An epic writing project

Back in 2012 I shared a post about a Bible project that consisted of writing out one Psalm per day for 30 days. This was a richly rewarding activity as it forced me to slow down and meditate on the thoughts written down originally thousands of years ago.

When I was in college, I applied similar techniques to electronic music.  As a keyboardist with an interest in classical music, I used MIDI technology to program several large works by Wolfgang Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach.  This is the best way to get inside a composer's work:  to copy it note for note.

I have now launched a new epic project - copying the entire Bible by hand.  Many people read the Bible from cover to cover every year, and several Bible-reading plans are available. 

In the post about the Psalms, I shared the story about a man who wrote out the entire Bible in 2.5 years.  My goal is to write out 10 verses per day.  So far, since I started at the end of April 2014, I have exceeded this goal.  I expect that it will take me 5-6 years to complete this.

Epic Works Compared

To give you a sense of the enormity of this project, below is a chart that compares three epic works of fiction and the Bible, in terms of the number of total words.

Initial Progress Report

Thus far, I have complete 9 chapters of the first book, Genesis.  The chart below shows the chapters for each book of the Old Testament.  As I complete chapters, I'll update this chart with the goal of an annual progress report to begin next year.

Have you ever tried a project like this?  How did it come out?  If you like this idea, please comment below and share on Facebook.