Something New

It feels like a nice time to do something new. 

I've always been very aware of books and writers and words.  How people develop stories and what stays with people when they read something good.  I think it's crazy that when you walk into a library and open a good book, you hear something conjured up by another soul in a different time in history.  It's there waiting for you.  

One time in high school a classmate I barely knew told me that the only thing he really remembered about me from middle school was that when we were in the library and I found a book I was looking for, I was so happy that I hugged it.  WHAT?  I now care way less about that than I did in high school, but the story is still true.  Chris Irwin really did see me hugging a book.  And it was the late 90s middle school version of Jessica.  That image definitely includes bangs and tapered leg mom jeans.  Even better. 




So I'm declaring it.  I like the writing life, and I want to be a writer.  This is the undercurrent I feel every day, even as I live out a life as a history teacher.  The life of a middle school teacher is full of good things, and I can say that, even in a trying year.  But there is more to say, and writing helps.  

I make myself say it every day, even if I don't feel like it's true, and then I write something.  This is the no nonsense advice I've gotten from all different kinds of people who say things about getting past your own inner critic.  Your own inner critic is the worst.   But God made the written word magical to me and I am embracing it.   

Here are 3 quotes that have helped me understand the need to write.

#1  - Florida Maxwell-Scott said, "I write myself into well-being." 
 This feels true. 

# 2 - George Bernard Shaw's thoughts about human stories everywhere...."The man who writes about himself in his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time."

# 3 - 'How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live." - Henry David Thoreau
Also true.


Why did I decide to finally venture out and do this TODAY?  I read this....

"Most people have lives crowded with incident but without purpose.  You must start seeing each day as a blank page waiting to be filled up with amusing anecdotes, profound turning points, provactive choices, and pursuits of passion.  The world adores storytellers, but deplores those who refuse to live their own stories."
  
And suddenly it was inevitable.