It was Steve Jobs, on whose company’s now outdated little iPhone I am typing this post, who said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” I might have imagined being that crazy person once—the superhero syndrome gets us all, especially when we are younger. But the older I get (hello, New Year), I realize it is just as difficult (if not more) to change ourselves first. This is not to say people who are still crazy (and brave) enough to make their move in the world with care and labor do not deserve appreciation, but quite the contrary—we are all capable of change. And by changing ourselves, we are firstly helping ourselves and on an abstract scale helping the world. The world is, after all, an amalgamation of us all.
Some of us do indeed manage to change the world, but most of us can at least change ourselves. It is never easy. But we don’t have to struggle alone—wise words from my writing mentor. And this New Year 2080, the Nepali New Year, I would like to invite you to struggle, but not alone, in a writing journey.
Writing every day is a habit a lot of us would like to embrace. But habits are rarely easy to simply embrace. They must be planned and planted with intention, and that is why A Year of Writing by The Wordcastle with me, yours truly, Alfa.
In September 2022, I started the “100 Days of Poetry Challenge.” I was crazy enough to believe I could finish it, and I did. And that is perhaps why this crazy 2.0 idea has jumped into my head. 100 days x 3 + 65 more days = 365 days.
52 Prompts. 52 Weeks. A Year of Writing.
Spend one week writing about the prompt. It could be a short story, a different poem each day, a continuation of an older poem, musings, real-life events inspired by the prompt, anything. As long as you write, there can be no wrong move.
And here goes the first PROMPT.
Prompt #1: New Year
Ah, clique, I know. But who cares. Write away about your New Year. Write away why you like to celebrate, write away why you don’t like to, or anything in between—the first week of Baisakh 2080 or write about any New Year.
You can start on Baisakh 1, or if the hangover still prevails and if you would like to align with the Sun-Sat week of the Georgian calendar, begin on April 16th.
Write every day, even if it is absolute garbage. You don’t have to share anything with anyone (unless you want to). If you don’t like the prompt, make your own. Mix and match, twist and turn. But Write.
If not every day, write at least once a week, once for each prompt.
See you next week.
(I can only hope this New Yeary resolution-kind-of-thing does not fail by the 3rd day of the calendar.)
Toodles!
Alfa from The Wordcastle
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