It took me at least thirty minutes to find a blog title that was appropriate for what I wanted to write about. Although this is nowhere near the whimsical or thought provoking direction I was going for, in the end I think it is more than appropriate. First, I am and have always been a writer. Second, I am married to a police officer. Both of those facts are HUGE in defining who I am and what I have become, whether I believe it or not.
The purpose of this blog is to have a place to throw down my scrambled thoughts, word puke if you will, and to find some inspiration and/or camaraderie in the swirling, emotional whirlpool that comes with being a writer and even a LEOW if any of y’all happen upon this blog (LEOW stands for Law Enforcement Officer’s Wife). I also have a passion for saltwater aquariums and will be discussing my own from time to time.
Yes, writing a blog should be cathartic. Perhaps in some ways it will be. However, I find that this stresses the inner critic in me out. Ergo, I will be setting some ground rules for not only myself but for anyone who chooses to read this. Well, you don’t have any rules. I suppose they are mere informative facts for you. This is going so great already…
First, I yearn to come across sounding like I have it all figured out and am dripping with thought-provoking accolades. Stop trying so hard, lady! This blog is meant to be a new outlet to express honest opinions in all of their frustrating rawness. Accept them as they are. They don’t need to be dressed up in pretty clothing with intriguing back stories. I am so unbelievably conscious and aware of how other people will perceive me that it causes me to evolve and adapt, wear a mask so to speak, in order to be seen in a likable light. I even do it with family. It’s unbelievable frustrating and I need to stop. I want to stop. I feel like I have slowly lost myself to all of these facades in overthinking situations like I do. This blog is not the place for that. Accept it and move on.
Side note…except not really- It’s gotten so bad that I struggle telling people what my favorite books are. Actually, I take that back. If someone tells me they are a writer or have an English degree, THEN I start overthinking my answers. It makes NO SENSE. I genuinely overthink what I am going to tell them, trying to foresee what they would appreciate. Or….I just get so worried they will judge me on my answers that I genuinely cannot think of a single title. And then the conversation stutters into awkwardness…. which then turns into me believing I can hear their inner thoughts and they are nowhere near flattering towards me. Does anyone else feel this way? It’s ridiculous. But, in all honesty I will tell you a few of my favorite titles now. Legit.
Sabriel– Garth Nix
Daughter of the Forest– Juliet Marillier
Crown Duel– Sherwood Smith
Outlander– Diana Gabaldon
Neverwhere– Neil Gaiman
The Talisman– Stephen King
The Book Thief-Markus Zusak
Attachments– Rainbow Rowell
The Illustrated Man– Ray Bradbury
That wasn’t so hard, right? Nope. Because I can’t see your face, nor do I have to have a conversation with you on the spot. Ah, the magic of the computer.
Speaking about speaking, ha, I am not scared of public speaking at all. I am not a huge fan of going to social activities but I can certainly hold my own. What scares me is standing in a room full of other authors and agents and trying to speak with them and not feel like a complete fake. I have preconceived notions that a writer should be able to just throw out different book titles and author names as easy as it is to spell their own name. I assume the conversations are deep and thought provoking and that I should know every single grammar rule and literary theory I learned in college when I received my Bachelor’s degree. As evidenced by my blog, you can see that I certainly do not follow all of the correct sentence structures, syntax, grammar rules, etc that would be expected of an English major. And I’m okay with that. I’ve always felt my strengths were in the actual storylines themselves. But still, perhaps other writers will judge me on that when I continually have to look up what a preposition is and why I shouldn’t end a sentence with it. Yup, definitely have to look that one up again. And again.
The only grammar-nerd opinion I have is that the oxford-comma should forever be used and if you don’t believe in the oxford comma you need to be thrown into a dark pit and forgotten. I don’t actually feel that strongly. I probably wouldn’t forget you’re in the pit…..
Oh, right. Rules.
Wow. I really only have two rules.
1) Honesty without over thinking.
2) Grammar, punctuation, and spelling are not key players. They ARE players mind you….but they aren’t the lead roles.
Well, there is the first entry of the blog for you. Still not sure where I will be going with this except to say that you will be getting thoughts on writing from a complete stranger. Why you may want to listen to a complete stranger…I don’t know. But perhaps we are friends in the making and can vent our publishing (or lack thereof) frustrations together through this technological world. Or about anything related to writing really. Inspiration, ideas, books, tricks, writing spaces, etc.
Or if you are a LEO, LEOW, or of any relation to a first responder….thank you so much for your or your family member’s services. Y’all are badasses.
I count myself as one of you… by default. HA. Just kidding, seriously we LEOW’s are a whole other level of bad-assery.
~Bell
The Writing LEOW 