A picture is worth a thousand words.

How many times have you heard that saying? Probably at least a thousand, referencing both good and “bad” photos (we all have at least one picture on our Facebook we are embarrassed about).

Pictures can evoke emotion, bring back memories, tell a story… each worth a thousand words.

But have you ever sat down, looked at a picture, and written 1,000 words?

I hadn’t. Until today.

While reading a book about tapping into and expressing creativity, the author (a photographer) described how each photo he takes, he embodies how photography is about capturing a moment and creating a story – at least 1,000 words worth.

It sparked an idea for me – I’ve never actually written 1,000 words about a picture. And what better way to practice writing, express creativity, and hone my craft than doing just that?

The general guideline is each typed page is about 500 words, so I sat down at my typewriter to write out about two and a half pages (since typewriter keys are larger than typical computer font). I scrolled through my phone’s photos and selected one I took today of my view from my patio chair. It’s not a spectacular photo, and it’s not of a spectacular time, which I thought would make for a challenge.

You don’t realize how many words 1,000 words really is until you’re writing them. But I found that my fingers flowed across the keys and typed out 2.5 pages in just under half an hour. Even though I had taken the photo only a couple of hours before, I felt so much emotion writing about it. Gratitude, joy, satisfaction, relief, content. I described the sky, trees, flowers, and grass. My dogs. My book. The sun. The breeze and warmth from the day.

Honestly, I could have written 2,000 words. Maybe more.

And the point is it got me writing. It inspired this blog post. I spent half an hour of my day writing, letting my mind wander, exercising my fingers on the keys. Practicing my craft.

I’ve written before about Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert rule. Today I added to my expertise.

I encourage you to take at least 30 minutes a day to practice your craft. To better yourself. Whether it’s exercising, writing, reading, learning, cooking, painting, knitting, or whatever it is that you love to do, start with 30 minutes. And then make time for 60. Or, if you have a busy day, take just 5 or 10 minutes.

And if you’re a writer, I encourage you to take or choose a photo and write 1,000 words about it. Tell a story. Feel the emotion from the photo, or evoke emotion from the viewer and reader. It doesn’t have to be perfect. But the more you do it, the more you practice, the better writer you will be.