Real Words

* The drawing is Escher’s … he’s one of my favorite famous artists because of the unique perspective that he brought to his work. I firmly believe that all artists should look at life from their own eyes out and share that vision the best that they can, irrelevant of how the rest of the world might see things. I hope that as a writer that’s something that I do. Welcome to my blog!* 

There were a dozen different ways that I thought of starting off this blog. Having worked on numerous professional blogs over the last few years, I’m knowledgeable about all of the different things that I “should” use this blog for and all of the ways to do those things. I know the ins and outs of writing for my audience, selecting keywords to make the posts searchable, planning to tag the posts for promotion on social bookmarking sites … but I don’t want to use this blog just as a tool for self-promotion. Yes, that’s a nice added benefit, but it’s not the reason that I’m bothering to write my own blog. Instead, I want this blog to be a place where I can really connect with the people who read my work and who like what I do, to collaborate with others on creative projects and to really just share what my life is like as a writer.

Hence, the title of my web page and the name for this blog. You see, I always kind of wanted to be a writer. I also wanted to be a million other things (I’m certified in massage therapy, I’m interested in photography, I have degrees in social service and public agency work and I had a brief stint in law school). But through it all, I wrote. I wrote letters, newsletters, poems, stories, articles, vignettes, books and a whole lot of nothing much sometimes. And for many years, even though I did all of this writing, I didn’t consider myself a “real” writer. Sure, I wrote stuff all the time. Sure I started to get paid for it. But it seemed like there was some sort of level of “success” that I needed to achieve as a writer that I hadn’t yet reached.

I wasn’t even sure what this level of success was defined as. I just knew that I wasn’t yet a “real” writer. And I hoped someday that I would be. And then, subtly, it happened. I began to just associate myself with being a writer. It wasn’t related to getting published or having my own writer’s website or being listed as a contributing author on a nationally-selling magazine. It was simply because I write. That’s what I do … on most days anyway. I write. And that’s what makes me a writer.

And the truth about being a writer is that some days I write stuff that’s terrible. I write things that don’t make sense. I write things that make sense but about which I’m not passionate. I re-write things that I’ve already written before hoping to make them better this time. And that’s what this blog is all about … writing bad stuff sometimes and not being afraid to share it with the people that read my work. Writing is a process. It’s an ongoing thing. And being a writer is a way of living. It’s a choice - one that’s messy and confusing and satisfying and wonderful - and one that I make again and again every time that I choose to keep writing.

So, yes, this blog is going to be messy sometimes. It’s going to detail the ups and downs of what writing is and what it means to me and how it changes as I change. It’s going to share my work and share stories about the days that I just don’t feel like working at all. It’s going to be real words (probably with typos sometimes although I’ll do my best to act like I edit!) from a real writer who is working in the world of writing right now.

With words and kisses,

Kathryn