Lara Tupper: Swift Ink Stories

New Year, New Words

This view from Rockwell Kent serves as a beautiful reminder for the new year: Thank goodness for our imperfections. Note the off-center circles, the imprecise stars. It looks like it's been made by human hands, which is precisely why it speaks to me. 

Too often I aim for perfection in my drafts, my yoga postures, my crafty endeavors, until they become lifeless gestures performed by a robot.

But what if I could let go of perfectionism? My intention for 2016 is to do just this and I invite you to join me. I hereby aim for a messier existence, one in which so-called "flaws" make the overall canvas shine. 

Here's a writing exercise in honor of the new year: What would you try if you could do it "imperfectly"? (Ukulele lessons? Tap dancing? Ice fishing?) This can be a list, a journal entry, a poem. Give yourself 10 minutes and GO. (If 10 minutes turns into 20, so be it.) 

If you wish, post your exercise on my Swift Ink Stories Facebook page for fellow writers to enjoy. (And …