Good Morning!
If you have found your way here, I hope that you find something here that makes you smile, or that makes you think. I finished the San Marcos Writing Project Summer Institute, yesterday and the message I took away from the institute, was to write. I found I have a voice and that voice has a right to be heard. however, I also found that before it is blasted across the universe I have the responsibility to refine it. I wish to transmit what I actually mean to say, rather than saying the first thing that pops into my brain. Hence this blog, I am beginning a new chapter in my life and as per usual my tendency is to write. I use to never question why I wanted to write, however through many of the chapters of my life I soon began to question why I wrote. Periodically, that questioning and self-doubt would take control and I would quit writing. Having a blog and making a commitment to actually post is not new to me, I am hoping that I can overcome my bouts of self-doubt and fear of what others will think enough that I can open up and just write.
Why blog if I don't want the criticism you ask? Because I have a voice, and I want my voice to be heard. I want to share, I want to collaborate, I want to expand and find other like-minded people. I want like-minded people to know that sometimes walking through an experience that causes uncertainty, fear, self-doubt may not make you an expert at something, but it does help to increase your knowledge and it also helps you to grow. I am also hoping that in the process of writing I actually learn to revise and the conventions of grammar become easier. Grammar has been a bane in my side for a very long time, in fact, it has been one of the very reasons I quit writing for so long. I can't remember when to use a comma, let alone where to use a comma if my life depended on it. I would turn papers in and I would have more red marks then I had written. I was told your thoughts are all over the place, you write too much!
How can you write too much, really?
Eventually, the criticism outweighed the desire, soon I no longer wrote, and I no longer shared, I became silent.
Once in awhile my voice would cry out to be heard, but instead of writing and refining what I wanted to say, I just blurted it out and often found the message garbled and still unheard. Writing helps me to refine and clear my thoughts, to revise and polish so I have a clear message. A message that is inclusive and thoughtful, a message that isn't an attack. Writing helps me to remove the frustration and hurt that clouds my mind when I can't say what I mean and instead say things I didn't mean because I became flustered. So, if you do find a grammar mistake, one that is just staring right out at you and you simply must tell me that it is there, please do. When you do please cite the stead-fast rule the one that is etched in stone, or a book, for me to refer back to, so that I too can share in the vast knowledge of grammar correctness.
I am not sure when I will share this with anyone, people may stumble across it and that is okay, for now. I want to try to create a writing habit of posting on a regular basis. This is an exercise of just allowing my voice to speak and the training will come with use. This is my journey to discovering what my voice wishes to say and in what direction it will go. Enjoy your day, I hope that you have laughter, love, and learning.
