The Blog

When I was a young girl, I loved taking my papers to my mom to read. "LOOK!" I would shout, "I finished my book." Whether it was my book about a carrot that grew up to fear being eaten or a poem about a cloud floating by unnoticed by a soul, my mother's reaction was the same, "That's nice." As I grew up I sought out other audiences such as poetry contests or the dreaded scholarship award committees. I needed feedback! I guess that is why I loved college. Professors actually take the time to read your work and assess it on a scale of A to F. It's a little more stressful than mom's reaction but yet an A can be very satisfying.

I have also tried desperately to have my work published. I admit my first time published in the buy-your-own book club I was thrilled. Although slightly dismayed when they left a line out of my poem and I had no recourse. It took me awhile but when all my poems, my daughters poems, and her boyfriend's poems were 'Honorable Mentions' and qualified for publishing they couldn't fool me anymore. I decided to seek higher rewards. Pay for publication.

After a multitude of rejections, I actually got an article published. I was in writer's heaven. Finally a published clip, this was my big break. I made about fifty copies of that article and sent them with query letters to every publisher in the Writer's Market. They obviously didn't get it. I was a published writer! I waited for the offers to come streaming in. Not one. Well, my mom was excited, "That is so nice."

I am a writer. I must write to feel. Emotions flow from the brain to the fingers where they can be edited and rearranged and sorted before being delivered to an unsuspecting audience, even if by mouth. I have tried to skip the fingers and go right to the mouth and that always seems to cause more life complications than you can fathom.

Have you ever been scolded because your posts are too long? Has even your dad banned you from his email inbox because you are long-winded? Did your mom mark your eddress as SPAM? She didn't even know how to mark an email spam but found out just for you. If this has happened to you then may I suggest blogging.

My friend sent me a link to her blog. I had never heard of such a thing. Finally, unlimited publishing without rejection letters. An unlimited number of potential readers and you own it, you make it as long as you feel! My sister will be thrilled. She made the mistake of establishing a pattern of responding to my lengthy emails. In doing so, my sister took the place of my mom, my professors, and potential editors as the first responder in my desperate need for writer's feedback. My blog is her hope to be relieved of all but the unpublishable parts of my written emotional rollercoaster, my life.

What I really like about the blog is that I can reread the post as many times as I need to and tweak it up indefinitely. Not like a post to a list or an email once you hit send, you can go back to your blog and play with the words and update that post to perfection. The blog is much safer than the mouth because words which cross your lips can not be taken back. Easily we become 'trapped by what we have said, ensnared by our mouths (Proverbs 6:2)." Even an emailed message can not be taken back once the send button is pushed. A blog on the other hand, a blog can be edited. God bless the blog!