The Good Patrons of 750 Words

2 cups

I was introduced to 750words just last month, at one of the busiest times of my life. So far as daily writing is concerned, it was exactly the incentive I had been sub-consciously searching for. However, my first thought was that it had arrived at the wrong time. I debated postponing further engagement with the site until later in the year, when the other demand on my time would be less pressing. Further consideration (in the shape of my very first 750 words) led me to do otherwise. I was just in time to put myself in for the May challenge and signed up without further ado.

The past month has presented many challenges in the shape of finalising and defending my master thesis, finding a new apartment, searching and applying for jobs, preparing for interviews (in another language, one might add), and moreover struggling with the endless paperwork necessary to become a real person in Sweden. It could have been called foolish, to add another commitment to the already-teetering stack. However, far from the Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back, the act of writing my words each day became a cool oasis of tranquillity in the broiling maelstrom of stress and tension. The time spent on this site was a serene dome of glass between me and the shrieking ravens of detail that otherwise pecked and shredded my nerves. Far from aggravating my burdens, the daily writing helped me to cope. It gave me time to talk through things with myself, time to solve problems and plan the best use of my time. I made it through the whole month and have acquired a beautiful, if somewhat melancholy turquoise horse as a reward and souvenir.

With the most stressful period behind me, I’m aware that the habit of writing every day might vanish along with the last vestiges of adrenalin. That’s why I have signed up, again, for the next monthly challenge. I must not allow the habit of writing my words to flee when fair weather arrives. It is a practice not yet firm enough to be called engrained. I have made it through the inspiration of a heavy thunderstorm. Here comes the arid desert of an ordinary month. Will it be as easy to keep the pace without the incentive of exhaustion? I think not; but hope to anyway.

Wish me luck!