Since I posted something of substance. I write a lot of posts in my head -- beautiful essay-type posts that clarify my position on the church, my job, my marriage and my child. These brain-posts are helpful in the moment, when I hear the words in my mind as I'm driving, but they don't do anything for my blog -- and when I go to retrieve them, they most often aren't there.
I had the thought yesterday that I should do some sort of free writing exercise on my blog -- a daily post of some sort without rhyme or reason. I'm not sure that I'm that disciplined or that I have that much to say... although, really, that's not the point. It is usally how my sermons start, though: A style of writing in which I sit down and start typing, "If no one were going to be offended by anything that I said, this is what I would say....." Or, "If I didn't care what anyone thought, here's what I would preach....." Perhaps the scariest for me to begin with is: "What I need to hear from this text...." Usually a sermon develops that allows me to say what needs to be said and no one gets up to leave.
I do a lot more reading of blogs than I have been posting -- and that's good and bad. I read lovely posts that inspire me to do something or to write and then I think, "Oh, but I could never write like (fill in the blank)." I'm not really that insecure, just have my moments of perfectionist freakishness.
So, I raise my glass (er, my super-size coffee mug) to all the faithful bloggers out there who write something for me to read. Some days I'm not sure what I would do without you!
4 comments:
I know this thought VERY well: "Oh, but I could never write like (fill in the blank)." Have you read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird? She has such a funny name for her inner critic.
Oh, by the way... I loved your devotional in the Advent book. Loved it.
Thanks, Katherine... You're one of the people I fill in the blank with!
I love Bird by Bird ... I felt like I'd come home when I read it... laughing and crying and nodding at the same time.
Verification word?: drmnoswn ... thinking dr. minnesota oswn...
Yep on the love for Bird by Bird.
Your post also reminded me of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and her morning pages. I used to do that.
It is funny though how "blogging" for me is a verb denoting the act of writing and of reading what others have written.
reverendmother -- I have The Artist's Way next to Bird by Bird on my office shelf, as well as Cameron's The Right to Write. One of my creative writing profs had us do morning pages and, apart from never wanting to get out of bed, or up early, i found them to be incredibly helpful.
I like the concept of "blogging" referring to both writing and reading -- nice.
Post a Comment