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The Beginning of a Journey

I have officially decided to start this blog as it will force me to write regularly, and continue to brainstorm ideas for the summer writing adventure I intend to evoke upon. Besides, my goal was to be a “best-selling author by the time I am 30”, and, well, 30 is here.  Now it’s time to take my writing more seriously. It’s one of those things that I wake up thinking about, in the middle of the day I dream about, and in the evenings, continue to ponder. I blame my lack of writing on writer’s block, which is a lame excuse for any writer out there, but honestly, I think I’m trying too hard to create the best seller and not just write.

What I do know is it’s been my dream since junior high and I am not giving up on it. Even if it takes me the next year to polish, rewrite, revise, and be rejected, I intend to make this dream a reality. But I have decided to take two things to heart in regards to my writing. My cousin, Beth, commented once I got my first teaching job in Florida, to “promise, in the summer’s off, to always write, because you have talent as a writer”. And, my best friend since high school, Sarah, once said, “you are going to be big and you are going places. I just know it.” Those two infamous comments have stuck with me through thick and thin, and I believe in them whole heartedly.

My perspective as a writer changed last summer at the Wyoming Writing Project in Laramie. Amazed at the people I met who inspired me, challenged me, and drove me to want to be a better teacher of writing I was also amazed at how personal writing is. It is not easy to share, when many topics dig deep into places you never imagined, that are hard enough to break the surface. It is also not easy to take criticism, especially after you have spent hours mulling over a piece, searching for the perfect word choice, right thoughts and emotions to reach your reader, when, in reality, all you want to do is crumble up that piece of paper or hit the delete button a million times until you have that blank page back in front of you, wondering what to do next. Start over? How many times have I done this already?

With that in mind, this blog will be a release for me, because that is what writing does. It allows me to relieve the tension, anger, sadness, thought provoking moments that attack my brain like a parasite. It will be a collection of thoughts and stories, personal and otherwise, and will begin a new journey with my daughter come late August. Read at your own risk as you may agree or disagree, as we are all entitled to our own opinions. But what I do know is this will be a personal journey, for me, to do what I love and to do what I am passionate about: simply write. 

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