I was going to say I have become obsessed with writing, but I guess I always have been! As I told you a couple of weeks ago, I still have journals from when I was eight years old until today. I go back and look at some of them occasionally. It always makes me smile, I was so different then, and in other ways, not so different! But I have to say, I do like to write! I have made up characters, but for the most part I just like to observe the world around me and comment on it.
I wanted to take this opportunity to urge you to write also. I know I put things out there that you might not be comfortable with for yourself, but you can write it all down in a personal journal. No one ever needs to see it! I find that if I write it down it becomes real and I can deal with things better. My post the other day about my weight made me look at myself again and it made me feel more in control and able to move forward in a positive way. Writing about my Dad for my BFA project made me realize that through the last couple of years of school I have let a lot of that baggage go. He can still come to dinner like he did the other night and not only make me upset, but also upset Tim (who was ready to throw him out) and Jon. All with one remark! Amazing!
Writing makes you think what words you want to choose, especially while blogging. I want to say something, but I am mindful that thousands of people will read it so I choose my words carefully. Tactful, yet truthful is what I strive for, although I often don’t succeed with the tactful part! But it makes me slow down and really realize what I am saying which carries into my speech as well, I hope!
My son, the journalist, says I use too many exclamation points. He is writing news articles so exclamation points are not appropriate. I however, write like I talk and I think I talk in exclamation points! Just to bug him I put an exclamation point at the end of every sentence I email or text him. Even if I tell him that I have received some of his mail, it has an exclamation point at the end.
Even though I have always journaled, having to keep journals for almost all of my classes plus blogging has made me even more aware of everything around me. I know I need to really see what is happening and listen to the people around me because I need to write about it all. When I have multiple journals for the same professor I try to keep each one different and entertaining- I am sure they get bored having to read all of it at the end of the semester! Especially since so many of my classmates have told me that they don’t know how to journal, don’t know what to say. One student actually told me she wrote only one journal entry her first semester and it said- “I went to Walmart today.” (If I could bring myself to stomach going to Walmart I would think I would have pages and pages of stories to tell!)
You will be glad to know that I think of all kinds of things to blog about, but while I walk I write them in my head so that by the time I get home I have moved on. It is probably just as well because as fascinating as what I think on every topic might be, I should leave some things unsaid! Thinking them through in that manner though helps me to process what goes on in the world around me. So I encourage everyone to write- a blog, a journal, a book, a play. It doesn’t have to be good for you to get the good out of it. Write for yourself and maybe someone else will enjoy it, too! After all, you are reading this, aren’t you!
