On Writing...on journals and blogging

What you have to be is in love. With writing. Not with ideas about what to write; not with daydreams about what you’re going to do when you’re successful. You have to be in love with writing itself, with the solitary and satisfying act of sitting down and watching something you hold in your head and your heart quietly transform itself into words on the page. (Elizabeth Berg, Escaping into the Open, 156)

I have always be a writer.  Poetry in elementary school; diaries in high school; journals in college and beyond.  Travel journals.  And now, as a blogger out of control.  I can't help myself.  It started with my first blog  called And I have promises to keep... and it recorded my long but not forgotten wish to travel to the south of France.  It was fun to record the journey for family and friends to read as we travelled along.  My husband Jeff and I would go to the car at night and travel around the town looking for an open wireless connection and then zap! the day's entry would be uploaded. 

Then my sabbatical blog called Stepping back, looking forward:  a time to think, reflect, and play.  This blog chronicled my studies and reflections while I played with new technologies and explored where the college library should be heading into the future.  It kept me focused and real. 

Then, I migrated my reading list, Books I'm reading; Books I've read  which was on a webpage.  Since my life is centered around books and reading, it recorded my reading and a brief synopsis of each book so I could remember.  Not a successful blog...but it did ease the recording rather than updating a web page.

Then a memorial blog for my dear friend Vickey where friends could post their memories of her.  I love this as a way for friends to come together and share.  And for my sister's fiftieth birthday, Janet is Fifty; Joanne Kim's retirement. 

We're not done yet.  There are a few private blogs where Pasadena Public Librarian "oldtimers" share their thoughts, books they are reading and family news;  A family dieting site where some of us share frustrations,  successes, and recipes; A wedding site where I can record places I want my daughter to consider...and notes on those that are out of our price range.

There are work blogs I have started to generate discussion: Books that get "under our skin" and Green light
where students and community can record what they are doing to make a difference. 

So, I am in love with writing.  Writing from my heart as well as encouraging written communications in others.  And as Elizabeth Berg says, "watching something you hold in you head and your heart quietly transform itself into words on the page."