I mean, come on... you guys couldn't have possibly thought that I would ever write in any color other than pink.
It's been so long, too long, since I have written. I once read that everyone should have three hobbies; one to make you money, one to keep you in shape and one to keep you creative. This is my creative outlet. Note: I did try adult coloring books during the winter but to be honest (TBH as the kids are saying), some of those pages are really intricate and I get tired around 10p.m. so it was short lived endeavor.
When I decided to major in English, I spent the great majority of my first two years of college the same way that everyone else did.... reading books. It wasn't until I got to Pitt that I began all of my intensive writing courses and found that I had a great passion for writing. During one of my more intimate classes of 12 classmates, our professor gave us a stern talking to one day. She preached that the idea of writing wasn't to write the same way that you speak, but to basically create a second identity for yourself, to use your writing to take you to a mythical place that you wish you could be, or to create fiction. At the end of the class, she pulled me aside to let me know that her lecture wasn't for me and that she did not want for me to adjust my already created pieces. She said that my work, though written the exact same way that I speak, was highly entertaining.
Yet, the most interesting and important aspects of these submitted pieces weren't that I was writing the same way in which I spoke, but rather that every story that I wrote was 100% nonfiction. Everything that I wrote about had actually happened in my life. The "place that I wished I was" or the "identity that I craved" was none other than my own.
Now, I am not sharing this story because I like to toot my own horn. I don't think that I am a better writer than my classmates. In fact, some of those 12 went on to write professionally and I did not.
But what I did do was create this blog. I started it on March 29, 2012 and my first post had 67 views. I posted every Monday morning religiously. The blog grew, quickly. And somehow between March 2012 and November 2015 (my last post), I've had 30,000 views on this blog. It gave me something to look forward to and reflect on just how exciting my life actually was. To have a place to express myself AND do have people that enjoyed reading about my explorations was amazing.
But somewhere along the way I lost it.
I lost it because I thought that I didn't have enough time. My fast-paced career consumed my brain, and I loved every minute of it. But even worse than not making time to write, I thought that I lost my excitement. I thought that I didn't have anything worth reading anymore.
You know what they say, hindsight is 20x20.
My life is still exciting. It's so entertaining that sometimes I laugh before I can even tell my friends what is about to come out of my mouth.
The irony of my life, the love, the hilarity that ensues on a regular basis, the relationships, the vacations (so many of them) and the adventures... they're all entertaining. So fucking entertaining. And we have a lot of catching up to do.
So my ode to you (my beloved readers), is that my boring hiatus is over. So whether you were in the first 67 readers or the latter 30,933 or if you're just reading this today confused about what the heck is happening, here is what I can promise you..... I will be back next week.
Here's to staying creative
Xoxo
