Just got back from my morning run -- it's cold out there. But I only had to go three miles, and have just one more three-miler this week, one last group run/walk (8 mi.) on Saturday, and a couple of three milers next week, and I'm done! Then I'll hike around Haiti, do a quick two-miler when I get back, and then the race! We did our longest distance last Saturday -- 12 miles, a personal record -- and the weather was so glorious I ran along the Potomac, from Dangerfield Island to Roosevelt Island and back, in a t-shirt. But that party's over, at least for this week.
I'm sitting here icing my shins and thinking about BillieK's excellent question: why did I start this blog? What were and are my goals for it? So brace yourselves: the endorphins are flowing and I'm stuck here for 15 more minutes so this may be a rambler...
I went back and read my first post from last May. I attended a conference on blogging that day along with 500 other people from the media, nonprofits and the corporate world, all wondering like me what to make of this phenomena, and if we could use it in our organizations. The expert panel said the best way to learn about blogs was to create one and see what happens, so that's what I did. I figured since I was just starting my novel, it could be about the writing process and hopefully an outlet for my experiences and those of other writers. I hoped it would provide feedback and inspiration, as my masthead says.
Has it met my goals? Absolutely! I still can't figure out how to create links to the people and groups I mention, and how to post photos and graphics on the left and right sides, instead of in the middle, but a more tech savvy friend has offered to help me with that when I get back from my trip and start working on my new business. I actually hope to create and manage a blog for AHC, my current employer (for just TWO MORE DAYS!) for a monthly fee. I think I could help them get conversations going about their projects with people in the community, and also link it to their fundraising efforts. I'd like to do this for other clients as well. Not many organizations, especially nonprofits, have the staff to create or keep up a blog -- that's a big concern I've heard at subsequent conferences.
As for my writing, I'm definitely enjoying posting and receiving feedback. Not all my posts are about writing; more often than not I go off on a rant about something that bothers me, or something I really like. But I see all of it as more grist for the mill.
So what do you commenters think? Should I focus more on writing itself? Should I ask more questions? Be more specific about my novel?
Along those lines, my assignment this week was to choose a scene in my novel and write about "the moment," a short, specific moment, maybe captured in a photograph or a memory, that you tease and stretch out for several paragraphs, slowing down time. At the end of it the narrator will have a marked change in perception or thought, an epiphany may be reached. I actually used my reaction to the word "fond" for this exercise, which is what prompted that post, or vise versa. (Unknown to you, I sometimes post things on the blog that I've worked on for my class. Multitasking!) I plan to use it at a future point in Liza's relationship with Henry, a colleague she becomes close to while experiencing problems in her marriage. But she's not there yet -- in the novel they've just had lunch for the first time. Now she's off to Rhode Island for the family Christmas, where her husband's newfound sobriety will start to unravel.
Another question: I'm not sure how much to reveal about my novel on the blog. If I tell too much, will no one will want to read it once I've finished?
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3 comments:
DO NOT reveal too much about your novel on a blog...you could be plagarized!
Of COURSE I will want to read your novel once you become famous! Reading short excerpts is a completely different experience from reading a riveting [which I assume yours will be] novel. How many readers get to follow the writing process with the author? Not many I suspect so we are the lucky ones.
I think you should write about whatever comes to mind regardless of weather what you are talking about receives any comments. More people don't respond to your blogs because we are just to darn busy! Sending the link via email is a good reminder ...the squeaky wheel always gets the grease...as I constantly remind my sometimes very unmotivated teens.
Do they ever really hear what we are telling them? One of Tom's teachers in HS remarked one day that teaching them was like "throwing pearls to swine". Sometime it's exhausting talking to the walls of my house.
Regarding your latest entry: I am reminded every single day how happy I am to be the age I am; and how horrible it was to be a teenager[for the most part]. It's very liberating to be confident in what I am doing and in the choices I've made in the recent past and will make. It's liberating to not really give a hoot what people think about us older ladies. I wear what I wear because I like it; I like spending time alone and don't worry much about socializing [unlike in my younger years]. I am proud of my accomplishments and like that I don't depend on anyone financially or emotionally [well, maybe not completely true on the emotional side]
I admit to being physically exhausted very often in spite of the fact that I am physically fit. I wonder sometimes what it would have felt like to be physically fit at 20. I can't remember that far back but I know I exercised only minimally and wasn't the least bit concerned about strong bones or sagging anything or living longer.
Now that I am almost 50 I notice that I am paying more attention to eating really healhty not only for feeling good daily but also for optimal health in the long run.
I stuggle mostly with the spiritual aspects of my life. Sometimes I miss being Catholic. I wonder what the real point of life is. I used to think our purpose here was to get closer to God , whoever that may be. I believed that we were here [on earth] to try to get closer to God and that we get multiple chances through reincarnation. But I'm not sure what I believe anymore. This seems to be a popular topic among our comrades these days. I think a good topic for the blog too.
Thanks for the feedback. So not too much detail on the novel, but everything else is fair game, especially all of our issues about faith and meaning. Please feel free to ask your own questions too -- I love the dialogue!
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