This is my third go at writing daily for 30 days (at least) this year. I’ve published at least 80 essays this year, including other writing assignments.

I did my first one with a writing group that we formed while taking the Write of Passage course back in February. We thought we’d skip writing on weekends, so we called our version Ship 20 for 30. I was afraid to slack off without the daily momentum, so I decided for myself to write every day for 35 days, ending with 15 more essays than initially planned.

Then I signed up for Ship 30 for 30 in late June and wrote 31 daily atomic essays then. Today, I’m on my 9th essay for my second tour of Ship 30.

I don’t take myself too seriously when I write. I think that helps. I also worked for a blogging software company in 2003, so I’ve been publishing random blog posts ever since. Publishing or putting myself out there is not the issue for me. I’m trying to figure out my writing theme, my purpose, or end goal. I would like to define the dominant flavor that runs through all the essays I’ve written this year if any.

How do I find the answer? Maybe I’m too close to see it. I could try to read through my past essays again with a detached approach and see if anything stands out. I could also ask some people close to me (and whom I trust) to read my work and give me their perspective.

Or I could just embrace how I’ve been writing and continue to share my variety of views, thoughts, and stories…