Words Today: 2349

Total Words: 60,947

---

For a month now, I’ve mined, bled on the page, and explored. I no longer struggle mightily with what to write or how to write. I now struggle with “Can I write it all down? Do I have the time?” And, in the pitch-black despair of pre-coffee 5am, “Will I find the words I need?”

“Am I good enough?”

That was over 60,000 words ago. The only question on my mind today is “What next?”

I spent a little time in the last few weeks looking at the tones, genres, and styles of what I was writing, the things that crept out and surprised me, the things that have been aching for release on the page. My voice was clear, but everything else bounced from style to style, genre to genre.

I started to push myself to answer, “What kind of writer do I want to be?”

This is a terrible question

It introduces boundaries and limits. It squeezes my shoulders until they draw to each other, constricting the spine and clamping biceps to ribcages. The world smashes us all enough as it is and does not need my assistance.

NaNoWriMo was about prepping a meal and setting a beautiful table, making sure I have plenty of dishes, silverware, and serving trays at the ready and my mise en place set. My guests, you and others, are invited. You are welcome any time.

A table like that – beautiful, sparkling, welcoming, with plenty of seats and enough inventory – can change and adapt and explore.

I don’t feel the need to write only humor or fiction or personal essays. Sometimes you have to mix it up. Some offerings will be better than others, some will be disasters, but the only true risk is not putting them out.

OK, well, the one other risk is in somebody telling me they don’t like what I write, but there will always be somebody who doesn’t like it. All I can do ensure that that person is not me.

I refuse to serve the same thing over and over again. It’s boring. However, I’ll have a few menu items in heavy rotation; hopefully the things I like are the things you also like.

You are invited here every Friday (or maybe Saturday, perhaps Sunday if life gets life-like) as I serve up something new for you. Sometimes I may offer you a treat on other days as well. One must amuse the bouche, no?

The weekly pieces here might be an original creative piece or it might just be thoughts on the writing life. It also might be a picture of my dog. Or my knitting. Or my dog knitting.

I will also be serving up pieces in other arenas. I’ll keep you posted on that here. I will be working on my official blog and on submitting regularly to other outlets. I also have some silly things here if you ever want to see what I look like in dirty beveled mirror and fancy pants.

Pull up a seat, I’ll get you a drink.

Welcome and thank you.

See you on Friday. Or Saturday. But definitely by Sunday.