Worth the writing

Quote of the day:

If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing. Benjamin Franklin

Lately I have been taking out piles of DVDs to catch up on movies I have not managed to see. T. is away a lot this summer. A world traveler and important person doing research and conferencing in Germany, Australia and Egypt. I have been trying to write but life keeps getting in my way: My health, jury duty, broken legged cat, out of confidence, and way too much alone time. And so I decided to watch a whole bunch of movies to keep my mind and heart off things. And me oh my, some films have been superb, interesting, entertaining, thought provoking, beautiful, and some ... well ... just so-so. Yesterday, after having exhausted all the new releases I could find, and after reading Kalilily Time, I raced off to find Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. What a jewel of a movie that was! A tale of sorrow and joy. An artistic, poetic experience with beautiful acting and, even, dancing to exorcise ones demons. Ooh, I think I will watch it again today.

Speaking of trying to write, come to think of it, I have been wondering about my blog lately and what it is all about. At one point in time I was sure it was about self-reflection, self-alteration, self-understanding, especially with regards to how early childhood experiences affected attitudes, behavior, life survival skills, defense mechanisms, loving, problem solving, bias, fears, confidence, and so much more. As some of you might remember that all became complicated by misinterpretations and stuff, which I do not want to go into here. Well, actually I would love to go into it here ... but ... er ... um ... I just won't.

And so, now I don't know what my blog is about. It seems that the only safe topic for me is about my cat. And there is only so much I want to talk about that. I think I might want to join Frank Paynter and just allow my blog to become a "muddy greenish brown swamp bottom color you get by mixing all the crayons in the box together."

But, I wonder, how do I do that?

Comments

[tamarika]

Winston,
I have to say that your comment moved me ... to tears ... good ones!

Thank you so much.

[Winston]

Tamar,
Having read your blog(s) for about a year and a half, I have observed a change, a metamorphosis, a shifting of the sands. From what...and to what... I do not have the words or thoughts this early in the day for that. And may not later. My "feeling" is that the change has been positive, has been good.

What your blog is "about"... I will scold you here. Hold out your hand, open palm up, so that I might slap it with a paddle. Your blog is about YOU. Like my blog is about ME. And Frank's blog is about FRANK. Regardless of topics covered, diversity or not, all blogs are, in the final analysis, about the blogger ... the author. This is proper ... this is good ... this is the way it should be. This is what a blog is ... a gathering of little windows into the souls and hearts and minds of the blogger.

You don't need to be concerned about any of that. Just keep doing what you're doing, the way you're doing it, and we'll keep dropping by to get another glimpse of another little piece of the puzzle that is Tamarika.

[tamarika]

Elaine,
I appreciate your comment so very much. Very supportive and encouraging and *just* what I needed to hear today. I'm in a pretty serious out-of-confidence mode of late, and hopefully it will right itself soon and I'll be on my way to fearlessly blogging who I am again.

As for the quote from Frank's blog. Let me just clarify that I adored what he wrote about his blog. It was so humorous and lyrical all at the same time. I *wish* I could write more like him! I especially like the whole quote: "I dump all my slop in this one bucket making it a blog of bloggacious bloggitude, but not a blog of any particular color. In fact, my blog is that muddy greenish brown swamp bottom color you get by mixing all the crayons in the box together." Gorgeous!

Oh, and by the way, a) I love reading your blog! and b) thanks for the tip about Jeneane's blog. I very much enjoyed that animated piece you have from her site.

[Elaine of Kalilily]

You can't let the idiots on the net get you down. Write whatever your heart tells you to write. When I was bombarded with comments from the military after I blogged about the Swift Boater campaign during Kerry's campaign, I gathered up all their emails and bombarded them with the facts.

But that's me. I urge you to ignore your critics and keep blogging what interests you. It will not become a swamp; it will become -- as Franks' is -- a clear reflection of who you are and what you care about.

I know hard isolated one can begin to feel in some situations. That's what bloggerfriends are for -- to help dispel that feeling of isolation.

I have always used Jeneane's writing at allied.blogspot.com as my shining example of what a personal blog is.

I promise I will read what you write, so keep blogging.