Still crazy after all these years

Writing is the most grueling chore with the most rewarding outcome (excepting family stuff) that I do.  In blogging, the pain comes when I forget the perfect idea I had on the bus but neglected to write down. Once I get going, the words basically flow out of the ends of my fingers. At least the fingers on my left hand. My right hand tends to stumble, but that’s a story for another day.  With blogging,  getting started in the first place can be a challenge.

Years ago, I wrote a lot of song lyrics, which was fun but ultimately not so fulfilling. I did a song for each Sunday’s communion service, a few here and there for gigs, and others just for fun, such as when one of the residents would give me a good story idea while singing at the rest home.

I wrote a book once and let me tell you, THAT was a painful experience. Four hundred pages of first draft, multiple pre-submission edits, and then multiple edits at the suggestion of my agent or various editors who held the carrot ju-u-u-ust out of reach. And all in the wee hours on a Smith-Coronomatic manual-electric with neither memory nor auto-correction. I still have the final paper copy somewhere around here. Three hundred, thirty-nine pages. I finally decided that By Other Means was never going to be published. And I got on with my life. (Incidentally, I re-read it a couple of years ago. Lack of publication turns out to have been merciful but we need not go into that.)

Since then, I’ve written overblown columns in tiny market college papers, letters to the editor, newsletters, and shopping lists ad nauseum. Presentations, lesson plans and articles for trade mags. And of course, this blog.

When I started The View From the Briarpatch, my intent was simply to exercise the muscles without taking on a major project. Turns out writing is a bit like smoking. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been away, one blog or two and you’re off and running. I got bit again.

You may have noticed I’ve taken a break recently from my usual four-times-or-so-per-week blogging. I wasn’t ignoring my writing, I promise. And I was indeed extremely busy with matters both personal and professional. But the truth is, I didn’t have time for a very selfish reason. I was planning a manuscript. The story I’ve had rattling around in my brain bucket for some years has finally and fatally seized control of many of my waking hours.

So, here I go again. It’s insane to take up writing again at my age but then, my friend Michael has done so quite nicely. And Sindy and Larry still have ideas flowing. Why not me? I can keep this blog going for fun and pressure release and still spend a few hours several times a week with my masterwork.

So, though I promise I won’t completely neglect this conversation with friends I won’t be blogging every night. I’ll be spending more time with a cast of characters to whom I owe my attention. You see, having thought them up, I can’t really walk away from them. They can’t become who they are meant to be without me. And most of them have already become friends. Except one in particular but of course, that would be telling…

So please do check in every now and then and I’ll try to make it worth your while. I won’t walk away from this family of friends – I just have another circle requiring my parental attention.

Ahem….It was a dark and stormy night…