the (Riddle from the Middle) creation story

Have you ever had an idea kick you in the teeth until you finally gave in?  I mean, really kick you in the chops, because some of us (ahem) take a bit longer to catch on than others…

That’s the way this blog thing happened.

I used to write all the time.  Couldn’t stop, really.  The only way to find peace was to let the words spill out of my head and onto paper, which of course freed up space for all the new words waiting to take up residence, and then they would start shouting and demanding their freedom which led to more of the writing…you can see how this would start a vicious cycle.

Then the whole life thing happened.  I graduated and got a “real” job, and that seemed to suddenly take up an awful lot of time.  I married my college sweetheart a year later followed quickly by our first dog, so then things seemed even busier.  Fast forward 19 years and you can up that ante to two dogs (one extremely puppy-like) and two kids and I LAUGH MYSELF SILLY when I think of those early years and how pressed-for-time I felt.  HA.  I look back now and wonder what on earth I did with myself, seeing as now my time is consumed by two 60+ pound hairballs, two incredibly active kids, and (oh yeah) still that whole life thing…

So while I felt bad about sitting back on my writer laurels when I transitioned into being a stay-at-home mom about 10 years ago, I was also kind of losing my mind daily with the (fill in any baby issues you’d like here) going on and couldn’t see a universe in which I could manage this motherhood thing PLUS any kind of creative thinking that didn’t involve Play-Doh.  This didn’t stop people from asking how my writing was coming along — what with all that free time on my hands, I guess they figured I was squirreling away the next great American novel — and I just kept mumbling about wanting to get back to it until the questions finally petered out.

Once the kids got old enough to be more independent (thank you, Jesus) the time just seemed to fill up on its own, and that’s when the hard core existential jabs started.  My brother began getting published; seriously big family pride going on there, but also a teeny bit of “why aren’t I doing something like that?”  Then I started getting into Facebook, where I have developed a solid following of friends who are amused by my dog’s (insanely crazy and sometimes life threatening) antics and the daily pitfalls of, well, LIVING.  And, never one to be ahead of the curve on a technology trend, I finally got into blogs over the last year and found some incredible writers out there that I now follow without fail.

One of my favorite blogs is “We Are THAT Family…you know the ones.”  Kristen has a hysterical hold on what it’s like to do the “mom stuff,” among other things, and lo and behold if she didn’t write an entry called “How to Start a Blog” that blasted me off my feet with “Do you know how I became an author? By writing every day on this blog.”  Okay, okay, I hear you, universe!!  This knockout punch was quickly followed by my sister’s comment on one of my delightful (read: exhausting) dog stories that simply stated, “Ok, you need a blog.”  This happened last month, and after a couple of weeks sitting on that one I finally accepted that it was time to get off my ass and start writing.

So for the record, Betsy, you were actually the final kick in the butt I needed to get started.  Thanks, sis.