October 20 is National Day on Writing: Write without self-judgement

Today, October 20, is National Day on Writing.  You say you haven't heard of it? Join the club.  Actually, I just heard about it through a friend on Facebook.  Despite there being many other arguably more compelling events and days in honor or commemoration of people, ideas and events, I must admit that for a fleeting moment I felt I was out of the loop at having not heard about this day set aside to focus in on and promote writing and its many benefits.  This ever-present pressure to stay informed in this case is due in part to my personal identification with writing, and in general due to the usual high bar I set for myself to stay abreast of as much as possible.  Alas, I usually fall very short of my expectations.  But I'm probably not alone in putting such unreasonably high expectations on myself to stay informed.  Aside from the obvious benefits of acquiring knowledge, there is a sense of satisfaction one derives, perhaps even a guilty pleasure, from being the "first" to bring news to others.  A competitive edge honed by media professionals, the satisfaction of possessing breaking news is no longer the domain of journalist and reporters, but of bloggers, tweeters and Facebook members alike, as was evidenced by the clamor to post news of Steve Jobs' succumbing to his long battle with pancreatic cancer.  


So now that you know that today is National Writing Day, are you going to blog, journal or write a letter to the editor of some magazine? By the way, I also learned that "National Writing Day's" inception was just last year. And though it really is an inconsequential day in the grand scheme of things, I felt compelled to write about it given the increasingly important role of writing in an information-driven age, in which I am just as interested in being first as the next person.  I like to lightheartedly associate my desire to be first with being an Aries, a pioneer in astrological terms.  So here's to us getting over our shyness of writing publicly.  It's not always easy to do, but it feels great to write without self-judgement.  Happy writing!