"I think you should write." -- Part II

Part I is here.

The crazy thing about this whole idea is: I'm not a writer! In fact, I've always thought writing was one of my weaknesses. I'm the nerdy math and science girl--hence my degree in engineering. Yet, I keep feeling this draw toward writing, this need to learn to express myself through the written word. It's not so much that I have this great talent that I want to share, it's more that learning to write is a journey that I want to embark on. (I just ended that sentence with a preposition. I have so much to learn!) I have this deep need to challenge myself and to learn and grow that I believe endeavoring to learn to write will fulfill.

But, how am I going to learn to write? I don't even know where to start! And, when am I going to do it? I'm a painfully slow writer and can't even attempt it without distraction-free quiet. All of these questions (excuses) have been swirling around in my head for months until I finally voiced them all to Eric. He, of course, had immediate and simple answers to all of them. "You learn to write by doing it," he told me. "So every night, after the kids are all in bed, take thirty minutes and write," he suggested.

Well, it sounds so simple when you put it that way!

So, that's the plan. I have thirty minutes every evening where other responsibilities like laundry or dishes are not allowed to take priority over my writing time, but neither shall frivolous things like facebook, twitter or email. We implemented this plan a few weeks ago and so far it is going well. I'm posting more often on this blog than I have in a very long time and I'm excited that I can be more active on and hopefully grow my blog a bit. I was concerned about being too tired to write in the evening; and, the truth is, most evenings I am tempted to skip it when I'm yawning so ferociously I can hardly see straight. But, I've found that once I force myself to get started, energy seems to come out of nowhere and my brain comes alive. That's exactly what I was hoping for and the entire reason for starting this project!

I also told myself that I need to include a picture with every post to give myself a little encouragement to pick up my camera. I don't know if that part of the plan will continue, mainly because of posts like this one. I don't know if I want to take the time to compose, shoot and edit a picture that exemplifies the theme of "I think you should write." Though it does make me think of an image with a moleskin notebook and a nice black ink pen sitting open near a paned window with soft early morning light pouring in making the fresh, clean pages glow. Oh, well. Maybe one day there will be time for such things. 

But, for now, thanks for sharing this journey with me.