100 Days One Poem at a Time
Discover more from The Life of H
100 Days One Poem at a Time
I've taken a writing challenge: 50 poems about Sarah in 100 days ... and I've got a writing challenge for you
Dreaming big dreams, 100 Days at a time, for 3 years and counting
2021
While out for a walk back in February of 2021, I came across a book in a Little Free Library in my neighborhood.
It was a goal-setting journal with a sticky note that read: “Intended for hitting a serious goal in 100 days.”
I took that book, and the challenge. I set my intention to complete the first draft of a book about dreams and writing in 100 days. A little more than 3 months later, I filled out the final page of the journal — and the very next day I received an email from a publisher saying they were interested in my manuscript.
And voila! A book was born!
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Become a paid subscriber this week and get a 20% discount AND a free copy of Dreaming on the Page:Tap into Your Midnight Mind to Supercharge Your Writing! (Free books can be mailed in the US only.)
2022
In 2022 I ordered a new 100-day goal journal.
By that point, I’d manifested much of what I’d dreamed up over the course of the previous 6 years:
I had launched my dreamwork practice in 2011, in which I offer classes in dreamwork and writing, and
I was offering 1:1 dreamwork sessions to help people discover the meaning of their dreams,
and I had completed the manuscript for my book on dreams and writing that I was then in the process of editing for publication.
Now, I wanted to use the 100-day goal-setting practice to not set any goals! Day by day I took time to meditate on where I was, and what I wanted my next chapter to look like.
At the end of that process, I decided to devote more time to poetry. I’ve loved reading and writing poetry since I was 10 years old, but the necessities of work and other responsibilities have crowded my poetry into the corners of my life. Now, I wanted to put poetry in the center. Specifically, I wanted to write about the biblical matriarch Sarah and dig into her story and how it connects to my own.
That 100-day challenge resulted in my decision to create the Substack Newsletter you are reading right now.
2023
Twenty days ago, I started my third 100-day goal journal! This time I intend to complete 50 poems for The Life of H in 100 days.
I have a folder overflowing with drafts of poems I’ve already begun. So, part of this project is to winnow those down and select 50 poems to fine-tune. Ultimately, I hope to create a manuscript that narrates, questions, and explores the possibilities hinted at in Sarah’s story as it is written in the Bible and rabbinic and modern commentaries. These poems also reflect my personal connection to this ancient story.
Welcome to Day 20
After 3 cycles of 100-day challenges, I know that resting and refilling the well is as important as keeping up the discipline of (almost) daily writing.
So, on day 20 of my 100-day challenge, I invite you to catch up and read any posts and listen to poems you may have missed — while I take a moment to catch my breath.
I hope you’ll keep following along with me, week by week and poem by poem as I continue to imagine my way into Sarah and Abraham’s story and open up the ancient words to help us discover new paths and possibilities of our own.
20-Day 20% Special Offer:
Support this 100-day challenge, get a 20% discount AND a free copy of my book Dreaming on the Page when you become a paid subscriber to this newsletter! (Free books can be mailed in the US only.)
Build your writing habit one day at a time
If you want to build a writing habit one day at a time, get started with this 7-day writing challenge:
Learn more about my books and offerings at www.thirdhousemoon.com
