Write on.

Post # 198 January 21, 2013

I've been thinking a lot about writing lately - not
necessarily doing it, just thinking about it.  I've haven't posted a blog
since last April. Busy with work, busy with family, busy writing for
living which means writing about stuff that may not be very interesting but
does pay the bills. and I've discovered how to watch TV on my laptop so I'm
spending WAY too much time tying up my laptop watching obscure British TV shows
like Monarch of the Glen (don't ask) or 80's soaps like Dynasty (remember the big
wedding in Moldavia where everyone was shot by marauding terrorists? this is
bad TV at its very finest). So, I found myself turning away from personal
writing. 

But along with the usual resolutions (you know what they
are) I  committed to writing my blog again. I plan to write only as often as I have topics
that interest me, just to keep my "creative non-fiction" writing chops up.
I find I am so bogged down now with technical writing about meat for one client
and compulsively checking the CP style guide for the writing I do for my day
job, I fear I might lose the will to write the slice of life stuff I really
enjoy.

The thing that finally motivated me was last weekend's Globe
and Mail - I read three really great articles in the Focus section (Ian Brown on
competing with his daughter as to who is the most literary, Margaret Wente on
"singledom" and Dave Eddie on Dear Abby). All three pieces were so
interesting, well-written and a joy to read that it really inspired me to start
writing again - not because I think I can write as well as these esteemed journalists, but because I remembered the thrill of writing a well-turned phrase or when you write
something that actually resonates with people. 

 I love words and the way they fit together.

I went back and read my blog postings. I've
written 197  blogs over the past three years (most were published in 2010) that's about
100,000 words - it got me through a couple of rounds of Weight Watchers, my
mother's death, a move to a new city, losing a job, looking for a job and then
finally getting a job and a thousand things in between. Some were funny, some
were sad - many were tedious (in hindsight) and some were just plain
torturously self-absorbed (thanks for sticking with me) but at the end of it
all, there were all those words, those lovely words. Put together in a way that
occasionally really  worked.  

They say writers write so that's what I plan to do - I've never been a journal writer (no Dear Diary for me, even as a teen) but I do love to write for an audience - whether it's one person reading or fifty. So stay tuned - I've still got lots to say.

 

 

Comments

[Patti Farmer]

Glad you're back. I've been missing you.

[Janet S.]

Right on and welcome back!