My November Challenge: Write!
This morning, I read an article by Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic, "Why I Blog." I've been thinking lately about this blog. I know, that's funny, because I haven't been writing in it much. After totally missing September, I tried to be a little better about it in October. But I've found myself peeking back through my archives here and there, remembering a time when I wrote as if this blog mattered.
Lately, the intention has tailed off. Yes, partly it is new parenthood. My world has gotten smaller. Okay, maybe more than partly. But I find myself (again) in a spot where I'm wondering about my direction. Where am I going? And part of that is wondering who I am as a writer.
Sullivan talks about blogging as a form, and how it's different from journalism. And this blog is a place where I don't have to ask anyone's permission. I can write here and it is published -- available to the world, even if only a small number of people actually find it and read it, mostly people who know me already.
I think here and there of various possible writing projects. They flitter around my head, like embers from a fire, and spark and fade. My students are writing research papers, and the assignment includes requiring they do a personal interview. I thought maybe I could write alongside them, and perhaps do a little research around the material I gleaned from Grandpa C. (Collected in my blog under "E-Mails from Grandpa," "More E-Mails from Grandpa" "Grandpa Over Europe" and "B-17.") But I haven't done anything more than think about it. I read about this guy who wrote a book about hiking the same loop trail every day for a year and I thought, "I could do that. Or something like it."
But I think I'm going to challenge myself to write here. I've let myself wither under the idea that I have little to say and less time to spend writing it down. But I think I need a habit. A space where I can cultivate myself as a writer again. So I'm going to challenge myself to write a post every day for the month of November. And a public post, too. Not just friends-only. We'll see how we do.
Lately, the intention has tailed off. Yes, partly it is new parenthood. My world has gotten smaller. Okay, maybe more than partly. But I find myself (again) in a spot where I'm wondering about my direction. Where am I going? And part of that is wondering who I am as a writer.
Sullivan talks about blogging as a form, and how it's different from journalism. And this blog is a place where I don't have to ask anyone's permission. I can write here and it is published -- available to the world, even if only a small number of people actually find it and read it, mostly people who know me already.
I think here and there of various possible writing projects. They flitter around my head, like embers from a fire, and spark and fade. My students are writing research papers, and the assignment includes requiring they do a personal interview. I thought maybe I could write alongside them, and perhaps do a little research around the material I gleaned from Grandpa C. (Collected in my blog under "E-Mails from Grandpa," "More E-Mails from Grandpa" "Grandpa Over Europe" and "B-17.") But I haven't done anything more than think about it. I read about this guy who wrote a book about hiking the same loop trail every day for a year and I thought, "I could do that. Or something like it."
But I think I'm going to challenge myself to write here. I've let myself wither under the idea that I have little to say and less time to spend writing it down. But I think I need a habit. A space where I can cultivate myself as a writer again. So I'm going to challenge myself to write a post every day for the month of November. And a public post, too. Not just friends-only. We'll see how we do.