Day 2

I haven't even gone downstairs for coffee yet. While I slept really well last night, I did wake a few times and this blog was bouncing around in my head. Before I turned off my light to go to sleep, I was reading my newest book purchase, "Writing Life Stories" by Bill Roorbach with Kristen Keckler. The book is a revised second edition subtitled, "How to make memories into memoirs, ideas into essays and life into literature." Years ago, when I first contemplated writing anything, I thought of penning the memoirs of three women I knew-each who had lived difficult lives and had overcome adverse circumstances. My husband bought me a little digital tape recorder for Christmas so I could record conversations with the three, but I never figured out how to use it and didn't compose one line on the topic. To this day, I still feel guilty whenever he mentions the tape recorder.

I've often had the notion to write about my own personal circumstances, but didn't think they would be interesting enough reading. I believe there are no coincidences, and finding this book seven or eight years after my initial memoir idea has helped me to kick start my writing. I don't yet know if a memoir is in the picture, but I think the blog is a good attempt at beginning something.

As excited as I was to find this book, I already have problems. Hesitation, doubt, and the biggest--- time investment. While Bill seems friendly enough, (I hope he doesn't mind that we're on a first name basis) he's also a task master. Every chapter includes a number of exercises that he expects the reader to accomplish. One of his first, and most off-putting for me so far (I've only read 22 pages) is his prerequisite that we read every day. As I am obsessed with books, I didn't find that to be an issue until I read a bit further. The daily reading cannot be pleasure or easy stuff like magazine articles. He specifically calls it "hard", meaning literature that I would never even consider. I do not like that word-hard-in any context, unless used in conjunction with hard body. The word gives me unpleasant feelings and makes me want to run away. That particular "exercise" has been lurking in the dark recesses of my mind, haunting me for the last few days. And as if the "hard" part wasn't bad enough, he wants me to read one hard book per week. My pleasure books take at least a month as they are the last thing I do before I go to sleep at night and can only get in a few pages at a time before my eyes blur and close.

So now I'll need to carve some time into my already crammed days to find and read hard stuff. Goodie... Why did I decide to do this again?

Time to go look for something hard to read.

Fledgling Author

January 1, 2010 Happy New Year.
I recently watched the movie "Julie and Julia" and was struck by the question Julie asked herself in the beginning of the film, "What would I write about in a blog?" Since then, I had been asking myself the same question for the last few weeks. This morning, it came to me. Write about writing. While I really enjoy the craft, I have never fully committed myself to working on it. Commitment through conclusion have always been issues for me. So, like Julie, I decided to commit myself to writing something on a daily basis for at least the next year, and what better time to begin than January First? Hopefully, this will create some discipline for me and start a new and good daily habit.

Since I know virtually nothing about blogs, this undertaking has been in progress for the last few hours and I guess this will be a New Year's Day to remember. I followed the directions to come up with a title, but now I don't know if that name carries through the entire life of the blog. I'll keep it that way for now. I decided on Fledgling as I'm so new at this that it has a sort-of double connotation for me. Webster's online defines fledgling as an "immature or inexperienced person" of which I am, at times, both. Fledgling is also a baby bird, and birds being one of my passions, I thought the term appropriate for me. Author is pretty much self explanatory. I'm trying.
Rather than write a novel here today, I'll continue tomorrow with the current reading materials I researched to help guide me into this process. I'm a little nervous, but I'm trying not to project and take this, as I try to do with most everything in my life, one day at a time.