Thoughts on Writing

I was reading Stephanie Clark's blog today--what's her married name? Oh yeah, Nielson, (duh)--and wishing I was her. I never write cute, rambling posts on my blog, mostly because I think I'm nervous that someone unsympathetic will read it, and disapprove. So I am inhibited in my loquaciousness, which may be a good thing.

But I miss writing. I used to write lots of letters to missionaries (mostly my brothers; I wasn't one of "those girls", although I did write faithfully to my friend Doug Spencer and a couple others) and I wrote long letters home when I was living in London, and I loved that. I would get used to narrating events throughout the day, seeing things from afar (as it were); seeing them as I would describe them later in my letters. And I liked it. It made me notice things more carefully, and often see them (even if they were bad or sad at the time) in a funnier light.

Leslie Norris, my favorite teacher, always said: WRITE EVERY DAY. (He didn't say it in all-caps like that; he was a very polite and soft-spoken man.) I haven't been doing it. And, for reasons of my own, I haven't wanted to keep a journal lately, all of which adds up to:

this blog.

I'm going to write in it, really write, like I used to write letters, and I think I'll like it, even if the only person who ever reads it is Sam (hi, honey), who is always trying to get me to write more anyway; so he ought to be happy.

My sister-in-law Christy just published a book (
this book) and she was telling me that after dreaming about being an author for all these years, now that people are actually reading her book, she sort of feels embarrassed. Because all those people are reading what SHE wrote, and what if they don't like it, or they think it's stupid? I can totally relate to that. I've published a few poems and essays, and I always feel like I'm revealing so much of myself--to just anyone! That's scary. But it's rewarding, too, and I feel strongly about writing as a way of helping to make things real.So, here I am, and I hope it's fun.

2 comments

  1. If anybody should have a blog with their random thoughts, it should be you! I love reading your writing, so thanks for passing on the link!
    Poo on Nie Nie! I also tend to wish I was her when I read her blog, which makes me mad, because I should be living MY life instead of wishing I had hers. Why does she seem to have such a perfect life?

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  2. Well. Here YOU were on this day of blog starting. And writing much more mature things than I was! Ha! But it is funny to think of staring these. And not knowing exactly what they would or wouldn’t be. Starting my blog will always remind me of WA and out of computer squashed on a desk right next to our bed in our little house there. And checking the blogs of everyone I knew who had started one to see if they’d posted something new (because I didn’t even know about feed readers). And being so excited to get a new comment on a post. Now most of those people don’t even blog (what with fb and instagram etc beungbso mich quicker) and few people bother to do a login comment when you can click a thumbs up on social media sites. But I’m glad it all happened and magically connected me with people like you and has given me a place to stretch myself !

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