Writing: A Five Month Journey [10'TU]

When one muses for reasons -- reasons at random or otherwise unknown -- one never knows where it may go. And one who is musing in print may muse about that musing. Such is the self-reflection that can be it's own dead end. Or not.

Perhaps it is OK to reflect on this writing journey. It is personal, for sure. The door has not crashed in with money as an incentive to write. But somehow, spurred by the encouragement of a loved one and a friend, I have managed to write in my blog 6 days a week for over 5 months now. Yes, perhaps 10-20 of those posts were re-use of previous writing. And many of them -- who knows how many? -- might should have been left in the latent mind of the attempting writer.

But I have deeply enjoyed the journey and do not know all it means. As a young man I heard a dictum attributed to Mark Twain: "Three words of advice if you would be a good writer: 'write, write, write'." For some reason that triggered a response in me. I knew I would love to write more, but lacked the discipline and focus. But I would still write from time to time, with some pretty good occasional success back in the day when letters-to-the-editor were a thing and people read daily news and etc. in real paper news publications.

When blogging came along a friend helped me do some. And before that I had a wonderful class in Seminary that scratched the itch in particular, while all the other classes did it in general. Before that I had a nice piece published in a church magazine and was told they only accept 2% of unsolicited submissions. So that was sweet to me. And a long time before that -- Why am I going backwards? -- I was deeply encouraged with a high school essay that a competition judge rated at 100%. And -- in forward order now -- there was "Advanced Composition" in my beloved Bible College days with a teacher I will always appreciate for her skill, breadth, and love. In those 15 weeks I continued to scratch the itch and learned a lot that stayed with me.

So this is 10 minute Tuesday and a rumination of writing. I feel a connection with readers even if I have none. But it is ok. As there is a joy in the journey, there is a joy in the writing that only writers know. I guess I am one of them now. For 5 months anyway, and today for 10 minutes (plus a bit).