99 New: Old Bird, Old Writing Bird

I wouldn’t say the 99 New Project is killing me. Lord, there’s harder work than writing a blog post every day.

But it is a discipline imposed on a life that, at the moment, is about as unstructured as one could be. I pretty much do what I want every day. Oh, I have meetings and obligations but not a ton of them. I don’t actually do any work for money although I do work for glory and gratitude, mine and others.

I can’t believe I have this life.

I’ve worked since I was 12. No, I wasn’t out in the fields baling hay but I was at the family five and dime weighing chocolate-covered peanuts on a scale that used the little steel weights, 2 oz., 4 oz., 6 oz., feeding the parakeets that sometimes escaped from the cage and flew around the store, and making keys on an ancient key maker machine that spit off steel filings and roared like a sander in an automobile factory. So many bad keys I made, they slid into the wastebasket beneath the machine while I pulled a new one off the hook to try again. That and cutting window shades were the defining failures of my youth.

But I’m not doing paid work right now – that could change any minute – a good offer can bring the most reluctant player off the bench. I like to say that the federal government is paying me to cause trouble, rabble rouse, speak my mind, give voice to people who are still part of the work-a-day world who can’t risk being loud. I endeavor to be loud but I’m new at it. There’s a learning curve, but I’m ramping up.

The 99 New Project has been part of slapping myself across the face. Wake up, girlie! Maybe you’re not working for money but that doesn’t mean you get to be lazy. There’s no L-A-Z-Y in JAN. No customers to serve? Then go dust the counters, restock the thread display, refold the underwear, and dust the knick-knacks. I can hear my dad’s voice right now, “I’m not paying you to hold up the counter,” he’d say when he caught one of us leaning on the pots and pans with our arms folded.

So 99 New is not the hardest thing in the world but it can be a little taxing especially if I wait to tackle a new post late in the day after the wine is poured. But the benefits are substantial.

There are words I never would have thought to say if I didn’t have to create a post for 99 New every day.

There is art in forced art even if it’s forced. One phrase could make a whole blog post worthwhile, in my opinion. Others might think otherwise, those with the patience to sort through the chaff.

My saw needs a ton of sharpening. Every time I think I’m so slick as a writer, I read an essay by someone who really is. So practice makes perfect, Mama said, so I practice. 99 New.

It starts out blank and then there are words on a page. Magic.