April 2022 Write Choice Participation Diary

Writing 5 articles in 5 days is more difficult than writing 38 articles in 5 days or 44 articles in 5 days. 

Difficult. But thoroughly enjoyable. Having participated in both versions of the write choice challenges, here are some eclectic thoughts about my participation in this competition.  

A Different Ball Game

The ‘write as many articles as you can’ edition of the challenge is like a 20-20 match. Score as many runs as you can. It’s okay if you get out in the process.

The one ‘5 articles in 5 days’ edition of the competition is like a test match. The contest seemed to ask me “You have all the time in the world – why are you not scoring a century?” Speaking of test matches, Hetal Sonpal has written a great article on lessons from Rahul Dravid as a part of this challenge.

The Immersion Factor

In the ‘write as many articles as you can’ editions of the challenge, I sat down to write. And wrote. And wrote. And wrote more.

Tony Robbins conducts his events in full immersion mode to, well, immerse you fully. The first and second writing challenge, it was tiring. But the immersion meant that I primed myself to write more. 

In this edition of the challenge, I missed the immersion factor. 

In retrospect, the best strategy would have been to sit down Wednesday night or sometime Thursday and write all five articles at once. (If you participated in the challenge, and adopted this strategy, and don’t mind sharing it, do let me know in the comments). That would have been an immersive writing experience.

Room for Error

In the ‘write as many articles as you can’ editions of the challenge, I had the luxury of forgiving myself. Before I started to write, I knew that there would be latitude to write less-than-ideal posts. And that worked wonders on the mind.

Knowing that the odds of creating masterpieces would be minimal, I wrote freely, with nothing burdening me. 

There was invisible pressure in this edition of the challenge to produce great articles. This invisible pressure served one great purpose: it helped me get a close view of how the mind works. Buddhism, for example, is all about observing how the mind works. This was a great chance to observe the invisible pressure, wall, fence, and other fabrication that the mind conjures.

A Community Event 

People are busy. The community interactions on os.me are much less than a year ago. People who were os.me regulars post and comment a lot less. Or not at all. 

Community events are a great chance to rejoice together. Catch up on old times. Make new friends. And the write choice challenge is the perfect community event.

A Chance to Be in the Midst of Beautiful Articles

The write choice challenges produce some truly priceless gems. I curated some of my favorite ones from the first edition of the contest here. I had the privilege of reading some superb articles in this edition. And I haven’t read a third of the articles as I write this.

I look forward to reading the upcoming Wednesday newsletter to see the article recommendations from the write choice challenge. 

Participation is its Own Reward

“It’s the taking part that counts,”  is a platitude given to encourage children. With the write choice challenge, however, I truly believe that participation is its own reward. An honor, really.

If you’ve read any of my articles on the write choice challenges, you would have seen me be as excited as Jerry Seinfeld in the comedy club. I make no apologies – the write choice competition rocks. Period.  

Thank You, Write Choice Challenge!

My inability to complete the last write choice challenge taught me not to take it for granted. Participating in this edition was an honor and a privilege. Thank you, write choice challenge and everyone behind it!

Image Credit: Lisa from Pexels