um ... hello.

After just one post of semi-creative writing put up over on my Kind Words Stationery blog, I knew it wasn't a good idea to mix stationery store entries with creative writing ones.  So, here I am.

I honestly don't expect anyone to read this blog.  In fact, I'm kind of hoping they don't.  If I knew people were going to be looking, I might not find the courage to post here.

I've loved writing my entire life.  I was telling stories and dreaming up tall tales before I could talk.  I distinctly remember drawing a picture with crayons in which an ant was having a lengthy conversation with the sun, who was talking back to the tiny insect.  I drew small word bubbles and filled them up with my messy scrawl.  I remember looking at the picture the next day and still being able to read what each word bubble said.  It was an epic conversation about the ant needing help to move her colony to another location, out of the way of an oncoming river.  The sun was negotiating terms.

A few years ago I found that picture and was surprised by what I saw in the word bubbles.  Nothing even approaching English.  Although I could clearly remember reading the words in the bubble the next day, and even the week after I originally drew the picture, it was obvious from looking at it now that I had drawn it in the time before I knew how to read or write.

That's what stories are like for me.  They're blood, they're the air I breathe - necessary and natural.  I think the feeling is pretty common.  I'm fairly sure storytelling is a base human drive.  But does that mean I know know how to write well?  Can I craft words that translate what I dream up each night onto a page?

Absolutely not, but I'm hoping that by practicing here I'll get closer.  If you read writing suggestions from major authors, every single one of them stresses that the only way to get better is through lots of practice.  They suggest making writing an everyday part of your life, even if what you write is brief.  That's what this blog is for.  Even if I end up doing rough drafts by hand, knowing I have to post here every other day will give me a reason to focus on writing at least three times a week.  It seems from experience that I need that push.

Deep breath, Simone.  Let's do this.