The 300,000 Words in a Year Challenge

I am going to challenge myself in 2012 to try and write 300,000 words, or essentially 1000 words a day, six days a week. I "borrowed" the idea from Chris Guillebeau, the author of The Art of Non-Conformity, which I read over the holiday break while in Kauai.

I guess you could call it a resolution for the New Year, but I don't really do resolutions as my will power generally isn't up to the task. However, this challenge intrigues me for several reasons.

First, I like the feeling I get when I create something through the written word. It gives me a sense of accomplishment so often lacking in my day to day life.

Second, it is a viable discipline for me to create what hopefully some would call art. I wouldn't consider myself an artist in the classic sense of the word, i.e., drawing and the like. Although I have dabbled in that area very minimally and may have some talent, I have yet to make the necessary allowances of time to develop any kind of real ability. Writing is something that comes more naturally to me and hopefully it will flow naturally to many readers as well.

Third, I am hoping it will help me with my ability to focus and to also clear the slate as it were, to keep fresh ideas coming.

Fourth, writing is an opportunity to share something and contribute positively to others. One of Chris's concepts is that in whatever you do, you need to ensure you contribute to the well-being of others, and I agree holistically.

Lastly, it is my sincere hope that as I continue to write, my writing will improve, both grammatically and conceptually.

In my reading, I have come across several similar recommendations around how to capture ideas to write about later. Some call it a wheel book, which is what the Captain of a ship would use to capture daily events, e.g., the captain's log. The concept is simple - keep a small journal, small enough to be carried anywhere and be available at all times, so that when an idea comes, it can be captured in the near term and expanded upon later.

In having a notebook available, you can write ideas as they come so as not to forget them - alas, ideas are fleeting. But also, writing ideas down allows one to park them and free up their mind from the clutter that is rolling around inside. And I totally need that. Not that I have a zillion ideas or anything, but I get a good one every now and again, and it would be nice to be able to park it for later reference.

As a for instance, one idea I have is to take quotes that speak to me and create blog posts for those on this blog. I mean the blog is called Cathartic Squirt, and what better way to provide some catharsis through sharing intellectually stimulating quotes and opinions about said quotes. You know, how the quote speaks to me, asking for other’s opinions on how it speaks to them, thus creating a dialog which may lead to more ideas. I’ll start with the two below, the latter elaborating on the former.

Quote from Jim Rohn taken from Chris's blog (http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/how-to-write-300000-words-in-1-year/):“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment.”

Quote from Chris Guillebeau:
“In choosing to write, you must choose the pain of discipline. Good news: it’s not that painful, once you get used to it. You just have to make it more important than other things you could spend time on. Make your art your obsession. Fall in love with it. Experience withdrawal symptoms when you don’t give it your attention.”

I need discipline, and I need a sense of accomplishment. Doesn't everyone? It helps get you through the day and is what gets you up the next morning so you can feel it again. Writing is a great way to productively fill the dead space within a day. If I can become an artist through the written word, I will have accomplished something very significant.

Writing allows one to put oneself out there for others to judge, aka you, the reader. That can be a frightening prospect, but again, I am optimistic that I can provide something through writing that others (you again) will receive positively. Will it all be art? Most assuredly not, but all art is subjective, and as long as someone likes some of it, then it will be worth it. Even if no one likes it, it will have been worth it as I will still have accomplished the goal I set for myself. That is, assuming I can stay at it day in and day out. But, I need to look at it not as a task, but as my obsession.

All we have is now, so isn’t it better to use any dead space productively? Again, productive may be subjective here, but you get the point. Stick with me, and I promise my writing will get better.

For those less adventurous types, this is an opportunity to live vicariously through me. Hopefully you will be motivated in some way and as I face setbacks and overcome obstacles you can share in the successes. I have a real opportunity to be an example for others to follow. And then those that do follow can be the inspiration for even more people. Pay it forward, as they say.

Off to a start, maybe not a strong one, but no one said it had to be strong. As long as it is a start - but more on that tomorrow.

Making every blog post 1000 words or so every day is probably not the best way to get a blog off the ground. I suppose not everyone has the time, or inclination, to read someone else’s 1000 word opinion, so we’ll see how it plays out. I will try to spare everyone after this initial plethora of verbitude.

So, how long does it take to write 1000 words you may ask? Well, to create this post it took approximately two hours and it contains approximately 1000 words, not including the title or the ones I lifted from Chris's blog (although I did count the word verbitude (twice) which isn’t a real word). I hope you won't hold me to that.

If you made it through the post, you accomplished something today as well - you read over 1000 words - congratulations, and thanks for sticking with me to the end! Or should I say the beginning? 1000 down and 299,000 to go!

Koi Pond #1

This is the first in what I am planning to be a weekly series of video posts I will be making in 2012 to contribute to folk's sense of inner peace. The idea being that you can take a minute or two out of your busy work week to reset.

This is your cathartic squirt for this week. I am hoping you will take the opportunity to put everything else in your life aside for one or two minutes and enjoy some tranquility.

I hope you will enjoy, and I welcome your comments, on the one minute video of a Koi pond at the Kauai Marriott in Lihue, HI I made and posted below.

I find it helps to just concentrate on my breathe in and out while watching - it helps calm the mind chatter.

