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Today marks the 139th straight day I've written and published a story on my blog 365 Stories in a Year. It's a milestone for me, not because it's number 139 but because it's still continuing.
You see, I've been writing blogs for almost five years now and prior to this effort, the longest consecutive writing streak was 16 posts last year. That time I was attempting to do 30 posts, not stories, just posts of any kind.
Therefore to take on a challenge like this one last August was quite a long shot. I challenged myself, nobody else, to write a story every day for the next year and at the time had no idea how far I would get.
So, now that I'm 40 percent of the way through the year, I have no intention of stopping. In fact, I plan to make the stories better and better over the coming months. The challenge became a habit and now, whether I feel like it or not, I write something here every day. They may be stories from my past, stories of my family, of people I have known, places I have visited, or in many cases, pure fiction (which as we all know can be based on reality as well).
I'm doing this to make it clear just how important stories are in influencing people with writing. Too many times we hear the old adage that "facts tell, stories sell" and go right on writing facts. The truth is that the best marketers and salespeople are also fantastic storytellers.
If you want to influence people with your writing, build the habit of writing stories, just like I'm doing here. And do it publicly. No matter how many people read these stories, I know they are here, I know I wrote them and I know that I kept up my part of the challenge.
For the next eight months or so and perhaps beyond, all the stories here will be mine. That's part of the bargain. However, I may open up some of my other blogs to posts from guest writers from time to time, as long as they keep to my general subject of stories and writing.
I'll keep writing stories now because that's what I do. Make it what you do as well.
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