Let the Adventure Begin!

I’m not known by friends and family for being a very adventurous person.  So to start off 2012 with a blog and an invitation to share “My Writing Corner” is a bit like making a decision to do more outside and picking skydiving for my first activity. 

I’ve talked about and dabbled at writing for as long as I can remember and began to put pen to paper somewhere around the age of ten (oh, to have those long gone now pieces of paper back in my hands….).  I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a few pieces published; however, I still don’t refer to myself as a “writer” (although I like to roll the title around in my head and imagine the possibilities.)

Somewhere around the time I was about six years old, my sisters and I performed Cinderella for my parents.  I got the coveted role of Cinderella and all I recall about our performance was when I would sit in my wooden rocker in front of the fireplace and sing:

“In my own little corner in my own little chair

I can be whatever I want to be.

On the wings of my fancy I can fly anywhere

and the world will open its arms to me".

Years later, that little corner I sang about developed into my writing corner in my mind.  It’s filled with characters and bits of story lines – snippets of poems – conversations – celebrations – tragedies and my personal viewpoint on everyday life.  In my writing corner, I am what I want to be.  A writer.  But what I write generally stays there and I haven’t yet truly ventured out into the world on the wings of my words.  I have no expectation that I am the next Joyce Carol Oates.  But there is the need, somewhere probably in that little girl inside me, that I’ve ignored most of my life, to write and to share what I do.  To have someone read a piece or what I write and be touched.    

So here I am, ready to take the plunge and open myself up to sharing my writing.  In doing so, I look to hone my skills as a writer, dedicate myself to the craft of writing more and see where this adventure takes me.  I’ve spent a couple months preparing – reading a lot more, following more closely my favorite authors websites, introducing myself and sifting through the enormous amount of blogs that deal with writing and sharing.  I’ve sifted through some of my pieces, started organizing thoughts for current and future pieces and even (finally) getting my own website up and running. 

I don’t expect it to be easy and already know that it won’t always be particularly enjoyable or comfortable for me.  It’s taken me quite some time to reconcile that fact that even though I want to write, I’m scared to share what I do.  There’s a mountain of self-doubt, and concern that what I sometimes come up with in “my writing corner” is a little on the dark side or that even the lighter “slice-of-life” observations are not so unusual.

I invite you to share the journey.  The beauty of writing is that you can take on any subject and I expect this blog to do just that, but center mostly around my writing and the craft of writing.  As I begin, I think of two of the most influential people in my life, my mom and my husband, Steven.  Steven has been the most ardent supporter of my writing and one of his favorite mantras comes from Yoda:  “Do or do not.  There is no try”.  Many years ago, mom gave me a plaque by Henry Van Dyke that reads:  “Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”   

Well, hello 2012 and continuing to write.  Thanks mom and Steve. Let the adventure begin!