After over two years and nearly a hundred fortunes, Fortune Friday is coming to a close. What started out as a exercise designed to improve my writing skills, Fortune Friday has become something dear to my heart. It has pushed me to get really clear about who I am, what I think, how I feel, and why I am ultimately here in this world.
When I began FF, I gave myself three simple guidelines:
1. Write honestly.
2. No cherry picking. I had to write them as I received them, in order.
3. No repeats. However, I was allowed to open a new cookie if I got a fortune I had already written about. Note: I did repeat once, as an experiment. The same fortune was received roughly one year apart and I thought it would be cool to compare my responses, as well as how my mindset (may) have changed.
That said, it has been a wonderful experience and the results are—at least to me—evident. Nothing will improve your writing skills faster or better than writing. A lot. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes. Just words on a page and plenty of them.
Another positive (possibly the best) side effect is your writing "voice" that will reveal itself over time. Patterns will emerge, from the words you choose to the sentence structures you favor, etc. Things will come into focus artistically.
After a while, you will begin to sound like, well, you—and on a much more consistent basis.
While there are elements of my writing style I recognize in my earlier articles, overall they feel like they were written by someone else. As I am not the same writer I was two years ago, in essence, they were. It is exciting and reassuring to see that change and growth.
Overall, it has been a fun and rewarding experiment which I highly recommend trying. But more important, I hope you enjoyed reading my interpretations and that my words brightened your day—even a little—or moved, inspired, or uplifted you in some way. Thank you again.
To your good fortune!
