Hello Daniel,

I was going to cross the finish line no matter what, and I did. Technically, I missed two days, one because I did not see the challenge in time and the other because of some sickly stuff that was happening in my life during the challenge; my Taurus nature kept me in focus and I am so glad as I really loved the praxis of a daily presentation to the public. I write a lot daily no matter what is going on and so that was never going to be a challenge for me, it’s the art of constructing something from it (the daily observance and musings) that takes the process to the next level; then there is my bizarre obsession with trying to put out in public the best I can do (from my perspective as a rather gritty, low-fi kind of person), rather than just putting something out just to slide across the finish line (daily) and thinking about working on it later. In general it took me about three hours a day for this challenge (some days it was like ten minutes, others more, the average came to three hours) before the rules changed halfway through — time well spent.

Personally, I love the 100 day challenge of one poem a day straight through and I would have been more strict if it were my challenge (and not added anything to that outline). That was basically what I signed up for. It was the addition of major stuff that became difficult to fit in, given the poem a day — when I actually give feedback (like I was taught in school) it takes a good deal of time to read, write, read again, process and ponder the layers and feeling of the piece, etc… that is a lot of time. As I said above, I just cannot do it half way — I realize that it was written that feedback could be a short thing, however, I was doing that all along, the idea of critique (proper) was a whole other challenge, and one I would suggest is more challenging than putting out a poem a day. But, I did it for three weeks (I think), and voiced my opinion and frustrations. When I found out that it was actually just an option and that the new rules were being pushed, and ignored by so many others I felt a little betrayed by the process of following them, of adhering to the structure when others did not (and at the peril of some major things in my life). At that point I felt completely alienated and a bit like a fool, the one that actually follows the rules while the other cool kids did what they wanted (I actually read your posts and updates to the last line and reached out for clarity when needed). I learned the lesson of the red shoes, once again. lol.

In the process I found others that I simple adore, respect, admire, and am a new fan of — that was indeed part of the winning aspect of this process — most of those people had been commenting on my work from the beginning for the most part. I feel that most of us were looking at the other players and pieces entered, it’s just that one does not always have to comment and still love the piece, and as we all know, you only have so much monies to push around daily. I will say that the pieces I was able to give a proper critique on were wonderful and I probably would not have otherwise, and I’m so glad for doing it now as I will always follow them (the poets I was assigned) and see what beauty they are giving to the world.

In the end, I did what I set out to do, which was a solid poem a day, and I did. I’m not a competitive person, so the incentive to “win” is just not part of my world view — it is nice to be acknowledged, but it is still an outer world attachment of sorts and has no bearing on the deeper work. Hell, I never enter my work to be published or chase any of that (not because I look down on it, rather, I am not motivated by it, and everyone knows writers, especially poets make no real monies) I am simply living a creative life.
The process was fantastic!
Thank you for the journey and the lessons, reflections, and gifts it brought into my sphere.

Ho’oponopono