Saturday, March 11, 2017

The Journal

In early 2016 I started a journal.

I had never been one to keep journals.  I'd tried many times, but it never caught traction.  But now I faithfully keep writing a journal, not exactly daily, but frequently.  The vast majority of my writing before was fiction, or related to my work, and sometimes poetry.

While fiction is a very personal endeavor, and one must dig deep into oneself to write it, there is something very special about the self-examination that goes on in a journal.  There is something special about being about the ideas, without the worry that the reader will not get what is being said.

This journal has been an increasing joy for me.  It has been a key element in learning more about myself.  In the bargain, I'm learning about myself as a writer too.  I'm looking back at fiction that I wrote in the past and seeing where I was not being true to myself in what I wrote, and where I was being true.

And the same can be said of me in general.  I'm getting to know myself better, and I'm learning how to peel away the parts of me that I don't think fit, and to grow those parts of me that I have suppressed or neglected.

The act of writing for myself, thousands of words written in journals, has helped me learn to spend less time trying to perfect what I say, and more time getting ideas out.

I am coming to view this blog as a means to write in a public setting without editing so heavily.  When I kept a blog "back in the day" I was really deliberate and edited my work the way that I would a story I was writing.

I will certainly edit my blog, but I'm hoping to just share some of my thoughts on life, maybe some of my photographs and poems.  My goal is to spend no more than 20 minutes on a post, and let the chips fall where they may.

In my blog before, I was concerned with trying to get a few readers.  And I did get a few readers.  Very few...

Now, inspired by fulfilling act of writing a journal, I'm going to try my hand at writing a public journal.  And if my readership improves over the journal, big win.

Hey, if one person reads this blog, my readership has DOUBLED!

Happy Saturday from Silicon Valley