It's Never Easy

National Blog Posting Month is.... I don't know...

I don't know who started it. I don't know why it was started. Maybe it's some kind of mondo mem and the joke is on us.

I'm really, really tired of trying to come up with something new to write each night. I feel like I'm back in college trying to cram an assignment in the night before it's due. Unfortunately, this assignment is every day.

I know-- if I don't like it, stop whining & stop writing.

But I do like it.

Most of us set up a blog as a vanity thing. Very few of us have anything meaningful to say to the greater world. Yet we find an outlet and we find an audience. The blogs I follow do different things, reach different people: to let extended family know about the goings on of grandkids; to document the journey of a life examined in seminary; to share the evolution of a craft turned career; to rant & giggle just so; to pass on useful tips and info; to be the diary of the eclectic.

Any artisan will tell you that if you want to be good, get better and achieve the best, you must practice your craft every day. Writing demands daily practice. Good writing does not, necessarily, make good speech. Good writing illustrates speech, and a good writer finds a "voice" that can be identified both on paper and through speech. However, speaking is not the same as writing, and just because I can talk does not mean I can write.

I had the delusion, once, that I could WRITE. I've come to learn that I can express myself on paper such that I'm interesting to those close to me. So be it. I am vain. I would not write this blog if I didn't think someone was reading it. I need frequent posts to keep readers, even if they are using a "reader." I need more practice. I'm still finding my voice.

I owe this month two blog posts, still, to achieve 30 in 30 days. Lucky for me, I have outlines on draft. I hear that's another thing good writers do; always have the next ideas simmering.

(11 is my "lucky" number. On this lucky day, may all who have served this country though all these centuries hold fast to the honor and lift their eyes to one day see the peace they have striven to achieve and have so unsparingly given of their lives. Even those who serve in times of national amity give much of themselves as do their families. May our prayers support them now and forever. Thank you.)