And so it begins. Starting a blog. It feels a little like I imagine a stand up comic feels looking out at the audience. Terrifying. I always try to be the person in an audience that anyone onstage can relate to...you know the one who smiles and nods and laughs at the right moment. A safe haven. Being that safe haven to myself can be trickier. But a blog is safer. I can stand here alone on a dark stage and spout off about nothing and only quietly slink away when the cleaning crew come in and clatter. No one need ever know I was here. Except you. YOU are my spotlight. Thank you for being here. I wasn't sure what to say, where to start so maybe I'll just free associate with an image that came to mind when I wrote about nodding my head. It can be disconcerting to see or hear yourself. Can you remember when you first heard your voice on an answering machine or tape recorder? Weird, right? I remember the first time I saw myself in an interview on TV. I was promoting the launch of a short story anthology from a writers group, Thunder Bay Writers Guild, of which I was (am still :-) ) a member. I'd talked on the radio, too. Much better at things which didn't include an immediate live audience. But when I saw the TV interview...scary. Much more animated than I ever realised. What astounded me was how much I nodded my head! I could have doubled for one of those nodding fuzzy-clad animals in cars, you know the ones that continually nod as the vehicle moves. Totally embarrassing. Everyone who saw it applauded me and said yes, I really did nod that much. Even more embarrassing. But in a good way, they reassured me. They said it with relief in their voices, too, as though they were glad it hadn't been them making a fool of themselves on TV! So, at least you're spared my nodding. What I do want to share are some of my 'small stones' (haiku). I wrote them daily for over two years. They became a kind of diary or daily chronicle. The idea came from a website on mindful writing which encouraged paying attention to detail as an inlet to strong writing. A final word, what I had really wanted to say, was something about the power of showing up. I decided to finally blog as a response to Effy Wild's blogalong challenge and it's taken me a week to try to sort out my site and make it all pretty and be brave about being so open with my life but here I am showing up. And here you are, also showing up. Little by little we are making a difference, moving forward in a slightly different direction because of our encounter. One of my all time favourite books, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, mentions something about how little acts, however small and insignificant they may seem at the time, add up and ultimately change the trajectory of the biggest projects. Ultimately, of course, our lives. We have such power, you and I.
5 Comments
Karen Harwell
4/9/2018 09:51:29 am
Welcome! I love your small stones. What a great practice. I think I will give it a try. Also a fan of Julia Cameron. I'm currently working through Vein of Gold, along with Dr. E's Theatre of the Imagination in my journal.
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4/9/2018 10:27:58 am
So glad that you showed up! I started blogging about 10 years ago and have hundreds of posts. Some about something and some like your opening post. Keep up the good work, and just write for you, it doesn'y matter if the invisible audience is there or not!
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Judith
4/9/2018 10:46:10 am
Beautiful. Thanks for reminding me of Haiku.
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Rose
4/9/2018 05:13:43 pm
Congrats on your new blog! Glad you are a member of the blogosphere! I have a Wordpress site that I have collected a good amount of poetry over the last seven years. Time flies lol
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Roby
4/9/2018 06:40:16 pm
Go forth and multiply...your posts, that is...my tea-drinker, tai chi-er, writer of all things, poet, mystic, artist, dreamer wife-blogger.
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AuthorWelcome! I'm Sue Blott: a writer of all things, a poet at heart, mom, wife, daughter, step-mom, grandma, tea drinker, tai chi-er, mystic, artist, dreamer...and now a blogger! This is my world. Categories |