Create, connect and share…

OIP

Why does anyone start something new like a job, recipe, or project? Obviously, there is always some guiding influence which directs an individual to make changes, or choices, in life. Sometimes, we all have the need for a little adventure, both to move away from the boredom of a situation or…some need to leave more of a significant imprint in our lives. 

I feel that when a person spends a good deal of time reading the literary works of others, down deep inside is the urge to express themselves through writing. This applies to many other artful means of self-expression. Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained, correct? One never knows how well their efforts will be acknowledged, even appreciated, unless they try. 

And so, I did just that several years ago. The trials and tribulations of dealing with a mother suffering with Alzheimer’s paved the way to document so much of what was slipping away, day after day. During her many sleepless nights, I sat up, ready to thwart her wandering and started drafting a book and building a website, something to leave behind for my children and grandchildren. A collection of all my mother forgot and even more that I was determined to remember. 

In many ways, I credit my late mother’s dementia for encouraging one of the very things she sought to destroy when I was a teenager…writing in a daily journal and documenting much of the pain that children endure as they struggle through their growing years. 

Ironic, and I often wonder how many others venture into new and positive challenges based on how they have lived, and the people involved. Is it a mission, of sorts, to redefine ourselves, or…rewrite the history of what has made us who we are?

In some ways, I’ve tried to do both.  

 

workshop-button-1From Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop…Tell us about why you started blogging to begin with. 

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First words…

Those special moments when first words tumble from a baby’s mouth bring so much joy to parents.  How we live to hear  Ma-ma or Da-da, utterances of recognition that soon grow into jumbled, giggly little sentences as the toddler emerges.

Vocabulary grows with the child;  the structure of thoughts molds the individual personality of that person.  Emotions are openly expressed…or deliberately hidden.

For adults,  first true words aren’t spoken until much later,  often through writing.  The person behind a book or a blog can be someone else entirely, miles away from all that developmental dialogue that guided them into adulthood.

Does this make sense to you?

In some ways, I’ve always been a writer.  Stories hid inside my head and page after page waited anxiously to be shared with others. Chapters came out in conversation but never managed to land in print until a few years ago when I started writing my book and  “Another cookie, please!” was born.

Then came the great crash!  Read about it here.  I can’t bear to re-hash my stupidity.

Once my panic subsided from the above incident and I entered the world of blogging,  I realized that I hadn’t lost anything.  Not at all. Those words circled in my head like an airplane waiting to land and since I’ve taken the blog-plunge, it feels as if I’ve been doing it forever.

It’s only been a little over one year.  Imagine that!

I see it every day on sites I visit.  People who start blogging to share mommy or other stories; photography, recipes…you name it, they write about it.  Very often they venture out in response to a writing prompt for fun or to try something new.  Their incredible words appear on the screen and the talent behind a post blossoms, as if it had been hiding, just waiting to be urged into the sunshine.

And then…our words run smack dab into a wall, that dreaded Writer’s Slump/Block..call it what you will. That’s where I’ve been of late and from several other bloggers that I’ve visited, it’s fairly contagious.  Actually, it majorly sucks!


This too, shall pass.  I’m sure of that.  The very fact that I finally published this post (which has been glaring at me from my drafts folder for the last three weeks) is evidence that the writing doldrums are easing.  I’m working hard on getting a whole new bunch of first words ready for the reading world.

Eventually. This post doesn’t count.  Just didn’t want my imaginary friends thinking I stopped yapping via my keyboard.






 

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