It’s been too long since I’ve visited this space, and that’s why I’m here. Writing is a passion, and it doesn’t really matter if anyone reads it or not…or at least that’s what I am telling myself.
One of my dreams is to write and publish a memoir. It is scary to say, but it is something I want to do enough that I actually took a memoir writing class years ago and then from there took a writing intensive from that same author. She is amazing, by the way. (And she got me to take a dance class. Kind of. I cheated and did private dance lessons, but still.) This is big for me, because the social anxiety it REAL, and taking the class and doing the intensive both required me to not only allow other people to read my work and critique it but also to read it aloud myself!
While this is my dream and has been for more than 10 years, I am here today because of a facebook group. I belong to more than a few facebook groups. Some I never visit, and others I frequent daily. Someone in one of my groups posed a simple question to the group: “What is one of your dreams?” What I loved about her question was the follow up to the question. She wanted us to spur each other on, encourage one another, and give tips/tricks/accountability to each person who replied. It’s not easy to share a dream out loud, let alone in print, but it is far easier to just share it without follow up or accountability.
Although I love her forward motion, it also challenges me. Yes, I do have this dream, though it feels like a “not now” dream, a far off dream, a dream that can be put off until later, when the kids are older and have less immediate and constant needs. What I learned from her reply to my dream was that it is not all or nothing. I can work on baby steps to the goal without a hard timeline. I don’t have to shelve it completely.
That said, I am challenging myself to write each week. I haven’t decided the parameters yet, whether it be 5 minutes a day before bed or a larger chunk of time once a week or something else. I do know that I would like to publish *something* in this space once a week. So there you have it! If you don’t see a post from me once a week, call me out. I give you permission.
Mama Mango 
Dear friend,
The first step is always the hardest and you did it beautifully. I am so very proud of you for writing this and honored that you wrote about “our” post. I have always had a hard time writing. I envy people who can sit down every day and write novels, essays, screenplays and stage plays. Any time I have ever done any writing, it has felt like there was a something inside of me that had to get out right then and there. I’ve written poems about quilts I have made, shorts stories based on my cat who has since passed away. I struggled with an essay for a class I was taken for a couple of days and all of a sudden, it basically write itself, with pictures included. I am still like that now. That’s why I said what I said. You never know where your inspiration will come from, whether from life or death, the young or old, couples or families…doesn’t matter. But don’t ever get so wrapped up in looking for a story, the you forget to live. Live first, then write about what you lived and felt. And remember:
ALWAYS FORWARD
Thanks again for this beautiful post. My heart will treasure it always.
Always,
Morna