For this week’s post, I found myself already struggling with what to write. Truly, I did not think this would happen. I thought I would decide to blog again, and my brain would obey. Especially after the first post back came tumbling out nearly fully formed.
Which makes sense, yes?
I had been holding back so much of what I shared in that post for so long – being patient in the most ungraceful of ways! – and so, to finally tell you what I’d been up to was a great relief. And easy as I’d been crafting the tale in my mind for quite some time.
Now, however, I find myself in this odd sort of transition period. I have not yet ended my “old” life in practice, but in my mind, I sort of have. I have not yet started my “new” life either, but – again – in my mind, I sort of have.
I have often likened it to how one feels gearing up for the end of high school. Senioritis. It’s this big tangible milestone that you’ve been working toward for so long and once you know it’s imminent, it’s difficult not to simply skip forward in your mind to its occurring and over all that you have left before you get there.
I also find that writing here every week was, in large part, a habit I cultivated. A habit that I now need to re-establish. Except my mind keeps flitting from one thing I found thought-provoking this week to another, not able to settle on one thing and ponder long enough to write at the length I am used to.
Frustrating, indeed, that it refuses to be forced.
So, given all of this, I first hope you’ll forgive me as the rusty gears of my writing brain grind back into motion. I also hope you will indulge me, as I muse a bit not on the here and now, but on what I envision this little blog – and with it, our new adventure together – will be.
1. I have heard numerous offers of writing advice that all say something akin to write what you’d like to read. And without even being aware, that’s what I did, week after week.
I wrote about what made me think or made me feel or – often – something that caused me struggle. I wrote to work something out as it was happening (for clarity) or to share my reflections on something already past (for connection).
It was as if I were having a conversation with a good friend and so I find myself from time to time, going back to old posts and enjoying them. Like looking through old letters or pictures and remembering. Smiling or cringing as the case may be, like when I see the outfits I wore in the 90s. Or worse – those god-awful bangs!
This, I hope, will continue.
2. Of course, we’re always evolving, and so too, will my conversation.
And by that, I mean, I will, of course, be writing about my travels.
Because the reality is, my daily life will be very different! And while I don’t see this becoming “a travel blog” perse, traveling will be a huge part of my new experience so it will certainly be something I’ll want to reflect on and share.
And to answer the question that many have asked, yes, this includes sharing pictures. But only so far as it does not become, for me, all about cropping and editing and distract me from the essentials.
3. A third element I plan to introduce, that will also be an important part of my new day-to-day, is my research into children’s book author and illustrator Winifred Bromhall, whom I’ve written about here before.
This one is still very much a work in progress, but I want to somehow bring you along as I explore the places she and her family lived and studied and worked throughout England – the country where she spent both the beginning and the end of her life.
We’ll be traveling north from London to Walsall, Birmingham, and Manchester, south to the resort beach town of Eastbourne, and to who knows where else after what we’ll find along the way!
A prospect which, I very much hope, becomes as exciting to you as it is to me.
That's all for now. Talk again soon :)