Not Facebook

It's Dec 10 and this is my seventh post of the month. While it's not posting every day as I set out to do, it's still wildly successful to where I was for the bulk of 2013. When I got out of the habit of writing several times a week, I replaced the real writing with mini posts on Facebook about the antics of Turbo and Smiley. As I was doing these abbreviated Facebook entries, I was still writing the backstory in my head. It felt lazy and I carried the guilt. 

This blog is better for me than Facebook. There is great joy for me to have an itch of an idea work its way to the surface of my brain and then sit down to assemble the jumbled thoughts into something consumable for an audience beyond myself.

Thank you to whomever reads this. Thank you for taking the time to skim or fully consume.

Efficiency Amidst Crazy Town

I write every day. Not that you would know this, as my blog has collected dust and cobwebs as of late, but I still write every day... in my mind.

When I first discovered that the voice in my head was my writer's voice, composing witty commentary on every day life, I was thrilled that this voice had a purpose. I admit, laughing awkwardly, that I had from time to time been concerned that I might have uncomfortable similarities to the Russell Crowe character in A Beautiful Mind.

And so I write. I write while I observe the adorable and not so adorable antics of Turbo and Smiley. I write when life surprises me (which is pretty much every day!). I write when I'm sad, I write when I've collapsed into a fit of giggles - or, rather, I write when I've recovered from a fit of giggles.

To paraphrase a Mary Poppins' tune, "I love to write, a-ha-ha-ha, loud and long and clear."

I'm going to challenge myself to blog every day in December. There is always something to share and even if I'm not putting my A work up every day, it's better to have my C work out more frequently. Writing takes practice and patience and willpower some days. I think it was Ted Williams who had the perfect swing and when asked about that natural gift, he answered, "hitting a baseball on a string, in my basement, 200 times a day."

With December comes the added and joyful work of preparing for Christmas and also for our vacation in Hawaii early next year. I am not in a position to take on a new project, but training for a marathon a number of years ago taught me that I can be very efficient when pressed for time.

I know I can do this, I can write every day. This post is my little pep talk to myself. Go, me!

One Foot in Front of the Other

There is an old Depeche Mode song that is ringing through my mind and I'm realizing that I'm not at all sure what the song is about, but the lyrics that speak to me tonight are this:

By putting one foot in front of another

And repeating the process

Cross over the street

I've been away from this blog for a while. I mentioned a couple of months ago that our lives were going through some adjustments, and at that time in mid-Summer I had every intention of getting my swing back quickly and vowed to write more often.

Best laid plans and all that... fast forward two or three months and it's now the downpour season in the Pacific Northwest (officially known a Autumn) and it's been really hard to sit myself down to write.

I think I've been afraid to begin, to take that first step. Would I remember how to bring cohesion to scattered thoughts? Would I be interesting? And, gulp, would I still be funny? Believing steadfastly, of course, that I was funny in the first place.

As always, it's not for lack of material. Turbo still inspires moments of utter bewilderment at how powerful a force his wit is. He's four years old now and in pre-K and into Legos (the teeny-tiny kind that make you yowl(!) when you step on them in the middle of the night) and he's got a good rhythm of vacillating between the good, the bad, and the hilarious. Yesterday, for example, he didn't want to finish his breakfast and exclaimed with overly dramatic flair, "Mom, if I eat one more bite my skin will fall off!" And gave me a look that said, "Duh!" You'll have to trust me that there was some logic behind this odd claim.

Smiley, oh wonderful, beautiful, calm Smiley. She is now two years old, talking all the time, and proud to share even the dullest observations like, "Mommy, Daddy's eating," and "Mommy, my chair is right there." I guess when you finally get to speak the same language as all those tall people surrounding you every day there is no need to hold back any thought in your head. Let the words flow, baby girl. Bring it.

And, so, I don't necessarily have something profound to share tonight. I merely needed to start writing again. This is where I belong. Writing is in me and it feels good to compose again. I have a few half-written posts that dribbled in over the past few month and I may revisit some of them later this evening. Better yet I should save them up for a night when I feel I have no topics stirring my fingertips.

Thank you for reading. Oh, and the Depeche Mode song is called Compulsion. But I'd put good money down that at least some of you already Googled that. ;)

I've taken the first step and now it's time to lather, rinse, and repeat the process. Cross over the street.

Almost Two Weeks

Argh. I can hardly believe it's been this long since I last posted. We've had a few too many poor-sleep nights, where I sometimes just cannot drag myself into the office to type.

I think about it every day; I write in my head... does that count as daily writing, writers?

So much to report too... Turbo told his first joke, Smiley learned to jump and land solidly on both feet, Turbo had his first field trip (it's really all about the bus), and Smiley is showing her almost-tantrum-twos colors. Ah, yeah, we're gonna have another two year old soon.

I simply must find more time, make more time, to write these stories.

Until then...