GETTING BACK TO WRITING

I arrived back to the SF bay area last night (actually April 15th) and had a great time visiting my kids and baby grand daughter. It always feel good to sleep in my own bed and come back to my routines, my comforts, my humble abode.

This was the first time I didn't write (for an extended period of time) since I started my blog. I almost worried about it, thinking did I lose a step, will I be able to get back on task? I decided not to let it worry me, because this isn't a job...it's for me, it makes me happy, it's my therapy. And the more I write, the more I write! I have to sit and think about what it is I feel like saying, what has been going on in my life, what is important to me, what did I learn today, did anything significant happen today, is there anything I want to share with others?

One of the best habits I have developed over the years, is keeping a notebook. Remember the Composition Books? They are bound with heavy thread, black and white, not meant for tearing out pages. Normally used for college class notes, and tests. When I get an idea, an expression, a thought, a quote, or a great word, it goes in my notebook. Rather one of them, I have several. Even watching TV and certainly reading, great ideas come up. I immediately write it down, because sometimes I forget it, or hear something, and that great word or idea is gone, sometimes forever.

Several years ago I read a great book by, none other than, Stephen King. Not a horror story but on the topic of writing. The name I believe was 'Stephen King On Writing'. He emphasized writing simply constructed sentences, cut out the fluff. All writers are readers, a very important ingredient in learning to write. And be true to yourself, don't try and write like the last author you read. It will be cumbersome and won't flow. I tend to write like I talk.

I will close now and look forward to writing on Monday.

Good day and God Bless!

"Life would be infinitely happier if we  could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen."  Mark Twain