My Blog Celebrates Its 1st BIRTHDAY!

I celebrate the 1st anniversary of my entrance into the world of blogging by re-posting the original, somewhat explanatory entry, setting out my intentions for this newly-birthed venture.   Just  like the human babies we give birth to, the blog has veered in unexpected directions, provided unforeseen challenges, and given an abundance of delight I could not have envisioned.  And on that note, happy 31st birthday to my son.  For once, words fail me in any feeble attempt to rejoice aloud for his presence in my life.

I laughed out loud when I read one of my fellow author/new follower’s byline: “The only author on Twitter who doesn’t know how to use Twitter.”  Ha!  So true of me when I began blogging lo these many [two] months ago.   In a moment of utter bewilderment,  on day #1 of blogging,  I chose the byline above, figuring I would change it as soon as something [anything!] more creative and, um, interesting struck me.    Somehow, however, in my bewilderment I managed to come up with something that strikes me as perfect, as it encapsulates so many things about me and the way I write, at least at my best: it’s straightforward yet ironic, terse, and has questionable punctuation.

It’s also an accurate summary of what I endeavor to do with this blog:  cite passages/chapters from my two completed novels, insofar as they seem relevant to what I am writing, or thinking about, now; put up some fresh stuff from the 3^rd novel-in-progress – sometimes because a sentence, or a paragraph, or even a wee bit more, ended up on the page in a way that produced that longed-for “Aaahhhhhhh,” the sense that I have nailed it.  And like an exhuberant little kid, I just want to share the feeling.  Sometimes I will be looking for feedback, comments, or – in those dark moments of the writing soul — even a lifeline.

To be a writer is to be in the world in a particular sort of way.  Writers – of any and all kinds – are observers, reflectors, distillers.  On occasion  I will be writing about things in the world, in my life, my community, my family (fair warning!) that I just simply need to write about.

Many, many people – and you know who you are – have asked me to write about my [vast, sadly] experiences with online dating.  This, however, is not something I am likely to be writing about.  I have oft been heard to say that dating at mid-life is very thin veneer of fun covering over an abyss of hurt and loneliness.  All of us doing it are, in fact, in the same boat.  And, whereas some of those in the boat do have hilarious “idiosyncracies,” well, it just ain’t fair game.

But, for those of you who cannot get enough, there is a bit about it in novel #3.   My next post will contain a snippet…