Every Friday morning, for 45 precious minutes, between Zumba and preschool pickup, I sit alone with my laptop in the cafe of the local community center, and I determine to write.
It goes something like this: I check Facebook and Twitter, to calm my mind. Then I follow a few links, and read a few posts, "to prime the pump," I tell myself.
And before I know it, I'm too involved in other people's stories to tell my own.
This is a hazard, to be sure, one rightfully guarded against. It's why many bloggers I respect create content first thing in the morning, before checking email or social media or their to-do list.
But this morning, it hit me: Commenting on the blogs that I'm reading, sending emails to people I love, even posting on Facebook, this is writing too. It's not creating content for the masses. This is reaction, not action. But it's still using my words to love well. It's sharing the journey and whispering encouragement and saying, "Me too!" It's writing with laser-directed focus on others, not me.
I would do well to remember this. It is good to create something from nothing. Writing takes work and practice and discipline, and I am trying to get better at that.
But using my time and words to applaud the gift in others, that is writing too.
Disclaimer: I am not writing this to get you to leave me a comment. Rather, I am hoping it frees you to spend your words lavishly this weekend, loving others. If writing is your gift, give it away.
SO SO SO TRUE! I love being a part of the conversation...even if it's just in my friend's work! ; )
ReplyDeleteYou just made me feel better about myself! I sometimes get so caught up in my own blog that I forget that supporting others in their blogs makes me feel exactly the same as helping others on my blog. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteYep. And if we're all always busy creating content, who's going to do the reading? I loved this. AND I always love and appreciate your comments - you put your heart into those as much as you do your own work, and it shows, and it makes me love and respect you all the more.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. It's important to make time for each others words, to show respect by reading the outpourings of others. You do that so well.
ReplyDeleteYou sound just like me--reading others' stories in order to prime the pump to write my own. Except I never get around to writing my own. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteExactly. There's a fine balance there. I love leaving comments, and I do really write my heart and soul into them. (Good.) But sometimes, I invest so much into that, I lose my own voice in the process. (Bad.) Ideally, there is time for both, said the SAHM mom to four. :)
DeleteI think I'm mostly just trying to say: When I spend my free time leaving comments or sending emails, there's this temptation to think: "I didn't get any writing done." And that's not necessarily true. I just didn't do any writing for me.