Starting [Over]

A friend of mine has been talking about writing a book for decades. I’m not sure if she has a definite story in mind or if she’s just like me with a vague fantasy about being an author. Doesn’t matter. The thing is, this girl doesn’t write. Ever. At least not that I know of.

She was telling me the other day about how excited she was, anticipating a viewing of the Lord of the Rings movies. I’ve never been a fan of the movies or even the books, so when she was telling me about elves and other species of creatures whose labels my mind has no way of recollecting I kind of ignored it. You Lord fans know what she means. As she went through the list of names, species, settings, etc., I had to interrupt her and say, “you could totally write a story like that.” I mean, how hard could it be? It’s all gibberish and the kids just eat it up. Anyone with any imagination at all can make stuff like that up, right?

Now before you go and slam my minimalist views on things, the key word in my argument is “imagination.” Triology of the Rings. Harry Potter. Hell, I’ll even throw in Harlequin Romances. These works took a lot of imagination. There’s nothing I respect more than an active and vivid imagination. And if you can capture the images of that imagination and put them into words, well, in my book you’re a genius.

So back to my friend. I’ve been bugging her for years to get going on the writing. A journal even. She always had an excuse, but it was obvious her desire to write never ceased. Finally, I think I convinced her to start a blog. A dumb old blog. “You can write in it every day and it doesn’t even have to be public,” I said. “But if you did publish it publicly I’d be your most loyal reader.” She actually asked me how to get started.

With that I decided to set a good example and get back to my own blog. I’ve neglected it for so long I’m hardly one to criticize. And to make things easy for me I’ve decided to look upon this new beginning as an example to my friend. To show her she can write all she wants to and it can be the most lame thing ever and it just doesn’t matter because she’s writing and that’s what she wants to do.

And who knows? She may turn out to be another Anne Rice or Emily Bronte. And when she writes in her blog every day and publishes all of her books she can dedicate everything to me because I was the one who got her started.

How many of you out there are blogging for pleasure? Not for the ad money. Not to be discovered. Just for the pure joy of it? Not many, I’m sure. Well, join us, won’t you? Do it just for fun. I think you’ll be amused at what ends up on the screen and across the internets.