Tag: Writing

Help Me Map Out My Walk Down Memory Lane

Hi everyone! I really could use your help. I’m going to be doing several anthologies of my blog entries, and I need your opinion.

My blog is a bit eclectic. In general, it’s about stuff I think about while sitting up here on my drawbridge. So I’ve been going through old posts and trying to identify various themes that I seem to revisit, and determine which ones are my favorites.

The funny thing about revisiting past writings is that it feels similar to going through old photo albums (remember those?), or school yearbooks. The memories come flooding back and then you look up to find that hours have gone by. Re-reading these posts from years ago feels like going to a high school reunion, only without dreading some of the people you’re going to run into.

What you see below are 10 blog posts from 2012 and 2013 that I think have anthology potential. What I need to know are your thoughts on the subject. Which do you like best? What themes do you enjoy most? Are there any other posts of mine that are your favorites? Is there anything else I should be asking you that I’m overlooking?

Anyone kind enough to voice their opinion will be gratefully acknowledged in one of my anthologies, unless you prefer to remain anonymous. But please know that your insights really matter to me. I write for you!

I seem to write a lot about my insights about nature. Here’s one called A Rare Gift from a Dolphin.

Here’s an example of one of the many things I’ve written about having a sense of myself. Learning about who I am. It’s called Coming full Spiral.

Another one like that is Lightning Strikes and Other Unforeseen Events.

I also love to write about obscure things that may not have crossed your mind, and/or things that most people haven’t heard about. Here’s one called Cool Stuff You Never Knew about your Teeth.

Other times I go for the humor, as in How to Give HORRIBLE Customer Service.

Sometimes I write about travel experiences, such as Reliving the Battle of Olustee.

I like to write about trying to make a difference in one way or another, such as in The Immigration Issue in Reverse.

And I also tend to wax nostalgic, like in Those Moments.

Naturally, I have a lot of drawbridge stories to tell! When in Doubt, Blame the Bridgetender.

And I have plenty of time to come up with quirky insights and wonder about things. Where Are YOU Located?

I really hope I hear from you! Thanks in advance!

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Calling All Readers

Did you just hear my StoryCorps interview on NPR’s Morning Edition? What a rush!!! If you missed it, check it out on the StoryCorps site here. Or even better, look at the amazing write up it was given on the NPR site, and listen to the recording with their intro. And please, share it with friends!

In light of the positive feedback I’m getting from that, I’m thinking of taking my blog to the next level by writing some anthologies. I sure could use your help with this. You’ve been giving me amazing feedback over the years, and I really value your opinion.

As you know, my blog is kind of eclectic, but there are various themes that keep cropping up, such as drawbridge stories, travel, exploring Seattle/Washington, quirky questions and observations, feminist rants, my sense of self… just to name a few.

What I’d like to know is which of my over 1200 entries do you enjoy the most? What topics interest you? What type of anthology would you most like to see from me?

For your generous assistance, I’ll include your name in the anthology unless you prefer to remain anonymous. Either way, thanks in advance. You’re awesome!

Looking forward to providing you with more views from a drawbridge!

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The view from my drawbridge right now.

 

Bloggadocio

Recently I posted my 1,200th blog entry, and I received my 85,000th view. I’m rather proud of this little blog. Writing something new every day has been a challenge, to say the least, but it’s also been a joy.

People often ask me why I don’t switch to an independent website where I could financially benefit from my advertisements. I have considered it. I could certainly use the money.

But I fear that then this bright spot in my day would suddenly become work. I’d stress out over obtaining advertisers. I’d have to meticulously keep track of all my photo permissions. I’d also risk losing the nearly 500 followers I currently have, and I’ve grown quite attached to many of them. I’d also have to learn how to design and maintain a website. The thought of it makes me tired.

One reader contacted me and suggested I publish an anthology of my work, and said she’d meet with me to manage the details, as that’s what she does. That appeals to me more, and lord knows I have produced plenty of material, but she seems to have disappeared into cyberspace. But who am I to criticize? Other than this blog, I’m notoriously unreliable when it comes to follow through. I can only be counted on to keep promises to others, never to myself.

Besides, just because you love doing something and feel you’re good at it (even if I do say so myself), that doesn’t mean you have to profit from it. Sometimes pleasure is payment enough. Creativity is often its own reward.

