750 Words

For the last couple of months, well 63 days to be exact, I have been keeping a journal on the site 750Words.com. The concept is simple - write 750 words each day which is the equivalent to about three pages. You can write whatever you want in how ever much time you want to take but it has to take place on one day and it has to be at least 750 words. Once a day is over that entry is locked. If you didn't write that day, you can't go back and make up for it.  There are no frills to the site and those are the only rules.

To make things interesting they have added badges to the mix. The first badge you get is for writing three days in a row. Next you can one for 5 days, 10 days, 30 days and so on. You can also enter their monthly writing challenges competing against other or just yourself to complete daily writing for an entire month.  Each day after writing you are taking to a report page which gives statistics into that day's entry as well as some insight into your feelings. The site is free, but you can make a small donation part of which goes to a Seattle charity.

I started 750 Days because I was finding it hard to make time to write in my blog. My thought was that if I trained myself to write daily, the blogging would come more naturally to me. I think it's helping because I am indeed writing in my blog at least two or three times a week. That's a huge step for me! I was barely writing once a month if that before!

750 Words has become a part of my morning routine and I have not missed one day for the last 63 days. It's one of the things I look forward to each morning. I take care of my birds, make a cup of coffee then sit down with 750 Words and my thoughts. I don't write anything in particular, but each day something comes out and I gain new insight about myself. I like doing stream of conscious writing and by the end of the session I feel much more grounded than I did before.  It gives some order to this chaotic mind of mine. Nothing really profound comes out of my writing, but I am doing this for me and no one else. This is my time.

If you have been thinking about having an online journal but can't seem to keep it up, I totally recommend 750 Words. It will give you just enough structure to keep you motivated without feeling confining. If you stick with it I promise you will get hooked with that first badge and after a week or so it's going to be part of your routine as it is mine.