Write or Die, or in other words, Time to write

My first dive into Write or Die. Trying to see if this can be the motivator that I need in order to write as much as I really would like to. Back in September I committed to try and blog every day. I think I was able to complete a full two blog entries during the entire month. (I double checked, and I wrote 0 blog entries in September or October - 0... crap.)

In fairness, e.g. the excuse du jour, this was largely due to the fact that we had some interesting family things come up. Here we are two months later, and I have another daughter in law, and another grandchild on the way. Very exciting stuff - but to get ready for that involved changing our living areas to physically enclose an additional bedroom in our house.

This included building a wall, electrical work, hanging drywall, doing mud and tape - including learning how to mud and tape corners (both inside and outside - and who knew that corners can also mean where walls meet ceilings - not me that's who) and sanding, followed by painting with the associated taping, drop cloths, color selections and the like, together with all of the cleanup, and lastly the installation of all of the trim which required borrowing tools, ensuring proper cuts of the board and getting it all thrown together. This whole project running concurrently with getting everything else that we needed to get done for the wedding done. It was great fun, and we're all certainly glad that it's finally over. Phew.

Now we're looking Christmas time squarely in the face. More checklists and to - dos to get everything done and ready for that. Including getting things sent early enough to the missionary son in California that he can participate in some of the fun Christmas traditions that the Roseville mission has as part of it's history. Last night whilst keeping abreast of all of the trick or treaters that were visiting with great regularity, La Reine and I successfully selected a large number of family pictures, loaded them on a digital picture frame, wrapped it up in pretty Christmas paper, and got it ready to be shipped. We're going to be shipping that today with some hand written letters, and at the same time I'll be shipping a few other things that he's wanted, though they'll be going in a separate package so that he can get them sooner than Christmas.

I'm also doing this on Write or Die so that I can be challenged to actually write a set length entry in a ridiculously small amount of time - and lo and behold, I didn't make it. But I got close - 435 words in the 10 minutes I gave myself - but my goal was 500 words. Oh well.

Back to the interesting dialogue. I am excited about some of the other fun things we've got coming up in the next couple of months as we roll full steam into the holidays. Christmas music, family time, anniversary to plan, Christmas shopping and the like.

That's it for today I think - but I'm going to come back again tomorrow to see if I can get those 500 words in 10 minutes and we'll see what happens. Wish me luck.

Respectfully,

- jake

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist...

There's a James Taylor song that I love - well he has lots of songs that I love, but one in particular, "Shed A Little Light" is resonating with and for me today.

The particular lyric that's getting to me is:

"...that we are bound together
in our desire to see the world become
a place in which our children can grow free and strong
we are bound together
by the task that stands before us,
and the road that lies ahead
we are bound and we are bound..."

The last couple of days have been ones during which I've reflected a great deal on the road behind, and the repetitions that come when others choose to follow the same road.

As I look back at the road, I see that it is now reflected in the eyes of those I dearly love as they look ahead. I am overcome by emotions - both good and bad, but all poignant - so much so they are nearly painful.

The one thing that I know for certain is this: the Lord will indeed shed a little light so that we can see, and many years from now as we look back together on this road, we will smile, we may shed a tear or two, and we will share the joy of the journey with those whom we so dearly love.

respectfully,

-jake

A rededication

I recognize that I’m not a very committed blogger. A post once a year whether I need to or not, and then seemingly unable to commit to following through with more than that, regardless of professions to the contrary.

Part of the problem is not having a direction – what do I want to write about? Who am I doing it for?

Secretly I want to write about whatever comes to mind, but I’m worried that when others read it they’ll judge the content or the author. An inner monologue akin to “wow – he thought that was worth writing about? Seriously?”. This is my fear. Will it be funny at the right time, poignant when required. Will people come back to read it because it’s compelling? Will they want to be my friends? Do I care?

I think you get the point here.

I suppose that what I need to do is come up with a focus and then go with it.

To that end, I'm going to attempt writing a blog entry every day in September. Wish me luck, and feel free to comment...

- jake