PUTTING IT TOGETHER

I've really been neglecting my blog. Life obviously took precedence over my desire to post. The thing is, I've been writing my entire life...and though I was on hiatus, I've wondered if I should stop blogging, but in one way, to stop now seems silly. My desire to create stories and connect people through common experiences has been what I've loved to do since I was a little girl. Some of my earliest memories include sitting with my mom at our kitchen table (as early as 3 years old), dictating my stories -- she'd write them down and I'd later add my illustrations. Writing became such an enjoyable way to spend my time that I wrote as often as I could about anything that interested me. During summer vacations from school, I could be found sitting in my dad's home office, typing away and creating stories more often than you would find me playing with my friends. I created my own story ideas and scripts of my favorite TV shows, fictionalized my fantasy life as an adolescent, hand wrote (at 170-some odd pages) my idea of a sequel to my favorite film and hoped to educate others through my writing.

In high school, I was lucky enough to be picked as a student staff writer for the leading newspapers in the county. I had the amazing opportunity to go on-set of some of my favorite TV shows to interview the talent that I idolized. While writing about Hollywood and TV were fantastic experiences, I was also given an opportunity to write about those subjects that weren't as "exciting" but were more important because they dealt with real people and real life.

I didn't expect the articles I wrote about young people who had handicaps to be life changing, nor did I expect that it would be the most widely read articles. I did know though that someone was reading it, someone had to be. I knew that in writing those articles, I was educating whoever was reading my work and that if one person read it, that was one person more who would be made more aware. Who though was benefiting most from my desire to write? Was it my readers or was it me? Was I writing purely for selfish reasons? I'm still not entirely clear on that motive because though I was educating people, I was educating myself by the research, the interviews and conversations and in formulating what to write. The process of and then the act itself of writing about "handicapped" people was almost more an education in empathy for myself than anything else.

My point? I'm not sure I have one. Though I have been AWOL on this blog for quite sometime now, I'm thinking that I am doing the biggest disservice to myself by not writing. Writing and singing are my favorite emotional releases and when I started this post, I was all wound up about other thoughts flailing around in my head...and while they are still there, I'm far less wound up because I've been able to write. My thoughts may sound disjointed in this post, but really I do have a point...and I think I've figured it out.

As someone I admire once wrote:

"Bit by bit, putting it together.
Piece by piece, working out the vision night and day.
All it takes is time and perseverance
And a little luck along the way."