First thoughts

October 25, 2009
So I've never blogged before (as almost all of these begin!), but I decided to try it because I love writing. My dream is to become a published writer but I've never been able to really sit down and start writing... fiction or nonfiction. On Twitter I follow a site called "Advice to Writers" and every day I am more inspired to just start. So here goes (it helps that "Julie and Julia" also inspired me to try this via a blog!)...

Previous advice has stated things like:

• “Stories must have life at the end...”
• "By the end, you should be inside your character...”
• Every novel should have a beginning, a muddle, and an end. The “muddle” is the heart of your tale. PETER DE VRIES
• I want to record the way people talked and thought and felt, and to do it with complete honesty and variety. JOHN O’HARA
• Writing is the hardest work there is. MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
• First drafts are for learning what your novel or story is about. BERNARD MALAMUD

These nuggets make me want to try it all... but where to truly begin? I've also read over and over again that writers must write about what they know best. What do I know? I know...

• I am a bullet junkie!
• I had 10 horrible blind dates this past summer (09).
• I am passionate about my work in education.
• I loved teaching writing more than anything else when I was still in the classroom.
• I love coaching teachers.
• I love my family, friends and traveling.
• I am fluent in Spanish and loved living in Spain on two different occasions.
• I love music, movies, and TV.
• I'm a little OCD about my ipod!
• facebook and twitter have become obsessions in my life.
• I have LOVED New Kids on the Block for over 20 years and their reunion this past year has made me so happy (and more addicted to my ipod!).
• I am a guitar genius on RockBand!
• I don't like to cook but that's because I don't know much about it and I'm a picky eater; I would like to learn to do it and enjoy it!
• my friends think I'm a little autistic because of my odd habits (don't hug me!).
• I love to read- mysteries, chic lit, young adolescent lit, and romances.
• I say my favorite color is red but I also love green, and most other solid, bright colors!
• I love scarves and wish I had a long, thin neck so I could wear them daily and look as good as the women in NYC with them on all the time!
• my mom has cancer and it's scary.
• I was a vegetarian for about 3 months recently and I liked it but just didn't know how to do it very well.
• I want to eat well, exercise regularly, and live a green lifestyle, but it's a lot of work and I'm pretty lazy! :)
• I love to type smiley faces at the end of most messages! :)
• I could make lists forever but I don't know how to turn this art into a real work of writing... unless I write a novel entirely in lists (oh, an idea!).

I will task myself to take one of these bullets and turn it into my next blog entry.