notes to self: writing
i love the smell of: pine. downy. comet. am cleaning closets and tubs today. lighting candles really makes any household job more luxurious. productivity.
i love the sound of: imogene heap, goodnight + go. snow crunching. two brothers chatter about skis. kids galloping through a restaurant. togetherness.
i love the taste of: san pellegrino orange. tiny chicken salad sandwiches. clementines. holiday goodies.
i love the sight of: dan setting out his gear for the slopes. stacks of new books to be read. new movies to watch. new shoes to be worn. possibilities.
i love the feel of: being so thankful, full of delight, full of gladness for the new year. and for my li'l hobbies that have come to life. thanks to you...
blogging my life away is much more fun knowing there are such awesome people across the globe reading what i scribble. i read a book about writing the other day while waiting to pick up my folks at the airport. i skimmed. because there are so many rules of to do's and not to do's. i don't take criticism well and i knew i'd begin to feel like a failure and all guilty if i read it thoroughly. i think books like this have their place in the world. i think books like this mostly scare people away from writing. from the heart.
there is a whole chapter about style. and infusing your correct grammar with your voice. how are we supposed to cross all our t's and dot all our i's, throw in our true voice {that is, if we've found it} and still have it be grammatically correct, worth reading and yet still stylish? i believe in spelling and grammar and proofing and revising. i just don't believe these rules should stunt our growth and prohibit us from expressing ourselves.
sure there are times in college wherein your paper must be x amount of words, about the subject of x, proving x through endless hours of research, manipulating x, unfolding the subject into tiny pieces of words, until x is obliterated into a thousand thoughts and no longer truly x. by the end of the paper you have separated x like pulling at a cotton ball until it is no longer a tangible object. now x is just a bunch of fluff. and you are now thee local expert on x. if you've gone through this process, you will see that grammar is important for your grade. and so is spelling. and so is format. and in my experience, printing it on the right type of paper was also for the grade. some of you may get a thrill in doing this type of writing. many of you are probably still in college getting your masters. i applaud you and your writing correctly abilities. for me on the other hand, this kind of writing gets tedious. so tedious in fact that after college, people are so excited to shut up shop. they quit writing all together in fear of looking silly because they have forgotten these printed in text books therefore, carved in stone, rules.
my thought is this: writing is like painting. and in painting class there is much more freedom than in english class. there is some sort of unspoken law that says if you are an artist, let it be. let it out. believe in your dream. keep up your skill. you will someday be discovered, etc. not saying that painting is any easier. {in painting 101, my teacher exclaimed that my study of self portraiture turned out as a caricature. he kept it for future lessons.} but there is this belief that if you are enrolled in art class, then there is something within you.
if you blog. then there is something in you. i am telling you this because i believe it.
just let it out. without worry. i never get out my eraser and revise these posts, perhaps i should. but i doubt i ever will. this is my safe spot that i just let it out. i feel so lucky that no one really seems to mind the stream of consciousness style i live in. i appreciate all the positive feedback and can't believe these rolling thoughts are worth reading to some. i guess that is what blogging is all about. killing the rules and letting it roll.
don't get me wrong. education is good. college classes are good. {especially when you have an angel of a teacher that you'd want to stand on the desk for. i dream of my teachers who created my own little Dead Poet's experience.} learning is good. i love to learn and sometimes i miss college a lot. and want to go back. because if we don't learn the rules correctly, we cannot learn to break them. i would like to someday learn how to paint a self portrait that looks like me, not just the idea of me. and then break all the rules and paint myself from the inside out.
all this to say: keep up the writing, the blogging, the dear diaries. i think this realm of the blogging world is so successful {and so addictive} because people are connecting. people understand and react because they are going through what you are going through. or are enlightened by something said or feel inspired because of your words. it does not matter if your sentences. match up. with the correct way to write. magic is in this exchange of ideas. thank you for being bold. for undergoing thorough dissection from hasty onlookers. merci for continuing to put your ideas and your thoughts out there. we benefit. blogging is my penpal dreams come true. thank you for your niceness, your cheerfulness, your understanding, your forgiveness, your loyalty and your friendship. i will be around next year too. and so will my stream of consciousness.
a new year knocking on the door.
happy day + happy new year.
ps. i've put a few peeks into my world on my sidebar. will be updating them sporadically. there is something about cropping favorite photos into itty bitty squares that makes me happy.