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An Avalanche of Inspiration

Writing a daily blog for years on end can be a challenge. Sometimes I really struggle for a topic. I’ve even been known to post things on Facebook that say, “Help! I can’t think of anything to write about in my blog!” So far I’ve always managed to come up with something, but a few times it was a very near thing indeed.

And then there are times like these. Times of abundance. I’m flush with a bountiful harvest of ideas. I have to make lists of things so as not to forget them. As we used to say in the South, I am in high cotton. I am looking at a few weeks where I won’t have to sweat at all.

Why is this time different than others? That’s my one source of frustration at the moment. I don’t have a clue. Perhaps my muse just got back from the Bahamas or something. She’s well rested, nicely tanned, and ready to get back to work. If there were some magic button to press to keep this momentum going, I’d be hopping up and down on it. As it stands, there just seem to be moments of feast and moments of famine.

The blog as a metaphor for life. I’ll take it.

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[Image credit: tgldirect.com]

How This Blog Has Touched Me

Today this blog made me cry. It wasn’t the first time. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

So far it’s always been happy tears, thank goodness. (I’m waiting for the day that my writer’s block is so overwhelming that I shed tears of sheer frustration, but so far I’ve been lucky.) Still, I never thought this humble project of mine would bring out such strong emotion in me. Had I known, I might have been too intimidated to start. But I’m so glad I did.

This time, the reason for my tears was a comment from a girl named April. She read one of my more popular blog entries, Why I Hate Alcohol. Then she commented in great detail about how it impacted her.

Discovering that something I wrote has helped someone, or made them look at things from a different angle, or taught someone something they didn’t know, never fails to move me. Sometimes I sit up here on my lonely little drawbridge and I write these things and it almost feels as if I’m putting messages in bottles and throwing them in the ocean. That these messages sometimes reach someone’s shore is gratifying beyond words.

Because of this blog, I’ve also made some amazing friends. Art, Carole, Anju, Sonia, Tony, Lyn, Valarie… so many more I couldn’t list them all, but each one an amazing person that wouldn’t have come into my life without this forum. And then there are the many friends I’ve met in other ways who have followed this blog and given me feedback and support. There’s nothing more wonderful than getting positive encouragement from someone you admire.

I’ve also learned a great deal. I’ve explored topics I wouldn’t have bothered to delve into if I didn’t think I’d have some reader to share them with. I’ve introduced myself, and you, to people I would not have discovered otherwise.

I’ve exorcised a number of personal demons, celebrated a number of victories, shared perhaps more than I should have, and wondered about any number of things. And I’ve improved my writing skills. Those are things I knew I would do. What I didn’t know was that having people actually read what I write has added a whole new dimension. You’ve validated, supported, and commiserated with me. You’ve given me wings.

So my message in the bottle for today is: Thank you. Thank you so much.

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[Image Credit: artisticallyinvited.com]

Writing Ideas, Like Love, Multiplies

I’ve mentioned more than once in here that I’m amazed that I keep coming up with new writing ideas for this blog every day. But one of my followers made me realize that I’ve been looking at inspiration incorrectly. Ideas are not like water in a bucket, the level of which lowers every time you take a sip until one day you discover that the bucket is dry and empty.

No, when it comes to inspiration, you need to apply more mystical mathematics. Inspiration is like love. It multiplies. The more you love, the more you are able to love, and as you add more people into your circle of love, it does not reduce the amount of love that you have for any one particular individual. The heart has an infinite capacity for this emotion. That seems miraculous to me.

So, too, the soul seems to have an infinite capacity for inspiration. The more I write, the more ideas seem to come to me. The more I open myself up, the more brainchildren seem to be born.

I have no idea what the source is of all this creativity, but maybe I’m not supposed to know. I will just do my best to remain grateful and try to never take it for granted. Whatever the formula actually is, it’s at a mathematical level that I never quite reached in college.

[Image credit: nitandramas.tumblr.com]
[Image credit: nitandramas.tumblr.com]

Late

I keep a list of ideas for blog entries. I write them down as they occur to me, or they’ll buzz away like hummingbirds, never to be seen again. I’ve even been known to pull off the interstate just so I can take a note if the topic sounds particularly intriguing.

When that list gets short, I get nervous. I’m waiting for the day when all I can say is, “I got nothin’.” That will probably be my last entry. Surely at some point the river of ideas will run dry. I’m amazed it’s continued to flow for this long.

