30 Days of Red and How to Think Anew about Instagram
I did it! I did my first 30 Day Instagram challenge. I’m dipping my toe back into social media. I’m on Facebook A LOT with my clients so to even think about managing a Facebook profile of my own makes me want to take a nap. I’m not 100% certain I’ll remain Facebook-free but I have been playing around on Instagram (yes, I know Facebook owns Instagram. Moving on…) and thought I’d participate in a little challenge for myself. I found I love getting a peek into my friends’ points-of-view. I actually like some of the marketing materials from brands I follow (gasp!) and I was generally inspired by the platform: snap a pic, load, adjust, hashtag your way out, post.
I decided to do continuous 30-day challenges for all of 2016. Whaaaat? I know. I’m excited. I have each 30 days all planned out because I’m a serious sucker for a to-do list. Give me a list, baby, and it is SO OVER. I won’t share all my juicy little challenges except for a few: I have plans for 30 Days of Food, 30 Days of Fitness, 30 Days of Giving, etc. Come follow along on my Instagram account here: @clairedeberg to see all 30 #red days AND keep up with my current challenge: #30daysoffashion
Until then, enjoy some of the top grams from my #30daysofred challenge:
Here is a #TBT (which stands for “Throw Back Thursday” where you post images from the past). This is Harold when he is a teeny tiny one sitting on our #red leather shag area rug. I mean…
Here is our big #red YMCA that Harold and I visit every. single. day. of the week. I pick Harold up in the afternoon and then we head to the Y where he plays with his Y buds and I workout and then work at my computer. The people there are wonderful. Clark. Nathaniel. Jonathan. Tiara. Isabel. Becky. Love. Read More
Discover Your Biggest Failing
“Which do you need to learn most: patience, compassion, gratitude, strength or vulnerability?”
Oh no: what if I occasionally fail at all of these and occasionally master all of these? Does that mean I am master of nothing? Let me give you a peek into moments of failure and moments of mastery in a few of these realms. Maybe you’ll see yourself in some of these vignettes.
Patience Fail // My children are Montessorians. They both attend Montessori schools and one of the many beautiful pieces of education encouraged in their environments is the ability for the child to do things themselves, on their own, with independence. My three-year-old sweeps up his messes, slices his own pickles for snack, washes his own dishes, spreads his own cream cheese, zips his own coat, etc. The idea is that parents of Montessori learners extend these ways of being to their own home environments. Okay, I don’t know who these people are but if I was a true Montessori parent most of my afternoons would be spent painstakingly observing my dear son put on every article of clothing for winter playtime and it would take so long the sun would set and I’d lose the will to live. Read More
How Dying in 5 Years Would Change How I Live Now
I’ve begun following prompts to get some writing ideas down. I pulled this prompt out over one month ago. It has been sitting propped up by my computer, staring at me…daring me to write about a subject that wasn’t (but maybe now) is my favorite:
If you knew you were going to die in 5 years how would you change your life.
A huge Debbie Downer to start the New Year off, right? But here’s the thing: I haven’t been writing about this but I have been ruminating on it over the last 4 weeks and here is my response to that question: in some small ways. Read More
Yourself OR Others // Which Will It Be?
Here’s the question: Is your highest duty to yourself or to others?
As a writer, as a mother, as a woman, as a follower of The Way, as a neighbor, as a sister, my answer is usually the same.
Answering as a writer: myself or my audience?
As a writer I am not just holed up in a corner of a hut journaling in a book I plan to burn before the ink dries–I’m out there, I’m blogging, I’m submitting articles, I’m pitching books to literary agents, I’m guest posting, I’m thinking about who might come across my words (another mother, an angsty teen, a curious fellow writer, my aunt, my neighbor, my favorite college professor). There is always this question, though, about audience and who it might be and whether you should go after an established audience, create space for a new one or forget audience all together and just write for the love of writing with a feather quill on parchment paper after eating bonbons and hiring someone else to raise your children until they’re old enough to stop interrupting your every thought.
So I am writing for myself…and for others. My business is writing content to market brands and businesses so while it is tapping into my gifts as a whip smart copywriter, I am technically writing for myself (for income), and others (for their brands to get and maintain exposure).
But as I write this very blog post I feel deeply that my highest duty as a writer is to myself. I can’t worry about who might be on the receiving end of this post…because then I’d never write this, or that other article I have or that one post I shared or that other piece I’ve edited. Is there a perfect audience for whom I can safely say is my DUTY to write to?
Claire DeBerg // Writer 