“You fail only if you stop writing.”
~ Ray Bradbury
It seemed like every year when I was in grade school, when classes resumed in September we would be assigned the task of writing an essay on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” I never felt like I had much to write about. Obviously I had spent the prior three months doing something, but none of it seemed noteworthy. And to some extent, being an extreme introvert, I didn’t feel like it was really anybody’s business how I had spent my vacation. (I did say “extreme” introvert, didn’t I?)
It’s been seven months since my last blog post. In part, it’s because I’ve been stirring my creative juices elsewhere, designing and building stained glass panels. But on another level, I began to feel that I was exposing too much of myself through blogging. Okay, I write under a pseudonym (sort of), I don’t post photos of myself, and I’ve never met – nor will likely ever meet – many of my readers. But still… did I really have to tell the world that I’m from another planet? Isn’t that just a little TMI?
Despite my reservations, I’ve decided to dust off my muse (and my keyboard) and blog again. Why? Good question. I wasn’t sure why myself, so I went looking for other people’s motives. I Googled “Why do people blog?” and came across several articles about making gobs of money by blogging, and about getting as many readers as possible as quickly as possible by any possible means. But none of that bigger/better/richer/faster hype rang true for me. I’m not trying to sell anything, tangible or intangible.
Then I found a post, 15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog by Joshua Becker, that looks into the more introspective side of blogging. The two points that appealed the most to me were #3:
“You’ll live a more intentional life. Once you start writing about your life and the thoughts that shape it, you’ll begin thinking more intentionally about who you are, who you are becoming, and whether you like what you see or not…”
and #4:
“You’ll develop an eye for meaningful things…[B]logging is a never-ending process of choosing to articulate the most meaningful events and the most important thoughts. This process of choice helps you develop an eye for meaningful things. And remember that sometimes the most meaningful things appear in the most mundane… “
Okay, so who am I kidding? When I look at some of my previous posts, I can’t say that they are particularly insightful or meaningful. Mundane? Yeah, that fits many of them (i.e. Dusting my Cats).
But there is some introspection, and being the introvert that I am, writing is the only way I’ll ever get 500 words out of my head in one sitting. Plus, for me, it’s simply a lot of pleasure. Writing brings me pleasure, and if it brings pleasure to my readers as well, that’s a huge bonus. So for now, I’m going to open up my little corner of the world again and see what odd bits come to surface in my blogging. Of course, I’ll be wearing a ski mask and sitting in a dark corner while I write, so please excuse any typos.
And if you’re actually wondering what I did over winter (and fall) vacation, you can take a look here:
http://www.liftingtheweight.com/glass.html
~ Ray Bradbury
It seemed like every year when I was in grade school, when classes resumed in September we would be assigned the task of writing an essay on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” I never felt like I had much to write about. Obviously I had spent the prior three months doing something, but none of it seemed noteworthy. And to some extent, being an extreme introvert, I didn’t feel like it was really anybody’s business how I had spent my vacation. (I did say “extreme” introvert, didn’t I?)
It’s been seven months since my last blog post. In part, it’s because I’ve been stirring my creative juices elsewhere, designing and building stained glass panels. But on another level, I began to feel that I was exposing too much of myself through blogging. Okay, I write under a pseudonym (sort of), I don’t post photos of myself, and I’ve never met – nor will likely ever meet – many of my readers. But still… did I really have to tell the world that I’m from another planet? Isn’t that just a little TMI?
Despite my reservations, I’ve decided to dust off my muse (and my keyboard) and blog again. Why? Good question. I wasn’t sure why myself, so I went looking for other people’s motives. I Googled “Why do people blog?” and came across several articles about making gobs of money by blogging, and about getting as many readers as possible as quickly as possible by any possible means. But none of that bigger/better/richer/faster hype rang true for me. I’m not trying to sell anything, tangible or intangible.
Then I found a post, 15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog by Joshua Becker, that looks into the more introspective side of blogging. The two points that appealed the most to me were #3:
“You’ll live a more intentional life. Once you start writing about your life and the thoughts that shape it, you’ll begin thinking more intentionally about who you are, who you are becoming, and whether you like what you see or not…”
and #4:
“You’ll develop an eye for meaningful things…[B]logging is a never-ending process of choosing to articulate the most meaningful events and the most important thoughts. This process of choice helps you develop an eye for meaningful things. And remember that sometimes the most meaningful things appear in the most mundane… “
Okay, so who am I kidding? When I look at some of my previous posts, I can’t say that they are particularly insightful or meaningful. Mundane? Yeah, that fits many of them (i.e. Dusting my Cats).
But there is some introspection, and being the introvert that I am, writing is the only way I’ll ever get 500 words out of my head in one sitting. Plus, for me, it’s simply a lot of pleasure. Writing brings me pleasure, and if it brings pleasure to my readers as well, that’s a huge bonus. So for now, I’m going to open up my little corner of the world again and see what odd bits come to surface in my blogging. Of course, I’ll be wearing a ski mask and sitting in a dark corner while I write, so please excuse any typos.
And if you’re actually wondering what I did over winter (and fall) vacation, you can take a look here:
http://www.liftingtheweight.com/glass.html
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