It’s been the best part of a year since I updated this blog and I’m happy to report that I am still alive.

The truth of it is that — just a few days into Megan Mecado’s 2019 21-Day Writing Challenge — I mislaid my mojo. I completely lost my confidence in my writing ability, convinced myself that nobody wanted to hear what I had to say anyway, and slithered into a minor existential moment.

Except it was a moment that went on to run and run, hoovering up the year month by month and edging my blog closer and closer towards the entirely moribund.

I’m sure there’s some WordPress code somewhere that can attach cobwebs to pages — my blog spent 2019 as a perfect showcase.

But now it’s 2020 and it’s time to regroup. 

If I’m honest, I’m still not confident anyone wants to hear what I have to say, but I’m going to say it anyway. Once again, I’m being spurred on by Megan’s annual challenge and this time I’ve lined up more than one accountability partner to keep me on track. 

My theme this year is 21 Days of Courage, and from tomorrow (28 January 2020) I will be exploring what ‘courage’ has meant to me, means to me, what it is, what it isn’t, what it symbolises, what it hides, and what it reveals.

Starting with finding the courage to edge back out of the shadows, overcome a pernicious fear of failure, park my eternal quest for perfection, and just get writing again. 

I haven’t a clue where this year’s journey will take me — Megan’s daily writing prompts are always ingenious and unexpected, so I’m just going to open my head and heart (especially my heart) and see what I find in there.

Day One looms and I do hope you’ll stick with me as I navigate my way — no doubt with varying degrees of insight and success — towards Day 21.

Your feedback, as ever, hugely welcome along the way.

Image: Angel Rubio/Pexels