 500-word piece and do some basic editing of it. Before I know it, a good chunk of my evening is gobbled up. Since I have a number of other interests besides writing (which have all taken a back seat during this challenge), it’s clear to me that I cannot commit to a daily publication in future writing. If I did, I wouldn’t have time for anything else.

Speaking of hard things in writing, specifically blogging, one of the most frustrating things for me is trying to find that perfect image to go with the written words. It’s a good thing that I enjoy photography and can use some of my own pictures; however, it’s often too late to stage and take the picture when I come up with an idea for a post. In future, I may have to delay publishing some posts until I can take the picture I have in my mind’s eye for them.

If for nothing else, I’m happy that the challenge has forced me to write the final few posts about my 2013 road trip. It took me a year and a half to get round to them! I have a few more coming down the pike.

With about two weeks left, my personal goal is to write more than 9 posts so I can beat the record I set during the first half of the challenge. Wish me luck, and cross your fingers for some really enjoyable posts!

Image: Satendra Mhatre