Writing & Blogging Are Optimism

Dear Writers & Readers,

Cheers! This is my 50th post.

Thanks to WordPress and this writing community, I’ve been writing more and practicing a craft I will pick over any other occupation–exercise, playing piano, gardening, parenting, breathing.

It took me awhile to get to 50. I’ve been stopping to learn about themes, CSS, customization, uploading media, all things that distract writers from writing. But the last two months, I’ve set goals and been more focused. I’ve been finding other many talented writers in the WordPress Reader and on the Yeah Write grid. I even submitted a post on the Yeah Right moderated grid which in turn prompted a major revision of an initial post.

Saying yes to writing means saying “just a minute” to someone else. Here’s a behind a scenes snapshot.

• When I closed my laptop to go grocery shopping, I found my recycling efforts destroyed.
• My kids climbed the countertops and devoured a box of Girl Scout cookies for breakfast.
• I have forgotten to make supper or juice my fruits and vegetables. Grapefruit doesn’t wait for anyone.

We’re a little less healthy around here, but this mom is a lot happier.

One of the intentions of this blog is to take note of ordinary moments, things that amuse me or perplex/horrify/amaze me or do it all at the same time. Writing is a good excuse to acknowledge the every day. I’m more alive when I’m writing. I’m also more distracted and restless with getting back to my notebook. Andrea Badgley’s recent post on the lunacy of writing made a perfect description of what it’s like to get involved with this craft. If you’re a writer, I’m sure you’ll relate to this.
 
I write every morning. I wake at 6 o’clock to write for an hour before the rest of the house stirs. But instead of emptying my head, the practice jostles ideas that elbow and shove to get themselves onto the paper first. They are quite rude and occupy an awful lot of space, and because I cannot release them all in one hour in the morning, they create noise long into the day, so much noise that when I prepare dinner, I am not able to simultaneously chop pecans and answer our daughter when she asks me a question.
 
I find it an amusing irony that I feel much more productive as a human being when I’m writing, even when I’m letting all other items in my job description as Mom be neglected. Laundry and cleaning closets can wait. Who needs fresh socks when I have to write what my five-year-old daughter said: “A lot of thinking and you know what to do.” Such genius can’t wait.

As I write this post two of my daughters play with their garden toy in the living room. One has removed her diaper. One is pretending to deliver a baby. They are planting carrots and watering flowers. They have removed all the coins from my wallet and spewed them on the floor. I hear them, but I’m lost in my craft as if underwater, floating in the currents of my ideas. I risk regretting this choice when I find a puddle of pee on the floor later.

Like many other writers out there, I will spend hours and hours on a 600 word post. And each time I hit publish and watch that post get in line with all the other posts, the thousands of them being published each day, I am amazed by the enormity of the blogosphere and the millions of writers assembling paragraphs, hoping someone will read them. Aren’t we all a little nutty with optimism here? It is intimating to be such a small, anonymous voice competing for a place.

At the same time, it is a flippin’ blast. Someone in Romania or Canada or Great Britain or anywhere in the United States clicked upon a post and stayed a few minutes. Wow!

Often, I try not to think about any of this at all. I focus on why I started this project, which is to write. To be a better writer. And along the way, show any reader a positive side of a life abundant with family and clutter.

That mission includes stopping and saying thanks.

If you’re visiting this blog for the first time, thank you.

If you’re visiting this blog for a second or third time, thank you. I do notice. Here are a few writers who did just that.

• iGame Mom of https://www.facebook.com/igamemom
• Linda Petersen of Raising Five Kids With Disabilities
• Lesley Carter of Bucket List Publications
• Mark Coakley of Funny Sweet Chocolate
• Jen Brunett of Finding Our Spirit

You readers are busy people, busy writers. And if you’re still reading this post, thank you.

Carey