Human Nature = Human vs. Nature

I was watching television this morning (halogentv.com if you care) and on a commercial break there was an advertisement that struck me. It was Bono from U2 talking about how the current generation wants to do something to be remembered by. The reason it struck me is it seemed to ring true that the main reason people do things is to be remembered and not just because they are the right thing to do which seems selfish.

Sometimes, probably most times, it feels good to do something because it is right, or because it helps someone else. But, is there still a selfish aspect to this? I suspect it is so.

Will our selfishness wipe us out as a civilization? I don't think we'd be so selfsish as to do that knowingly. If things got bad enough we would band together to survive. But even that would have gone too far. Is survival the end game? Are we willing to sacrifice what we have, what was here before us?

While people for the most part probably agree that climate change is real, and human technology has had an impact, are they willing to be unselfish enough to do things during their lifetime to minimize the impact and not just because it is en vogue?

What if we consummed less? Will making less of an impact today make enough of an impact tomorrow? This generation will never know the damage it has done and many don't think of the impact we have made in the last 3000 years as damage at all, but consider it progress. Ultimately I fear it may be 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

Will we survive? I think so. What legacy will we leave behind? Is our concern over our legacy the only thing that will drive us to do the right thing? Or will it even motivate us at all?

If we are waiting for our legacy worries to kick in, we may be waiting for an event that never comes.

In 100 years, all the people here now will be no more and the world will be totally repopulated. Let us ask ourselves what we can do for them. Not because we care what they will think about what we did or didn't do, but because it is the right thing to do.

Karma - He's such a positive influence in my life

The common perception of Karma as it is espoused today seems to be a misnomer. That common perception being - what goes around comes around. This definition implies that Karma is something external. Like it is some entity floating around in the ether like the angel of death during Passover.

I see Karma as more complex and profound than that, happening at a minute internal level.

I see Karma as an anti-magnet inside of each person. Where a magnet attracts things of the opposite polarity, Karma, or the anti-magnet, attracts things of a similar polarity. So, if you have a negative attitude, or your Karma is in a negative state, you feel that bad things are happening to you and so the opposite would also apply. If you feel you are in a positive state, your Karma is positive and you will feel like positive things will happen in your life.

This is why it is not always the case that people that do you wrong will have bad things happen to them. If they wrong another person, but feel their actions were correct, and they feel positive about what they have done, then it is possible that they won't see any negative effects to their actions.

People site Karma as justification for not taking action. It is really a rationalization to make themselves feel better about something that happened to them - perhaps because their Karma was negative. This is not representing Karma correctly.

Karma is a paradox. It is internal to each person, but is in everyone. If your Karma is negative, how do you make it positive? Each person has to answer that for themselves, but at the end of the day there really isn't a way to do it other than to forget self and decide now that from this point forward you will have a positive outlook on things.

There is nothing to it but to do it - for 21 days straight until the new habit of positive attitude and outlook has been created within you. It takes 21 days to create a new habit.

You may think Karma is upset about being misrepresented, but Karma isn't too worried about it and remains in a positive state and will be attracting positive things to itself going forward.

Is any of this true or accurate? Probably not, but I feel good about it.

Book Review: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Holden Caufield likes to use short sentences. It is like reading the Dick and Jane books. But with more adult content. I am not kidding. Holden Caufield likes to say he's not kidding a lot too.


Starting out, Caulfield seems quite normal. Six chapters in, you start to wonder. He seems flawed. And so does everyone one else around him. Are they flawed? Or, do they just seem that way through Holden's eyes?


Holden seems like a bit of a loner. He seems to not have any drive. He has no care about the consequences of his actions. He is an adolescent's adolescent.

Salinger captures the thought process and rythyms of an adolescent quite well. He makes the shallowness of Holden's thoughts entertaining if not repetitive.

As I have read other reviews and commentaries on the book, it is apparent that there are many subtle poltitical references in the pages from the times when it was written. McCarthyism and Communism are both posited because of the red hunting hat. The references are very subtle which lends the novel a certain brilliance. You don't pick up on them as you read the story, but they make sense after you read it and discuss it..

I had an expectation that something terrible was going to happen to Holden, and perhaps he senses it himself. The end of innocence is near.

Does he see adolesence as a good thing or a bad thing? I think he sees it as both, but he doesn't see that adulthood will be much different or better. Too many phonies. Too many people not understanding him or his thoughts.

The book is an interesting dichotomy because it doesn't have much to say, and at the same time it has a great deal to say. It just doesn't come right out and say it.

It kills me when English teachers assign this kind of stuff. It really does. To a student reading it, it really seems to be a total waste of time because it isn't saying anything right to your face. But the discussions that the class could have about the subtext could be quite interesting. That kills me. It really does. I'm serious.

I found several stories within the book quite funny. Like the boy stepping on the woman's toes and Caulfield saying he probably broke every toe in her body as if her skeleton were made of toes rather than bones. Or the graffiti he says will be on his grave stone. Or the tension breaker in the Hall during a serious speech given by a benefactor to Pencey.

Will you feel good after having read The Catcher in the Rye? You can be the judge of that, but I don't think you will feel it was a waste of your time.

By the way, I really hate it when someone says you can be the judge of that. I really do. It depresses me.

It doesn't really depress me. If you read the book, you'll get it.