Happy 1st Blog-day!

Tomorrow is my dear blog's first birthday. A year ago I had finally took the bait and began this new adventure. And I have loved every minute of it!

I believe I have grown as a writer - not necessarily technically (i.e. what an magazine editor likes to see: Hook, Middle, Climax, End) but in terms of thinking like a writer. My day's events, conversations or thoughts and feelings are all material. Some become sentences in my head, others get jotted down, still others are written in a post before I've barely had a chance to sip my coffee. I have even dared to call myself a Writer... in public! I have a business card that says: Writer, Artist, Journaling Instructor. A year ago that would not have been possible, my ego was not up to it yet.

In honor of my bloggy's birthday I am going to re-post the one that began it all.

In the beginning there was the word... "blog"

A few months ago I was chatting with a fellow mom who asked me what I do (she obviously meant other than carting my children around to preschool and dance class and swimming lessons as well as keeping them supplied with nutritious fodder and clean-ish clothes.)

"I'm an aspiring writer," I replied sheepishly.

"Oh, do you blog?"

"Nooo, I don't blog!" said I. (I didn't say that, but I did think it. Being the traditionalist that I am, writing online just doesn't seem real, any more than reading a book on a kindle - or whatever it's called - or listening to music through teeny weeny headphones seems real.)

What I actually said was, "No, I'm more of a paper and pen kinda gal, ya know. I'm not really into the computer that much."

"Oh, you should. I just got asked to write an article for someone because they read my blog."

And my world tipped just a bit.

Fast forward to this week. I have finished my first non-fiction article and I am almost ready to send it off with a query letter. To garner some support in my new endeavor I started chatting with some other writer-moms online. To my utter amazement I discovered they all write online either for publication sites and/or their own blogs. AND THEY GET PAID FOR IT.

World tips completely over and I'm falling head first into cyberspace.

I have been calling myself an aspiring writer for many years now but I was intimidated by the world of dash-your-dreams editors and query letters. But now (dammit) I have no excuse. Just write a little article, get it accepted at one of about a trillion publication sites, and wait for someone to send you a check for, oh, about $2. Who cares, you're published!

And this blog? I'm still loyal to time spent curled up in a chair with journal and fountain pen writing words for no eyes but mine. But if this blog really can help my writing career by forcing me to write everyday - to hone my craft - and maybe, just maybe, catch some editor's eye, then ok, I guess I'll give it a try.

But I do still plan to write for those real publications one day.

OK, so I still haven't made $2 - or even .10c - for my writing. But I have been published and I have received that all important personal note from an editor. I have been asked to write an essay for a possible book compilation and another essay on my son's natural birth is still awaiting an editor's approval for another compilation. I do not feel for one moment that I am not making it as a writer. I have had to put other things first this year (like my "real" job and my journaling workshops). If there's one snippet of wisdom I hang onto more than other other it is:

Writers Write!
and that's what I am doing almost everyday.

Thanks blog! Happy Birthday!