So when I sat down to write today and consulted my list, I found one item that utterly baffles me. “Late.” That’s it. That’s all I wrote. Late. What is that supposed to mean? I don’t even remember writing it. (Maybe I was running late.)

Did I want to write about how I seem to start everything later in life than most people do? Was I planning on writing a rant about someone showing up late? Was I going to write about someone who passed away?

Maybe I meant to say “Latte”, and was going to hold forth on the number of coffee shops in Seattle. Or “Date”, because I had one recently. (But it didn’t work out, so I don’t really want to talk about it.)

Maybe I need to start another list, and at the very top of it I should write, “Provide a little more detail when you write a list.”

Yeah, I know. It needs an apostrophe. [Image credit: vulture.com]
Yeah, I know. It needs an apostrophe.
[Image credit: vulture.com]

Ego Boost

Go to Google and look up “Bridge Symbolism”. You’ll get over a million results, but the first one, the very first one, is a blog entry I did on that very subject. The first one. On Google. I feel like I’ve hit the big time.

That also would explain why that particular blog entry is the most viewed one on my blog at the moment. I imagine kids all over the world using it as a source for some essay or another. And it’s just something I posted, kind of as an afterthought.

I’m making an impact. How freaky is that? It’s also kind of overwhelming. I really ought to be careful of what I say here. I’m not very good at that. There’s a fine line between being honest and vulnerable and spontaneous and being irresponsible. I’m not sure I’ve found it yet. Bear with me.

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The Book in You

I find humans to be fascinating creatures. No two are completely alike, even if they’re identical twins. Each one is shaped by different life experience. Every single one dresses differently, looks unique, reacts to things in his or her own special way. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, people are like boxes of chocolate. You never know what you’re gonna get.

I have a theory that if I’m finding someone to be boring, either they have an overactive sense of privacy, or I’m not being properly inquisitive. I’m convinced that everyone has at least one story within them. In that way people seem like gifts to me, just waiting to be unwrapped.

More than once in my life I’ve discovered that I had been working closely with someone who had quite an amazing private life, but that fact was only revealed to me after they had left the job or passed away. After getting over the shock of the information, I’m usually left with a sense of profound disappointment and a boatload of unanswered questions. I’ve always had a hard time accepting the fact that not everything is my business.

Writers should be grateful that their talent isn’t universal, or the world would be inundated with autobiographies and they’d be out of a job. But having a story and being able to tell it are two very different things. Then again, I have to remind myself that not everyone wants to tell their story. That’s so foreign to my nature as to be incomprehensible. I suppose that’s why I’m a blogger.

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My 1000th Blog Entry

Whoa. This is an entry I never expected to be writing. It boggles my mind that I’ve come up with a thousand things to say to you. I must be an interesting person. So why doesn’t anyone ever ask me out? Seriously. I’m fairly sure I could hold up my end of a conversation.

Egotistical as it may sound, though, I’m feeling rather proud of myself. This blog has become such a fundamental part of my life that I can’t imagine doing without it now. It’s my way of reaching out to the wider world. I kind of feel like it’s my legacy. It’s the book, in serial form, that I’ll probably never get around to writing. It’s one of my most solid commitments. It’s stability.

For fun I just went back and read my first blog entry, Nature is what’s happening when you’re not looking. The photo I included has long since disappeared. I wonder what it was? The entry itself was about all the nature I observed in my 13 years as a bridgetender in Florida.

I thought my life was very predictable back then. Little did I know that after that I’d experience death and surgery and move 3000 miles across the country. I had no idea what path I was on. I still don’t, I suppose. None of us do.

The only other constant in my life for the past 1,000 days has been my dogs. Everything and everyone else has come and gone, or has been there sometimes, for some things, but not for others. This blog has been my continuity, the very backbone of my days. What a concept.

I wonder where I will be, or what I will say, for my 10,000th blog entry? Whatever it is (if it is), I hope you’ll join me, dear reader. It’s bound to be an interesting and twisty little road getting to that point, but the scenery should be, I hope, worth taking in.

This image is called 1000 origami cranes, but I suspect they're not all shown. Still, it's pretty, and on my 1000th entry, I can show whatever I want. So there! [Image credit: rebrn.com]
This image is called 1000 origami cranes, but I suspect they’re not all shown. Still, it’s pretty, and on my 1000th entry, I can show whatever I want. So there!
[Image credit: rebrn.com]