Why You Should Read This Blog...or Should You?

So here you are reading my blog. Awesome. Some of you may be here because you are my family, friends, Facebook buddies, coworkers, or someone whose arm I have twisted to the point of pain to get you to read my blog. Others may have stumbled, tripped, and fallen upon this page on their way to somewhere infinitely more exciting on the web (in that case, I can only welcome you anyway and I hope you didn't hurt yourself on the way here). Even for those of you who know me, however, you may be wondering why I've started a blog and what on earth I am going to write about. The answers are simple: a) because it is my dream, and b) everything.

Allow me to explain in sequence. I have been writing since well before I knew what writing was. Before I could spell or knew how to hold a writing implement, I would hold one of my dad's pens and make horizontal lines of scribbles across my drawing paper in different lengths and make believe I was writing. I loved the feel of the pen gliding across the paper as I imagined the stories I was putting onto paper. It was just gibberish, of course, but to me it was the beginning of a lifelong love of the written word.

That love stayed with me as I made the trek through high school and college, taking all of those other pesky courses like math, science, and history, just so I could get back to writing my poems and stories. All I wanted was to get my degree, get out into the world, and get paid to write. That was it. Of course life never happens as one plans and I ended up taking a very circuitous route to doing so. And, when I finally did end up with that dream job of actually earning a paycheck to write, I was miserable. Desperately unhappy, completely unfulfilled, and making my dear husband nuts, I finally quit. Several more roads less taken and I ended up where I am now, working in a school for special needs students. While it doesn't involve writing, I love it and it provides me with that most precious of luxuries for a writer: time. My school breaks and summers are spent, of course, writing.  

What I will write about in this blog is basically what I said earlier: everything. Or at least everything lurking in my mind that dares to show itself. I have taken numerous writing workshops in the past several years and have been working on a memoir that revolves around some challenges I have faced (let's be honest here--I am still facing them) that I believe others could possibly relate to: first, I lost a lot of weight, then I developed chronic neck pain, and now I have to learn to live with balancing weight and pain (something I struggle with on a daily basis). It's kind of like Eat, Pray, Love, although mine would be something along the lines of Hungry, Ouch, Now What? That being said, I will post random pieces of my memoir on this blog, just to kind of test them out. I welcome and encourage comments to see if what I'm writing resonates with others. I will also write about other things going on in my life, but not in a what-Heidi-had-for-breakfast sort of way. I tend to be quirky and try to be funny, but I also like to think deeply about things. Think of those posts as Super Soul Heidi (with apologies to Oprah!). And, since I do love poetry, write poetry, and am obsessed with several poets (both living and dead), I will occasionally post a poem. Just for fun.

So that's the back story of my blog. I want to write and I would love to have others read my words. If you like what you read, please feel free to share this blog with everyone you know.  If you don't, we can just nod knowingly to each other whenever we pass and no feelings, hard, soft, or otherwise, will be harbored by me. I ask only that you come back and read a different post; perhaps that will spark another, more positive reaction in you. 

With that, I invite you to come back often and share in my journey. Until then, be well and happy.

Onward,
HR